India bans 25 books in IIOJK, over secession claims

Police in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) raided bookshops on Thursday after authorities banned 25 books, including one by Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy, saying the titles “excite secessionism” in the contested Muslim-majority region.

The raids came after the government accused the writers of propagating “false narratives” about Kashmir, “while playing a critical role in misguiding the youth” against the Indian state.

“The operation targeted materials promoting secessionist ideologies or glorifying terrorism,” police said in a social media statement. “Public cooperation is solicited to uphold peace and integrity,” it said.

Authorities also seized Islamic literature from bookshops and homes after a similar directive in February. The order banning the books was issued on Tuesday — the six-year anniversary of New Delhi’s imposition of direct rule — although the ban took time to be brought to wider attention.

Chief cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said the ban “only exposes the insecurities and limited understanding of those behind such authoritarian actions”.

“Banning books by scholars and reputed historians will not erase historical facts and the repertoire of lived memories of people of Kashmir,” Farooq said on social media platform X.

Kashmir elected a new government in November, its first since it was brought under New Delhi’s direct control, with voters backing opposition parties to lead its regional assembly.

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

Read More: Indian Supreme Court to hear plea on restoration of IIOJK’s special status

The ban listed 25 books it said “have been identified that propagate false narrative and secessionism”, including Roy’s 2020 book of essays, “Azadi: Freedom, Fascism, Fiction”.

Roy, 63, is one of India’s most famous living authors, but her writing and activism, including her trenchant criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, has made her a polarising figure at home.

Other books banned include titles by academics, including one of India’s foremost constitution experts A G Noorani, and Sumantra Bose, who teaches political science at the London School of Economics.

Historian Siddiq Wahid said the edict contravenes the constitution, “which allows for the freedoms of speech and expression”.

“The 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,” Wahid told AFP. “Does that count for anything anymore?”