Kashmir lockdown pictures win Pulitzer prize

India's unprecedented crackdown on Indian-administered Kashmir last August was difficult to show to the world, but Associated Press (AP) photographers did it and their work has been honoured with the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in feature photography.

Associated Press news agency's photographers Dar Yasin, Mukhtar Khan and Channi Anand found ways to report on the lockdown sitiuation which their work has been honoured with the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in feature photography.

The prize winners were announced virtually on May 4 owing to the coronavirus outbreak, Al Jazeera reported.

Pulitzer board administrator Dana Canedy declared the winners from her living room via a livestream on YouTube rather than at a ceremony at New York's Columbia University.

In a statement on their website following the announcement, Pulitzer said the Kashmiri photographers were selected for their "striking images of life" in the disputed Himalayan territory.

The Pulitzers are generally regarded as the highest honour that United States-based journalists and organisations can receive.

Kashmiri Muslim devotees offer prayer outside the shrine of Sufi saint Sheikh Syed Abdul Qadir Jeelani in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Dec. 9, 2019. Hundreds of devotees gathered at the shrine for the 11-day festival that marks the death anniversary of the Sufi saint/ AP Photo

'Important and superb'

Snaking around roadblocks, sometimes taking cover in strangers' homes and hiding cameras in vegetable bags, the three photographers captured images of protests, police and paramilitary action and daily life.

They then headed to the local airport to persuade travellers to carry the photo files out with them and get them to the AP's office in the Indian capital, New Delhi.

"It was always cat-and-mouse," Yasin recalled on Monday in an email. "These things made us more determined than ever to never be silenced."

Yasin and Khan are based in Kashmir's main city of Srinagar, while Anand is based in the Jammu district.

Kashmiri Muslim children attend recitation classes of the holy Quran on the first day of the fasting month of Ramadan in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, May 7, 2019/ AP Photo

Anand said the award left him speechless. "I was shocked and could not believe it," he said.

The AP's president and CEO Gary Pruitt said their work was "important and superb".

"Thanks to the team inside Kashmir, the world was able to witness a dramatic escalation of the long struggle over the region's independence."

"All five of these photographers made remarkable, stunning images despite dangerous and challenging conditions, sometimes at great personal risk," said AP Director of Photography David Ake. "Their dedication to getting up every morning and going out to tell the story is a testament to their tenacity. The result of their work is compelling photojournalism that grabbed the world's attention."

Women shout slogans as Indian policemen fire teargas and live ammunition in the air to stop a protest march in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Aug. 9, 2019/ AP Photo

Conflict has flared for decades in the Muslim-majority Kashmir region, divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both the nuclear powers.

The tension hit a new turning point in August, when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist government stripped Indian-administered portion of Kashmir of its semi-autonomy, and divided the Jammu and Kashmir state into two federal territories.

India poured more troops into the already heavily militarised area, imposed a months-long curfew and harsh curbs on civil rights, and cut off internet, mobile phone, landline and cable TV services.

Six-year-old Muneefa Nazir, a Kashmiri girl whose right eye was hit by a marble ball allegedly shot by Indian soldiers on August 12, 2019 [Mukhtar Khan/AP]

India said the moves were needed to forestall protests and attacks by rebels seeking independence. Thousands of people, including senior politicians and separatists, were arrested.

Last month, several leading Kashmiri journalists were charged by the Indian police under stringent laws for their "anti-national" social media posts - a move slammed by press and rights groups from around the world.