Sanna Irshad Mattoo, a photojournalist from Kashmir, said on Tuesday that immigration officers prevented her from travelling to the United States even though she had a ticket and a valid visa. For the purpose of receiving the 2022 Pulitzer Prize, she was travelling from the Delhi airport to New York.
In May, Mattoo and three other Reuters photographers—Adnan Abidi, Amit Dave, and the late Danish Siddiqui—shared the Pulitzer Prize for feature photography for their coverage of the coronavirus outbreak in India.
This is not the first time she has been barred from flying.
Mattoo said that she had been prevented from taking a flight from Delhi to Paris on July 2. The immigration officers at Delhi Airport disallowed the photojournalist from leaving the country despite the fact that she stated to have a valid French visa.
She was one of the 10 recipients of the Serendipity Arles Grant 2020, and she was travelling to Paris for the book launch and a photography exhibition.
The Kashmiri journalist has previously been prevented from leaving India without reason.
Indian authorities should allow Kashmiri photojournalist Sanna Irshad Mattoo to travel abroad freely and collect her Pulitzer Prize in New York, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.
Govt Officials response
She had been added to a no-fly list, Jammu and Kashmir police officials had told the news agency PTI, without providing a reason.
The action renewed allegations that the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi targets journalists who publish unflattering stories about the administration, as per NDTV.
According to a survey released in May by international media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, India’s standing in the World Press Freedom Index this year dropped to the 150th position from previous year’s 142nd rank out of 180 countries as a result of the government’s repeated refusals.
The Chenab Times News Desk