{"id":51773,"date":"2025-08-08T01:48:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T01:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/51773\/"},"modified":"2025-08-08T01:48:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T01:48:07","slug":"police-raid-kashmir-bookshops-after-india-bans-titles-for-secessionism-censorship-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/51773\/","title":{"rendered":"Police raid Kashmir bookshops after India bans titles for \u2018secessionism\u2019 | Censorship News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Police in Indian-administered Kashmir<\/a> have raided bookshops after authorities earlier this week banned 25 books, saying works like those by Booker Prize-winning writer Arundhati Roy propagate \u201cfalse narratives\u201d and \u201csecessionism\u201d in the contested Muslim-majority region.<\/p>\n

In compliance with the order, police officials on Thursday also searched roadside book vendors and other establishments dealing in printed publications in the main city of Srinagar and across multiple locations in the region to confiscate the banned literature, police said. However, officials didn\u2019t specify if they had seized any such material.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe operation targeted materials promoting secessionist ideologies or glorifying terrorism,\u201d police said in a social media statement. \u201cPublic cooperation is solicited to uphold peace and integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The raids came after the government accused the writers of propagating \u201cfalse narratives\u201d about Kashmir, \u201cwhile playing a critical role in misguiding the youth\u201d against the Indian state<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Authorities on Thursday also seized Islamic literature from bookshops and homes after a similar directive in February.<\/p>\n

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947. Both claim the Himalayan territory in full.<\/p>\n

Rebel groups have fought since 1989 against the Indian rule of Kashmir, demanding independence or its merger with Pakistan.<\/p>\n

Since 2019, Indian authorities have increasingly criminalised dissent and shown no tolerance for any narrative that questions India\u2019s sovereignty over Kashmir.<\/p>\n

The order banning the books was issued by the region\u2019s Home Department on Tuesday \u2013 the six-year anniversary<\/a> of New Delhi\u2019s imposition of direct rule \u2013 although the ban took time to be brought to wider attention.<\/p>\n

The ban threatens people with prison time for selling or owning works by constitutional expert AG Noorani and noted academicians and historians like Sumantra Bose, Christopher Snedden and Victoria Schofield, among others.<\/p>\n

The order declared the 25 books \u201cforfeit\u201d under India\u2019s new criminal code of 2023, effectively banning the works from circulation, possession and access within the Himalayan region.<\/p>\n

Bose, a political scientist and author whose book Kashmir at the Crossroads was among the banned works, rejected \u201cany and all defamatory slurs\u201d on his work, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have worked on Kashmir \u2013 among many other subjects \u2013 since 1993,\u201d Bose said. \u201cThroughout, my chief objective has been to identify pathways to peace so that all violence ends and a stable future free of fear and war can be enjoyed by the people of the conflict region, of India as a whole, and the subcontinent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am a committed and principled advocate of peaceful approaches and resolutions to armed conflicts, be it in Kashmir or elsewhere in the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Roy\u2019s 2020 book of essays, Azadi: Freedom, Fascism, Fiction, was also included in the ban.<\/p>\n

Roy, 63, is one of India\u2019s most famous living authors, but her writing and activism, including her trenchant criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s government, have made her a polarising figure.<\/p>\n

Historian Siddiq Wahid said the edict contravenes the constitution, \u201cwhich allows for the freedoms of speech and expression\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe list of banned books numbers several that are authored and published by individuals and institutions whose reputations depend on supplying evidence, logic and argument towards the conclusions they draw,\u201d Wahid told the AFP news agency. \u201cDoes that count for anything anymore?\u201d<\/p>\n

Indian-administered Kashmir elected a new government<\/a> in September and October, its first since it was brought under New Delhi\u2019s direct control, with voters backing opposition parties to lead its regional assembly.<\/p>\n

However, the local government has limited powers, and the territory continues in practical terms to be governed by a New Delhi-appointed administrator.<\/p>\n

Chief cleric and separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said the ban \u201conly exposes the insecurities and limited understanding of those behind such authoritarian actions\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBanning books by scholars and reputed historians will not erase historical facts and the repertoire of lived memories of people of Kashmir,\u201d Farooq said on the social media platform X.<\/p>\n

Banning books by scholars and reputed historians will not erase historical facts and the repertoire of lived memories of people of Kashmir. It only exposes the insecurities and limited understanding of those behind such authoritarian actions, and the contradiction in proudly\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 Mirwaiz Umar Farooq (@MirwaizKashmir) August 7, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

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