Three Indian Photojournalists Win Pulitzer Prize For Kashmir Lockdown Coverage Post Abrogation Of Article 370

Associated Press photographers Mukhtar Khan, Dar Yasin and Channi Anand

Image Credits: Udayavani

The Logical Indian Crew

Three Indian Photojournalists Win Pulitzer Prize For Kashmir Lockdown Coverage Post Abrogation Of Article 370

The photographers won the prestigious award "for striking images of life in the contested territory of Kashmir as India revoked its independence, executed through a communications blackout."

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Three Associated Press(AP) photographers from Jammu and Kashmir have won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography for their "striking images of life" in J&K following the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution.


Dar Yasin, Mukhtar Khan and Channi Anand, the three photographers, were among the winners announced virtually on Monday, night.

The photographers won the prestigious award "for striking images of life in the contested territory of Kashmir as India revoked its independence, executed through a communications blackout."

While Yasin and Khan are based in Srinagar, Anand is based in the Jammu district. According to AP, the photographers captured the images of protests, policy and paramilitary action, and daily life by "snaking around roadblocks, sometimes taking cover in strangers' homes and hiding cameras in vegetable bags."

"It was always cat-and-mouse. These things made us more determined than ever to never be silenced," Yasin said.

In a tweet, Yasin said that the honour was "overwhelming". "I would just like to say thank you for standing by us always. It's an honour and a privilege beyond any we could have ever imagined. It's overwhelming to receive this honour," he tweeted.



Anand said the award left him speechless. "I was shocked and could not believe it," he added.

AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt said the honour exemplifies AP's great tradition of award-winning photography. "Thanks to the team inside Kashmir, the world was able to witness a dramatic escalation of the long struggle over the region's independence. Their work was important and superb," Pruitt said.

Meanwhile, AP Executive Editor Sally Buzbee called the Kashmir prize "a testament to the skill, bravery, ingenuity and teamwork of Dar, Mukhtar, Channi and their colleagues."

The abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, had also witnessed a complete communications blackout with landlines, mobile connections, and internet connections shut down, making it extremely difficult for journalists to cover what is happening there.

Faced with an extremely difficult situation, the AP journalists had to find out about protests and other news in person. Often, the journalists could not go home for days or even let their families know that they were okay.

"It was very hard," Khan said, but "we managed to file pictures."

With no internet, to send their photos to AP staff in Delhi, the journalists went to the airport and persuaded passengers to take the photos stored in drives and disks to Delhi.

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