Brave, empathetic towards the ache on the planet, but skilled about his and his household’s security — that is how Danish Siddiqui’s father remembered him, the day he received his second Pulitzer prize.
“We feel proud of him but we miss him,” stated Akhtar Siddiqui, father of photojournalist Danish Siddiqui, who was killed whereas overlaying a battle in Afghanistan final 12 months.
Siddiqui, 38, was on an task in Afghanistan July final 12 months when he acquired caught in crossfire whereas overlaying clashes between the Afghan troops and the Taliban in Spin Boldak district of Kandahar metropolis.
This is for the second time that the Reuters journalist has received the Pulitzer Prize.
He was honoured with the distinguished award additionally in 2018 as a part of the Reuters workforce for his or her protection of the Rohingya disaster. He had extensively lined the Afghanistan battle, the Hong Kong protests, and different main occasions in Asia, Middle East, and Europe.
“It’s a mixed feeling. He would have been certainly happy knowing about this award. He has made us proud, his family proud and the journalistic community proud through his dedication, hard work, value-based work,” his father advised PTI over telephone.
He stated his son has been immortalised by his work.
“The world is honouring him. He was awarded by the Boston University in April this year. Before that he was also given other awards. The world is recognising his work, his contribution. Unfortunately he is not there to continue his work and contribution. We have been receiving lots of messages since morning. He is being respectfully remembered,” the senior Siddiqui stated.
The household has arrange the Danish Siddiqui Foundation to honour his legacy.
Recalling his son’s work in the course of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, he stated that regardless of every kind of well being dangers, Danish carried on working.
“He went around the country, in the hospitals, in the Covid-19 wards, mortuaries, graveyards. He overworked during those days. His view was to show how the people were suffering and to let the world know about it so that we could collectively help people come out of this great disaster,” he stated.
“He took the risk at the cost of his personal health and his family. Nothing deterred him from discharging his duties,” he stated.
Akhtar Siddiqui stated that his son was nonetheless, very cautious, about guaranteeing the protection of his two babies and his aged mother and father.
“He used to wear double body gear, change in the hospital before leaving for home. After returning home, he used to take a bath in a bathroom outside and would then come inside and stay in a separate room. The children got infected but they recovered soon. He used to take maximum care. He also contracted the infection but it was mild,” he stated.
The journalist additionally averted visiting his mother and father who stayed 5 to 6 kilometres away, and when he did go to them, he would confine himself to a separate room and talk from there.
Danish Siddiqui travelled to distant areas in Bhagalpur, in Uttarakhand, hung out within the Covid wards, and adopted tales wherever they took him, even to the mortuaries and to the graveyards.
“It was very traumatic for him also. Sometimes he used to share it. But the next morning he would be up for the job again. He was emotionally hit very deeply at that time and would say that he has never seen human suffering of that magnitude. He saw many things at that time that were hard to talk about,” Siddiqui stated.
Source: www.financialexpress.com”