A day after the Jammu and Kashmir administration announced a ban on 25 books, police on Thursday launched a massive drive across the Kashmir Valley to seize them from bookstores.
Lt Governor Manoj Sinha’s administration had on Wednesday banned the publication of 25 books on Kashmir, saying they propagate “false narrative and secessionism in Jammu and Kashmir”.
On Thursday, police teams scanned through bookstores from north to south Kashmir looking for the books that were banned by the Home Department. Police said several volumes were seized.
Wednesday’s notification said that the Home Department had identified 25 books that “need to be declared as ‘forfeited’ in terms of Section 98 of Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023”.
The books include political commentaries and historical accounts. While one of them was published in Pakistan, most were published in India. Among them were ‘The Kashmir Dispute 914-2012’ by noted constitutional expert A G Noorani, ‘Kashmir at Crossroads’ and ‘Contested Lands’ by Sumantra Bose, ‘In Search of Future — The Kashmir Story’ by David Devdas, Arundhati Roy’s ‘Azadi’, and ‘A Dismantled State — The Untold Story of Kashmir After Article 370’ by journalist Anuradha Bhasin.
The decision to ban the books has attracted severe criticism from political leaders in the Valley.
Former chief minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti said banning books would not erase history.
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“Democracy thrives on the free exchange of ideas. Banning books cannot erase history; it only fuels division,” Mufti said in a post on X. “In Kashmir, suppressing democratic voices and fundamental freedoms deepens alienation and mistrust. Censorship doesn’t silence ideas, it amplifies their resonance,” she said.
Hurriyat chairman and the Kashmir’s chief cleric, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, said the decision “exposes the insecurities and limited understanding” of the authorities.
“Banning books by scholars and reputed historians will not erase historical facts and the repertoire of lived memories of the people of Kashmir,” the Mirwaiz said, adding, “It only exposes the insecurities and limited understanding of those behind such authoritarian actions, and the contradiction in proudly hosting the ongoing Book Festival to showcase its literary commitment.”
The J-K Police had raided bookshops in the Valley earlier also, and seized books related to Jamat-e-Islami.
