Photojournalists capture tragedies that remain etched in their memories: Kashmiri journalist

By Hilal Mir

SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir (AA) - Photojournalists document harrowing events around the globe, carrying the emotional impact of their subjects with them for the rest of their lives, said an accomplished multimedia journalist from Indian-administered Kashmir.

“The destruction, pain and ineffable grief is etched in our minds also, much like the images,” said Wasim Nabi, who has reported for TRT World, Euronews, The National, Voice of America and others.

Wasim made the remarks after voting in Anadolu's Photos of the Year contest from a small cafe in Srinagar, the capital of the Indian-administered Kashmir, picking Mustafa Hassona’s heartbreaking image of a man in Gaza sobbing while holding a dead baby in his arms.

“As photographers, every situation brings loads of challenges with it. All we do is simply surrender to the moment, its ambiguities, and tell the stories,” he said.

The 33-year-old journalist said Hassona's photo in the “Gaza: Evidence” category shows “the devastation and genocide in one frame”

“The person who carries the dead in the frame, exhausted, is perched between hopelessness and never-ending grief. I am ashamed as a human to witness the newly born, toddlers and children being killed while the whole world is silently allowing this genocide,” said Wasim, who has often been the among the first witnesses of equally grim moments in his homeland, where thousands of people have been killed in the raging 33-year-old anti-India insurgency.

Anadolu recently published a book titled “The Evidence” containing images that expose possibly criminal actions by the Israeli army in Gaza. South Africa is using the photo evidence at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to argue its case.

South Africa has filed an application with the court which concerns “alleged violations by Israel of its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in relation to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip," the ICJ said in a press release.

Sheikh Showkat Hussain, a professor of law who has taught at the University of Kashmir and the Central University of Kashmir, said an adverse decision at the ICJ can become a basis for the UN to refer the case to the International Criminal Court. Israel is not a party to the ICC, but it is a party to the Genocide Convention.

“The world actually desires an ICC trial,” he said.

Wasim also picked Gerald Anderson's photo of a woman near a garbage dumpsite in the Environment category.

“This picture is heartbreaking. As a photographer, the most difficult task is documenting unhealthy workplaces and the people in and around them. I voted for this picture as it reflects a dangerous and unhealthy way of survival,” he said.

Frequent exposure to the grimness of life in conflict zones often traumatizes photographers, says Wasim, but there are also moments of hope.

A picture by Ercin Erturk of a woman with an assault rifle in the middle of a sunflower field struck Wasim as one such “hopeful” image.

“It shows there is still hope in the middle of war and destruction. While the war between Russia and Ukraine rages, there is still hope for peaceful days. The world is a strange place. It carries war and peace within,” he said.

Wasim found similar hope in a photo by Sergei Gapon in the Sports category which shows a man unfurling a Palestinian flag with the message “Stop the Killing of Children in Gaza” on a football field during a UEFA Champions League match in Copenhagen.

“The picture is the perfect reminder to the world to wake up and stand up for the weak. In the middle of a football match, a man reminded the world that ‘there is a genocide going on in Gaza.’ This is heartening,” he said.