PULITZER COMES HOME
A Kashmiri man walks on a snow-covered footbridge in Srinagar, December 2019. This is part of a series of images by Associated Press photographers from J&K — Dar Yasin, Mukhtar Khan and Channi Anand — who won the Pulitzer Prize for taking ‘striking images of life’.
SRINAGAR: Three Indian photojournalists based in Jammu & Kashmir won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography for their coverage of the region during the clampdown that followed the Centre’s decision last August to divest the region of its special status and reorganise it into two Union Territories.
The achievement of Dar Yasin, Mukhtar Khan and Channi Anand of the Associated Press (AP) in winning the most prestigious award in American journalism was acclaimed in J&K. Yasin and Khan are based in the Kashmir Valley and Anand in Jammu. “It’s not the story of the people I am shooting only, but it’s my story,” Yasin told AP. “It’s a great honour to be in the list of Pulitzer winners and to share my story with the world.” Anand said the award left him speechless. “I was shocked.” The news led to the trio being swamped by congratulatory messages. “It’s been a difficult year for journalists in Kashmir... More power to your cameras,” former chief minister Omar Abdullah tweeted.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi wrote on Twitter: “Congratulations to Indian photojournalists Dar Yasin, Mukhtar Khan and Channi Anand for winning a Pulitzer Prize for their powerful images of life in J&K. You make us all proud.”
However, the award created a controversy with the citation referring to Kashmir, part of Indian Union Territory J&K, as “contested territory”. Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Sambit Patra took to Twitter to ask why the journalists accepted the award and whether Gandhi concurred with the citation. Journalists in the Valley called it a watershed moment in the history of Kashmir.