Ishfaq-ul-Hassan
SRINAGAR–Pulitzer Prize-winning Kashmiri photojournalist Sanna Irshad Mattoo was not allowed to fly to Paris for a photography exhibition.
“I was scheduled to travel from Delhi to Paris today for a book launch and photography exhibition as one of 10 award winners of the Serendipity Arles grant 2020. Despite procuring a French visa, I was stopped at the immigration desk at Delhi airport,” she tweeted.
Authorities did not give her any reason from stopping her to travel abroad. “I was not given any reason but told I would not be able to travel internationally,” she said.
In May, Sanna Irshad Mattoo won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize award in the feature photography category for 2022. She is among the three from India to win the award this year. Besides, Sanna, slain Reuters photographer Danish Siddiqui and Adnan Abidi have won the award for their images about Covid’s toll in India.
Sanna, who holds a Master’s in Convergent Journalism from the Central University of Kashmir, has her work published in international media outlets, including Al Jazeera, TIME, and TRT World. She has also done a fellowship with the prestigious Magnum Foundation in 2021.
“Sanna Irshad Mattoo is a photojournalist and documentary photographer based in Kashmir. Ranging from groundbreaking news to in-depth storytelling, her work concentrates on depicting the tension between the seeming ordinariness of life and the stark symbols of a menacing militarised milieu of Kashmir. Her work has been published in newspapers and magazines around the world and has been screened and exhibited in various exhibitions and festivals. She presently contributes to Reuters as a Multimedia Journalist,” Sanna’s Pulitzer introduction said.
In 2020, three Jammu and Kashmir photojournalists Dar Yasin, Mukhtar Khan, and Channi Anand won the prestigious Pulitzer award. Established in 1917, Pulitzer Prize is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the US.
Earlier on March 29, Journalist Rana Ayyub was stopped at Mumbai airport from boarding a flight to London. She was stopped from traveling abroad because the Enforcement Directorate has issued a lookout notice for her.
Ayyub had told reporters that she had an event on April 1 with some of the top jurors, editors, and diplomats in London. On the same day, she was to speak at The Guardian’s office at the invitation of the newspaper’s editor Katharine Viner. Then on April 6 and 7, she was to be in Italy to attend an event called the International Journalism Festival.
Later on April 4, the Delhi High Court permitted her to travel abroad. The court also questioned the Enforcement Directorate (ED) over a Look Out Circular (LOC) against her.
