Freelance reporter Ahmer Khan was named the winner of the 2019 Agence France-Presse Kate Webb Prize on Thursday for his daring coverage in Jammu and Kashmir during the clampdown of the region.
Freelance reporter Ahmer Khan wins @AFP's Kate Webb Prize.
He was honoured for his on the ground coverage in India-controlled Kashmir during Delhi's lockdown of the region, with his video and written reports vividly illustrating the impact on locals https://t.co/ckUzGzeUJV pic.twitter.com/vJR2CvzZiq
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) February 20, 2020
The award, named after one of AFP’s finest correspondents, acknowledges journalism by locally hired reporters in Asia operating in risky or difficult conditions.
Khan, 27, was honoured for a series of video and written reports that precisely demonstrated the impact on locals in the Muslim-majority area following New Delhi’s judgment to remove Article 370 from Jannu and Kashmir.
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Despite curfews and a heavy security presence, Khan took to the streets with his camera to document the anxieties, concerns and difficulties among the residents of Srinagar and other cities in Kashmir. Unable to skirt the communications blockade, he flew in and out of Delhi to file his stories.
“Reporting from Kashmir at this time has been extremely challenging for everyone, including the established foreign media,” said AFP’s Asia-Pacific regional director Philippe Massonnet.
“For an independent, local journalist those challenges have been far greater, and it is to Ahmer’s enormous credit that he managed to provide accurate, high-quality journalism when it was so sorely needed.”
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Khan said on learning of his win: “This is a real honour, and a huge motivation to carry on my work with enthusiasm and determination.”
“I want to dedicate this award to the courageous and resilient journalists from Kashmir who have been reporting in extremely difficult conditions for the past six months. This is a collective award.”
Congratulations @ahmermkhan for winning Kate Webb Prize. Especially at a time when media in Kashmir faces unwarranted harassment from state administration. https://t.co/acD10kih3B
— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) February 20, 2020
The Kate Webb Prize, with a 3,000 euro ($3,400) purse, honours journalists working in perilous or difficult conditions in Asia, and is named after a crusading AFP reporter who died in 2007 at the age of 64, after a career covering the world’s trouble spots.
The award, which in 2018 went to reporter Asad Hashim for his coverage of the plight of ethnic Pashtuns and blasphemy issues in his native Pakistan, is administered by AFP and the Webb family.
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The prize will be formally presented at a ceremony in Hong Kong later this year.
