Pulitzer-winning Kashmiri journalist Sanna Irshad Mattoo on Tuesday said that she was stopped at the Delhi airport’s immigration counter and barred from traveling abroad.
Sanna, a Srinagar-based photojournalist took to Twitter and said that she was on the way to New York to receive her Pulitzer prize.
“I was on my way to receive the Pulitzer award (@Pulitzerprizes ) in New York but I was stopped at immigration at Delhi airport and barred from traveling internationally despite holding a valid US visa and ticket,” Sanna wrote on her twitter.
I was on my way to receive the Pulitzer award ( @Pulitzerprizes) in New York but I was stopped at immigration at Delhi airport and barred from traveling internationally despite holding a valid US visa and ticket. pic.twitter.com/btGPiLlasK
— Sanna Irshad Mattoo (@mattoosanna) October 18, 2022
She added,” This is the second time I have been stopped without reason or cause. Despite reaching out to several officials after what happened a few months ago but I never received ay response. Being able to attend the award ceremony was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me.”
Sanna Irshad Mattoo, the 28-year-old woman photojournalist won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography in May along with four Reuters photojournalists for their coverage of the devastating second wave of Covid-19 in India.
Earlier in July, Sanna was stopped from travelling to a photography exhibition to France.
According to reports, Several Kashmiri journalists have been put on a ‘no-fly’ list after the abrogation of Article 370, to bar them from travelling outside India.
Kashmiri journalist Gowhar Geelani was stopped from travelling to Germany at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport in September 2019.