Three Brave Kashmiris

Pulitzer honors three Kashmir photographers

New Delhi: Three photographers from Jammu and Kashmir, Dar Yasin, Mukhtar Khan, and Channi Anand, has been shortlisted for this year's Pulitzer Prize. The Pulitzer Prize is awarded for literature, journalism, and music.

Dar Yasin and Mukhtar Khan live in Srinagar and Channi Anand lives in Jammu. All three are photojournalists for the Associated Press. After the trio received the prestigious Pulitzer Prize, Sally Buzby, executive editor of the Associated Press, commented that the three photographers received the award for their unparalleled bravery, ingenuity, and collective effort.

Last year, the Indian Parliament repealed Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which gives special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, on August 5, 2019, creating two Union Territories of the state, but also imposed an unannounced internet curfew. During all this time, the life of the people of Jammu and Kashmir was completely disrupted and all the basic rights of the common man were taken away by the repressive government. Kashmir was completely cut off from the rest of the world. In the last nine months, the situation in the state has not changed. It also calls for a lockdown. The three photographers were selected for the award after capturing a realistic portrayal of life in Kashmir for the last 7-8 months.

When the three photographers were announced to receive the Pulitzer Prize, they all said it was a shock. This was not expected, it was known that the Pulitzer Prize is also for photographers, but I never thought I would get it, the words did not suggest to me how to react, Channi Anand told Hindustan Times.

Reacting on Twitter, Yasin said that the award is a source of joy but it is an acknowledgment of our work.

Mukhtar Khan thanked all his colleagues for receiving the award. "It's the glory of our work and we never imagined we would ever get one in our lives," he said.

Work in extremely difficult times in journalism

An unannounced curfew was imposed on Kashmir immediately after its special status was revoked last August and Kashmir's ties with the country were severed. In Kashmir, all transport systems were shut down and the internet was shut down. In such a difficult situation, the Associated Press photographers did not know where the protests were, where the beatings were taking place, where people were coming out on the streets and shouting slogans against the government. On this occasion, Mukhtar Khan and Yasin started walking around Srinagar and its environs. While taking photographs of the places where the protests were taking place, they had to face distrust from both the police and the protesters. During this time I could not go home for many days. So the family of this photographer is always worried. After saying goodbye to his family, the worries in the house would go away.

But with all the communication systems in Kashmir closed, the big question for these photographers was how to send the photos to the news agency. In such a case, the photographs had to be handed over to the passengers going to Srinagar airport and from there it would go to the news agency. According to Yasin, the days when terrorism was rife in Kashmir in the 1990s are now being recalled. At that time, the photo roll had to be given to someone going to Delhi and then he was going to the office. Then those photographs would go to the world.

"Even though we have captured the current situation in Kashmir on camera, it is not just a story of the Kashmiri people, it is a story of my own," Yasin said. "Now that my photographs have reached the world, our name has been included in Pulitzer's nominees, which is my pride," Yasin said.

Congratulations to the winners from political leaders

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah is happy that three photographers from Kashmir have been awarded the prestigious Pulitzer Prize, adding that journalism in Kashmir is going through a very difficult time. He also wished the journalists' cameras more strength.

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti also congratulated the three photographers. On the one hand, while the world is praising the performance of our journalists, he criticized the repressive government in Kashmir.