Police have stepped up raids to seize the literature of the banned outfit Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) in Kashmir in the last week, months after 25 books were banned for promoting secessionist activities.
Critics have described the action of book bans and curbs on holding peaceful rallies by political parties as a means of censorship.
The authorities have, however, said that such measures have been taken to prevent secessionism and to maintain the peace in the region.
A large bookshop that sells Islamic books remains tucked in the corner of a small lane in Srinagar’s Maisuma area, which is dotted with repair and spare parts shops for vehicles. A few months back, when the police raided several shops across Srinagar to find out whether they sold books that they saw promoted Islamic radicalism or secessionism, the bookshop that is known by the name of Chinar Publications returned titles of the late Islamic scholar Abul A'la al-Maududi, who founded Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) in India, to distributors in Delhi.
Several of the books written by Maududi were returned to the distributors in Delhi by other booksellers in Kashmir, before the Jammu and Kashmir government issued an order in August this year to ban 25 books for “propagating false narrative and secessionism.”
Maududi’s book Al Jihadul fil Islam (Jehad and Islam) has been banned by the authorities, but several of his other works, which are not on the banned list, remain unavailable in Kashmir. On November 27, Srinagar police issued a statement, stating that “in sustained effort to strengthen the security environment and maintain public order,” they conducted searches at multiple locations linked to associates and organisations affiliated with JeI. Police also named Chinar Publication Trust, Maisuma, among the places where searches were conducted.
Mohammad Ashraf, a salesman at Chinar Publications, says that they returned the books of Maududi a few months back. He, however, says that they were not selling any JeI literature and were surprised after they came across their name in the newspapers linking them to the JeI outfit. “We don’t sell any of the books of Maududi or any other books that promote radical thoughts,” he says, while pointing towards the large steel racks on which the Islamic books, including one written by a British writer, remained stacked up. “We have 2000-300 titles here, and we sell only the Islamic books,” he adds.
In Kashmir, in the past few months, police have stepped up raids on the bookshops and the residences of those who were associated with the JeI. Authorities have barred rallies by the political parties on such issues as statehood for Jammu and Kashmir or paying homage to the people who fought Dogra rule, while advertisements to newspapers have also been stopped. Political parties have described these measures as a growing crackdown on “dissenting views in Kashmir.”
On November 21, police raided the office of the Kashmir Times newspaper and claimed to have recovered arms and ammunition, including 1 Revolver and 3 AK rounds. However, its owners have described these raids as targeted attacks to “ silence us."
In August this year, authorities banned 25 books, including one by Booker Prize author Arundhati Roy. Several booksellers say that the authorities seized books which were not in the banned list to find out whether they carried content that promoted separatism in Kashmir.
“A day after police issued the list to ban books, they carried out the raids at our shop. But they also seized several other books, which were not on the banned list and told us they wanted to check whether they contained content that promoted separatism,” says a book shop owner in Srinagar, on the condition of anonymity. He notes that the raids have made them wary about keeping a large stock of books on Kashmir. “We are not making bulk orders because if the banned list were expanded, we would end up footing heavy losses. Last time when our books were seized, police told us that they wouldn’t act against us, but we were informed that if we kept the books, we would face a case,” he says.
Sani Yasnain, who runs a bookstore in the Lal Chowk area of Srinagar, says that they are not selling the books which are on the banned list or any of the titles by Maududi.
Author and journalist Zafar Choudhary says that some books figured in the banned list, even as they either reproduced government documents or were by authors who have spoken and written in the national interest. “The authorities have also banned the books of Maroof Raza, who has written books which promote a nationalistic perspective. Also in the banned list is the book by A.G. Noorani, whose books are a compendium of government documents with little commentary,” he says.
About whether the government has drawn the red line over the publishing of books on Kashmir, Choudhary says, “ I don’t think that there is a red line that can be set on Kashmir that defines the boundaries of what should be written or avoided. When the PDP and BJP framed an Agenda Of Alliance, it mentioned that talks would be started with Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir dispute. Anyone advocating talks with Pakistan would be seen as seditious in today’s time,” he adds.
Law Secretary Achal Sethi, however, says that the book ban has come after the government found that the “published material was seditious in nature.” The Jammu and Kashmir High Court is also hearing the plea against the ban. However, Sethi says that the government has, in its response before the Court, submitted that the books were banned as they advocated a secessionist narrative. “The JeI literature was being seized as the organisation has been banned by the government,” he says.
Among the books which have been banned are those in the following list:
Contested Lands by author Sumantra Bose
A note about the book by the sellers says that it examines the peace processes in Israel-Palestine, Kashmir, Bosnia, Cyprus, and Sri Lanka and how durable peace can be achieved in these territories.
In Search of a Future (The Story of Kasimir) by David Devadas
The book not only explores the “ideological causes” of violence from 1931 to 2007, but also talks about religion-based political mobilisation in both Pakistan and India.
Kashmir in Conflict by Victoria Schofield
The book “examines the Kashmir conflict in its historical context,” and the reason it is a major flashpoint posing a nuclear threat to the entire world. It traces the origins of the state in the 19th century and the 20th-century clashes between “Muslim and Hindu interests now culminating in the threat of a major war”.
A Dismantled State (The Untold Story of Kashmir after Article 370) by Anuradha Bhasin
The book talks about the events that unfolded in Kashmir after August 5, 2019, when Articles 370 and 35A were revoked. It narrates how the military presence was increased, roads sealed, and the internet suspended ahead of the revocation of Kashmir’s special status in a show of “ authoritarianism.”
Apart from the book ban, the authorities have placed curbs on the political parties in taking out protest rallies on several matters, while the advertisements for some newspapers have also been stopped.
Kashmiri author, Sheikh Khalid Jehangir, however, says that the political parties were targeting the current dispensation even when in the previous governments, a newspaper was banned, while media offices were raided too. “Was a newspaper not banned in Kashmir in the earlier government? Weren't the newspaper offices raided and media houses barred from carrying out work? It has happened even during the PDP and NC rule,” he adds.
An editor of a local Kashmiri daily, however, says on condition of anonymity that the authorities have slashed the advertisements to his media house, which has made it difficult for him to run the publication. He adds that he has been repeatedly asked to clarify his circulation figures and prove whether he was publishing the number of copies which were earlier certified by the government. “This was not the case before the revocation of Article 370,” the editor adds.
However, Choudhary says that the newspaper owners in Kashmir need to pursue independent models of journalism rather than depend on government advertisements for survival. “ You can’t run a newspaper by depending only on the government advertisements. One can’t claim to be running an independent media house and take on the government if their advertisement revenue is the only source of survival,” he says.
BJP general secretary (organisation), Ashok Koul, however, says that the party has promoted democratic values in Kashmir and only those people are facing action who are doing the work that “ compromises with the sovereignty and integrity of the country.”
“ BJP is trying to put the history in the right perspective. PM Modi is telling the world what the real message of Veer Bal Diwas is and what the real message of Guru Tegh Bahadur, who sacrificed his life for a noble cause. History was wrongly being projected earlier,” he says.
Congress leader, G N Monga, however, says that the BJP has imposed an “undeclared emergency in Jammu and Kashmir. “
“There are curbs on the political parties, and we are being denied permissions to hold the peaceful protests. The means which are being adopted are undemocratic, and the peaceful protests are even crushed through violence in Kashmir,” he adds.
