America is eyeing to stop Pulitzer Prize winning Kashmiri journalist, said- freedom of press is important

Washington, A US State Department official has said that the US is aware of reports of a Pulitzer Prize-winning Kashmiri journalist Sana Irshad Mattoo allegedly being barred from traveling to the country. Mattoo had said on Tuesday that he was stopped from going to the US at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport to receive the prestigious award.

“We are aware of reports that Ms Mattoo is being barred from traveling to the US and we are closely monitoring these developments,” MEA Deputy Spokesperson Vedanta Patel told a daily news conference. “We are committed to supporting freedom of the press and, as the Secretary of State noted, respect for press freedom and a shared commitment to democratic values ​​is the cornerstone of the US-India relationship,” he said.

Mattoo, a freelance photojournalist, was part of a team from Reuters that has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize in the category of ‘feature photography’ for its coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic in India. In a statement, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) urged the Indian authorities to allow Mattoo to travel to the US to attend the Pulitzer Prize ceremony. Beh Lih Yee, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator in Frankfurt, Germany, said: “There is no reason on which Kashmiri journalist Sana Ershad Mattoo should have been barred from traveling abroad.”

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Tags: India, USA