Authors, Activists, Parties Protest J&K Admin's Ban on 25 Books For ‘Promoting Secessionism’

Srinagar: A day after 25 books on Jammu and Kashmir were banned, prominent civil society activists, free speech campaigners, political parties and others protested the decision and urged the Union territory administration to withdraw the ban.

Terming the move as a ‘suppression of dissent’, an ‘expression of authoritarianism’ and a ‘muzzling of democratic voices’, they also called on the Union government led by the BJP to “prevent the abuse of human rights in Jammu and Kashmir” by restoring its statehood.

However, the Jammu and Kashmir police started implementing the ban order by raiding several bookstores in parts of the Kashmir valley, including the capital Srinagar, on Thursday (August 7) “to identify, seize and forfeit any literature that propagates or systematically disseminates false narratives, promotes secessionist ideologies or otherwise poses a threat to the Sovereignty and Unity of India”.

“These measures have been undertaken as part of a broader effort to counter subversive and anti-national content that could incite unrest or undermine National Integrity. The searches were conducted in a peaceful manner, and due legal process was followed,” a spokesperson of the Srinagar district police said.

The ban order was issued on Tuesday by the Jammu and Kashmir home department, which reports directly to lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha.

David Devadas, whose book In Search of a Future - The Story of Kashmir figures in the list of “seditious” titles, said that imposing a ban on books “goes against the grain of our culture and the idea of democracy”.

“History has shown time and time again that book-burning and book-banning constrict the growth of civilisations,” he told The Wire.

Devadas said that his book strongly backed former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's peace initiatives and steps to resolve the Kashmir issue.

“It was hated by those with a vested interest in continued conflict – external and internal forces that gain from the conflict industry. It is anathema to backers of the clash of civilisations agenda. What is mind-boggling is that books that have brought out the truth, exposed conflict entrepreneurs and the strategic moves of foreign powers, and have contributed to peace, should be targeted,” he said.

Also read: 'Burning Knowledge': My Book Is Among Those Banned by the Jammu & Kashmir Administration

Protesting the move, the Forum for Human Rights, an informal group of concerned citizens, said that the decision reflected “another example of the suppression of dissent through censorship”, which has become “widespread across India and has been at its worst in Jammu and Kashmir” after the erstwhile state was bifurcated and downgraded into a Union territory in 2019.

Noting the “strong messaging conveyed by the choice of date of the notification”, which was issued on the fifth anniversary of the reading down of Article 370, the forum warned against “doubling down on the policies of disempowerment” that have been implemented in Jammu and Kashmir since August 2019.

“The notification, which has already been followed by raids on bookshops in Jammu and Kashmir, is an indication that our fears of increasing repression of the people are well-founded. We also fear that in days to come, even possession of the forfeited books will be criminalised. Police raids and claims of possession of incriminating literature are already misused to slap charges under the draconian UAPA [Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act] and PSA [Public Safety Act]. This notification institutionalises that malpractice and must be withdrawn,” the forum said in a statement.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) termed the ban as “another expression of authoritarianism and a brazen attack on the freedom of expression”.

In a statement, the party's Polit Bureau accused lieutenant governor Sinha of “acting as a representative of the BJP-led Union government” and “aggressively curtailing the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Indian constitution”.

“Citing the pretext of aiding ‘secessionism and terrorism’, his administration has imposed a ban on 25 books that explore the history of Kashmir and the roots of its current issues. The CPI(M) demands the immediate revocation of the ban on the books,” the party said in a statement.

The party also demanded statehood for Jammu and Kashmir. “The elected government should be empowered with full administrative authority. Only through such measures can the confidence of the people of Jammu and Kashmir be regained,” the statement added.

Civil rights activist and co-founder of Free Speech Collective Geeta Seshu said that the books by prominent academics, researchers and journalists that have been banned by the Jammu and Kashmir administration – for allegedly promoting ‘a culture of grievance’, ‘victimhood’, ‘alienation’ and ‘terrorist heroism’; ‘distort[ing] historical facts’ and ‘radicalising youth’ – “provide a valuable historical analysis of the conflict in Kashmir”.

“The absurdity doesn't seem to end. Police are looking for books by academics, researchers and journalists in stationery shops and school and college bookstores? Soon education itself will become a ‘radical’ activity. Propaganda and indoctrination will rule,” Seshu said in a post on X.

The ruling National Conference (NC) said that the ban has raised concerns about the state of democracy and free speech in Jammu and Kashmir.

“If there is evidence that these books have incited violence or glorified terrorism, the government is justified in banning them. But banning well-researched, critical works by respected authors like A.G. Noorani raises grave concerns,” NC spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar said.

Noorani’s Kashmir Dispute (1947-2012) figures in the list of banned books along with Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy’s Azadi, British author and historian Victoria Schofield’s Kashmir in Conflict - India, Pakistan and the Unending War and other titles.

Schofield told The Telegraph that the allegations of “promoting false narratives” and “glorifying terrorism” that have been levelled by the home department against her book and others were “patently untrue” and that the ban represented a “dark day” for democracy in India. 

“I believed one of the strengths of India’s liberalism was that the book was in circulation for so many years. Sadly this latest development is not a reflection on the book but on freedom of speech and expression which is being eroded”, she told the London-based daily.

Speaking with The Wire, Waheed Para, a leader of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, said that book bans have been used “not only as a tool of authoritarian control to erase history and intellectual diversity, but an indicator of intensified repression that is to yet to come”.

“This trend was evident in the case of Germany. The way democratic voices and the most basic freedom of thought and expression and personal liberty are being muzzled in Kashmir, the resentment and alienation is bound to take deeper forms. Ideas should be countered by ideas, not censorship. Ideas can never be repressed; you can only make them more relevant by censorship,” Para said.

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