The revocation of Article 370, which had given special status to the region of Jammu & Kashmir since 1954, led to widespread protests all over the country. Kashmir, however, was left paralysed with the government imposing a prolonged curfew all over the Kashmir Valley prior to the revocation. The curfew included the shutdown of phone and Internet services in the valley. Since 05 August 2019, foreign journalists were barred from reporting from the region. As a result, there was a dearth of authentic voices from the region, leading to a misrepresentation of the issue. However, Associated Press photographers from the Kashmir Valley, Dar Yasin, Mukhtar Khan and Channi Anand found ways to tell their stories by carrying out clandestine reportage from the valley. Now, their work has been honoured with the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in Feature Photography. The prize winners were announced virtually on YouTube, owing to the coronavirus pandemic, by Pulitzer board administrator Dana Canedy.
The three photographers had captured images of protest, police and paramilitary action and daily life by taking transgressive measures like taking cover in strangers’ homes, hiding cameras in vegetable bags, and snaking stealthily around roadblocks. In a risqué move, they headed to the airport to persuade travellers to carry the photo files out with them and get them to the AP’s office in New Delhi. “It was always cat and mouse.”, Yasin told The Associated Press on Monday. “At a time when AP’s journalism is of more value than ever to the world, these journalists’ courage and compelling storytelling show the absolute best of what we do,” the Executive Editor of Associated Press, Sally Buzbee told AP.
The New York Times led when it came to the other Pulitzers, picking up awards for Investigative Reporting, International Reporting, and Commentary. The photography staff at Reuters won the Pulitzer for Breaking News Photography, and the staff at The Washington Post won for Explanatory Reporting.
If you enjoyed reading this article, we suggest you also read: