New Delhi: The three Indian photojournalists namely Dar Yasin, Mukhtar Khan and Channi Anand from Jammu and Kashmir who work for Associated Press (AP) have won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in feature photography. The award recognized their exceptional coverage of Jammu and Kashmir during the lockdown that was imposed on Jammu and Kashmir by the Central Government after the revocation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019.
The winning photographers captured images of protests, the police, paramilitary action and daily life in Jammu and Kashmir after phone and internet services were shut down in August 2019, making it difficult for the world to gain access to the region.
Somehow, they managed to reach the airport and convinced Kashmiri passengers to carry photos stored in drives and disks to Delhi and hand them over to the Associated Press staff.
Yasin and Khan are residents of Srinagar in Kashmir while Anand lives in Jammu.
National Conference leader Omar Abdullah tweeted, “This year has been difficult for journalists in Jammu and Kashmir and looking at the last 30 years it is not easy to say. Best wishes to Yasin Dar, Mukhtar Khan and Channi Anand for the prestigious award. “Iltija Mufti, daughter of PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, also congratulated the photo journalists, saying,” Yasin Dar, for photographing the humanitarian crisis that arose in Kashmir after illegally removing most of the provision of Article 370. Congratulations to Mukhtar Khan.
