Pulitzer-winning Kashmiri journalist Sana Irshad Mattoo stopped from traveling abroad

A Pulitzer-winning Kashmiri photojournalist was stopped on Saturday from flying abroad by immigration authorities at the airport here who cited restrictions imposed on her by the Jammu and Kashmir police.

Sanna Irshad Mattoo was on her way to Paris to attend a book launch event and participate in a photography exhibition when she was stopped by immigration authorities at the Delhi airport.

"Whatever happened today was totally unexpected," she told PTI.

In a tweet, she said, "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."

In May, Mattoo won the Pulitzer Prize becoming the first woman from Jammu and Kashmir to get the prestigious prize in journalism.

Mattoo, part of the Reuters team along with three male Indian journalists, Adnan Abidi, Amit Dave and late Danish Siddiqui, who was killed during the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, were awarded the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in the feature photography category for their coverage of the Covid pandemic in India.

They were awarded for “images of Covid’s toll in India that balanced intimacy and devastation, while offering viewers a heightened sense of place”.

The 28-year-old Mattoo is a resident of Srinagar.

A Look out circular (LOC) is a circular letter used by authorities to check whether a traveling person is wanted by the police. It may be used at immigration checks at international borders (like International airports or sea ports).

In India, LOC has a given proforma which have identification parameters of criminals and help police to catch absconding criminals and stopping them from crossing borders.

After the special status of J&K under Article 370 of the Constitutions was revoked by the Parliament in August 2019, LOCs were opened against several politicians, human rights activists, journalists, and social activists to bar them from flying out of the country.