ET Home›News›Politics and Nation›Mumbai photojournalist Danish Siddiqui wins Pulitzer prize for series on Rohingya crisis
Mumbai photojournalist Danish Siddiqui wins Pulitzer prize for series on Rohingya crisis
Big achievement
Danish Siddiqui’s pictures of Rohingya refugees are part of a heart-rending series that received the award on Tuesday.
Scroll down to see the photos:
1/10
Twitter
Heart-wrenching
One picture of an exhausted Rohingya woman from Myanmar touching the Bangladesh shore after crossing into the country by boat through the Bay of Bengal and the other of refugees making their way along the shore, taken by Siddiqui, are among the pictures shot by a Reuters team that won the Pulitzer prize for feature photography on Tuesday for images documenting the Rohingya refugee crisis.
2/10
Reuters
Crossing the border
The pictures were shot by Siddiqui in September 2017. He was part of a team of journalists that captured images of the refugees at their most vulnerable -- mourning mothers, scarred children and survivors of violent attacks.
In pic: Smoke is seen on the Myanmar border as Rohingya refugees walk on the shore after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border by boat (Reuters photo by Danish Siddiqui that was part of series that won Pulitzer for feature photography)
The latest crackdown by authorities and Buddhist civilians against the Rohingya population in Myanmar's Rakhine state has created a mass exodus of over 600,000 Rohingya children, women and men who fled their homes at the end of 2017.
In pic: Rohingya refugees cross the Naf River with an improvised raft to reach to Bangladesh in Teknaf, Bangladesh (Part of Reuters series that won Pulitzer for feature photography)
4/10
Reuters
Fight for aid
The refugees have reported killings, rape and arson on a large scale, and senior United Nations officials have described the violence against the Muslim Rohingya population as a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing."
In pic: Rohingya refugees scramble for aid at a camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh (Part of Reuters series that won Pulitzer for feature photography)
5/10
Reuters
Fleeing for life
Siddiqui shot the pictures in September 2017, back when the Myanmar military had set thousands of Rohingya homes ablaze, displacing thousands of Rohingya Muslims -hence the ‘fires’ he spotted on the horizon.
In pic: Rohingya siblings fleeing violence hold one another as they cross the Naf River along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Palong Khali, near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh (Part of Reuters series that won Pulitzer for feature photography)
Reuters has covered the plight of the Rohingya since 2012, but in 2017 it became clear that the scale of this exodus was far larger than previous migrations.
In pic: Hamida, a Rohingya refugee woman, weeps as she holds her 40-day-old son after he died as their boat capsized before arriving on shore in Shah Porir Dwip, Teknaf, Bangladesh (Part of Reuters series that won Pulitzer for feature photography).
7/10
Reuters
Final journey
Siddiqui said that hundreds of Rohingyas perished while making the treacherous journey to Bangladesh on flimsy crafts – an escape that costs these destitute passengers hundreds of dollars. “When they can’t pay, smugglers loot them of their remaining belongings.” With the violence showing no signs of abating, human rights groups expect many more to attempt the dangerous crossing.
In pic: Betel leaves cover the face of 11-month-old Rohingya refugee Abdul Aziz whose wrapped body lay in his family shelter after he died battling high fever and cough at the Balukhali refugee camp near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh (Part of Reuters series that won Pulitzer for feature photography)
8/10
Reuters
Signs of hope
Siddiqui, who studied Economics at Jamia University, Delhi, and then followed it up with a mass communications course, started his journalism career as a news correspondent, and switched to photography in 2009. He joined Reuters in 2010 and has since photographed the destruction in Mosul, and the devastation caused by the earthquake in Nepal in 2015 among others. Siddiqui plans to return to Bangladesh soon to chronicle the tragedy as it continues to unfold. “The makeshift camps the refugees are living in are built on muddy hills. It’s a disaster waiting to happen,” he said.
In pic: Rohingya refugee children fly improvised kites at the Kutupalong refugee camp near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh (Part of Reuters series that won Pulitzer for feature photography)
