Danish Siddiqui: A Tribute From Senior Comrades

By S. N. Sinha

We were shocked and deeply disturbed by the killing of Danish Siddiqui, a Pulitzer Prize-winner Indian photojournalist by the Taliban during coverage in Afghanistan. As a true photojournalist he never bothered for his personal safety and always given priority to his profession. Danish was covering clashes between Afghanistan Special Forces and Taliban in Spin Boldak district in Kandahar to control the lucrative border crossing with Pakistan and first reported that he was killed in ambush- crossfire alongside a senior Afghan officer. Later it was found that he was not simply killed in crossfire, nor was he simply collateral damage, but was brutally murdered by the Taliban. The Taliban had eliminated him in a planned operation, the sources claim that as part of the operation, they had attacked a mosque where Danish had gone to receive first-aid, after verifying and confirm his identity they killed him after capturing him with multiple bullet shots and mutilated his body.

Danish Siddiqui, May 1983 born done his schooling from Fr. Agnel School in Delhi and graduated with a degree in Economics from Jamia Milia Islamia, Delhi. He also got a post-graduation degree in Mass Communication from AJK Mass Communication Research Center in Jamia. He started his career as correspondent with Hindustan Times and TV Today Network but not satisfied with his work he switched to photojournalism. He works as a staff photojournalist with international news agency Reuters since 2011 and covered Nepal earthquake, Rohingya refugee crisis, Battle of Mosul, Hong Kong protests, Delhi riots, COVID-19 pandemic and wars of Afghanistan and Iraq.

His photograph during Delhi riots of a lynching of a Muslim man by a mob or mass cremation of COVID-19 fatalities held at the peak of India’s devastating second wave were defining images who went viral and won him global praise and recognition. His coverage of Rohingya refugee which shown their sufferings got him Pulitzer Prize for feature photography along side with Adnan Abidi as part of the Reuters photography staff in 2018. The Pulitzer Prize judging committee described their series as “shocking photographs that exposed the world to the violence Rohingya refugees faced in fleeing Myanmar.” Danish also said “while I enjoy covering news stories – from business to politics to sports – what I enjoy most is capturing the human face of a breaking story.”

The media fraternity is always working as a frontline warrior and working under increasing threat is a matter of deep concern to the working journalists and the democratic world. We the community of Indian photojournalists along with our colleagues in media salute the brave soldier of media who sacrificed his life in the line of duty to keep world inform about the people suffering. Mr Sinha is a very senior photojournalist based in New Delhi.

The World Association of Press Councils condoled the brutal killing of Mr Danish Siddiqui, , and Mr Dawa Khan Minapal, head of the Afghanistan’s government media and information centre in Afghanistan. Minapal had also served as Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s spokesman.

In a Webinar with all its member states today the WAPC also condemned the slayings of both Danish and Minapal . “WAPC, in no uncertain terms denounces such ghastly murder of media persons by the Taliban radicals. Killing journalists should in no way be tolerated anywhere in the world, especially in a highly conflict-ridden volatile country like Afghanistan.

The world body urged all including the Governments to protect life and security of the media persons and uphold freedom of press which is sine qua non for all countries. “We have received various reports that media persons, especially women journalists are not able to perform their professional duty under extreme fear under serious threat to their lives in Afghanistan”.

Source: Himalayan News Chronicle