Kashmiri origin journalist gets coveted BBC award
Muhammad Aslam Mir
Muzaffarabad, Jan 28: A senior Kashmiri origin Pakistani
journalist, Zulfiqar Ali working for BBC Urdu and World Service, has been awarded for best reporting in the region.
Ali has been declared winner of
this year’s BBC News Award of best reporting in the West and Central Asia region. Ali has been given this award for “breaking the news of
the US military helicopter crash in Pakistani cantonment city of Abbottabad that turned out to be the raid against Osama bin Laden resulted in his
death”.
Ali hails from Uri Baramulla and is now settled in Muzaffarabad. He is working as a senior correspondent of BBC in
Islamabad.
Director BBC World Service Peter Horrocks, in his message, said: “This was a very difficult story to cover and Zulfikar
Ali’s impressive journalistic nous and commitment to the story paid dividends for Global News and the BBC as a whole.”
Director News
BBC, Helen Boaden said: “This award is a tremendous reflection of how well you (Ali) are perceived by your colleagues.”
Ali is the
first-ever staffer of BBC Urdu Service who has won this prestigious award.
“It is a big day for me. It is as though a dream has come true and
years of my efforts have borne fruit. I would like to share this honour with my colleagues and friends who have always been supportive, cooperative
and helpful,” said Ali.
He has been working for BBC for more than a decade. He has remained posted mostly in Muzaffarabad and is currently
based in Islamabad. He has also worked for different Pakistani print media outlets and the Reuters and AFP news agencies as well. He has covered a
wide range of issues related to politics, Kashmir conflict, society and the environment in Kashmir.
Ali covered all aspects of the Kashmir
conflict, including India-Pakistan relations, the militancy, Kargil conflict, India-Pakistan tension after attack on Indian parliament and the impact
of all this on life in Kashmir.
He also covered the peace process between India and Pakistan and subsequent Confidence Building Measures including
bus and truck service across Line of Control (LoC).
He also contributed to the establishment of first-ever video link organised by BBC Urdu between
the divided Kashmiri families living on both sides of LoC dividing the disputed region of Kashmir.
Besides, he witnessed and extensively covered
the devastating earthquake of 2005 for the BBC and the Reuters.
The earthquake hit the region on October 8, the day he was departing Islamabad for
Delhi to attend a training course. He dropped all travel plans, rushed to the BBC Bureau in Islamabad and was filing initial reports at a time when
his own house in Muzaffarabad had collapsed and his 7 year-old son had been trapped under the rubble for a few hours.
[Rising Kashmir]
Print Version |
