The body of photojournalist Danish Siddiqui, who was killed while covering a clash between Aghfan security forces and Taliban, laid to rest at Jamia Millia Islamia graveyard in New Delhi on Sunday. Gaffar Manzil, Gali Number 5, the lane where Danish grew up, was lined with people clad in white on Sunday evening. The news that his body had reached Delhi Airport filled the lane by 6 pm.
Those present outside his house - fellow journalists, Jamia Millia Islamia batchmates, or people from the neighbourhood - everyone had his name on their lips, and a personal anecdote to share. “Down the road there’s a peepal tree, where we often met for tea,” recalled one journalist. Many young students and journalists said Danish, the Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist who was killed in a Taliban attack in Afghanistan, had been an inspiration and an ever-helpful senior.
As the cloudy skies took on a violet hue, more people gathered in the park right opposite his house. Bilal Zaidi, who grew up in the same lane and knew Danish since he was five, said, “For the last few years, we had been following each other’s work. He was a very soft-spoken and an empathetic person and his empathetic nature was reflected in his work. That is what I think is so brilliant about the Danish Siddique story”
As the number of people increased, so did the security and police deployment. A few police vans arrived just before his body reached home in a hearse van. At 8.17 pm, the hearse van reached the house, after which the body was taken into the house, via the back gate.
After completing the rituals, the body was taken in the van to Jamia, his alma mater. Hundreds of people followed on foot, some in their vehicles. People took a minute to perform namaz-e-janaza, the Islamic funeral prayer, around 10 pm, after which he was buried at the graveyard of Jamia Millia Islamia, near Azeem Dairy.
