Arundhati Roy to Noorani, J&K Home Dept bans publication of 25 books on Kashmir: ‘Propagating secessionism'
A notification issued by the Principal Secretary of the Home Department, Chandraker Bharti, by order of Lieutenant-Governor Manoj Sinha, said: '…it has come to the notice of the Government, that certain literature propagates false narrative and secessionism in Jammu and Kashmir… This literature would deeply impact the psyche of youth by promoting (a) culture of grievance, victimhood and terrorist heroism.'
'Some of the means by which this literature has contributed to the radicalization of youth in J&K include distortion of historical facts, glorification of terrorists, vilification of security forces, religious radicalization, promotion of alienation, pathway to violence and terrorism etc,' said the notification.
It identified 25 books 'found to excite secessionism and endangering sovereignty and integrity of India, thereby, attracting the provisions of Sections 152, 196 & 197 of Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023'.
The books include political commentaries and historical accounts such as The Kashmir Dispute 1947-2012 by noted constitutional expert Noorani, Kashmir at the Crossroads and Contested Lands by Sumantra Bose, In Search of a Future: The Kashmir Story by David Devadas, Roy's Azadi and A Dismantled State: The Untold Story of Kashmir After Article 370 by journalist Anuradha Bhasin.
According to the notification, the government has declared that publication of these books and their copies or other documents 'need to be declared as 'forfeited' in terms of Section 98 of Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023'.
The international books that were banned include Kashmiri-American author Hafsa Kanjwal's Colonizing Kashmir: State-building Under Indian occupation, Haley Duschinski's Resisting Occupation in Kashmir, Victoria Schofield's Kashmir in Conflict and Christopher Snedden's Independent Kashmir.
Seema Kazi's Between Democracy & Nation: Gender and Militarisation in Kashmir, Essar Batool's Do you Remember Kunan Poshpora? and Ather Zia's Resisting Disappearance: Military Occupation and Women's Activism in Kashmir have been banned.
The publication of Jamaat-e-Islami founder Moulana Abul A'la Maududi Maududi's Al Jihad fil Islam and Muslim Brotherhood founder Hasan al-Banna's Mujahid ki Azan are among the banned books.
The other banned books include Law and Conflict Resolution in Kashmir by Piotr Balcerowicz and Agnieszka Kuszewska, USA and Kashmir by Dr Shamshad Shan and Tariki-i-Siyasat Kashmir by Dr Afaq. The complete list is below:
1. Human Rights Violations in Kashmir
Piotr Balcerowicz and in Agnieszka Kuszewska
Routledge (Manohar Publishers & Distributors)
2. Kashmiris Fight for Freedom
Mohd Yosuf Saraf
Feroze Sons Pakistan
3. Colonizing Kashmir: State-Building under Indian occupation
Hafsa Kanjwal
Stanford University Press
4. Kashmir Politics and Plebiscite
Dr. Abdul Gockhami Jabbar
Gulshan Books Kashmir
5. Do You Remember Kunan Poshpora?
Essar Batool & others
Zubaan Books
6. Mujahid ki Azan
Imam Hasan Al-Bana Shaheed, edited by Maulan Mohammad Enayatullah Subhani
Markazi Maktaba Islami Publishers Delhi
7. Al Jihadul fil Islam
Moulana Moudadi
Darul Musannifeen-Markazi Maktaba Islami Publishers Delhi
8. Independent Kashmir
Christopher Snedden
Manchester University Press and Sanctum Books Delhi
9. Resisting Occupation in Kashmir
Haley Duschinski, Mona in Bhat, Ather Zia and Cynthia Mahmood
University of Pennsylvania Press
10. Between Democracy & Nation: Gender and Militarisation in Kashmir
Seema Kazi
Oxford University Press
11. Contested Lands
Sumantra Bose
Harper Collins India
12. In Search of a Future: The Story of Kashmir
David Devadas
Viking Penguin
13. Kashmir in Conflict: India, Pakistan and the Unending War
Victoria Schofield
Bloomsbury India Academic
14. The Kashmir Dispute: 1947-2012
A G Noorani
Tulika Books
15. Kashmir at the Crossroads: Inside a 21st-Century Conflict
Sumantra Bose
Pan Macmillian India
16. A Dismantled State: The Untold Story of Kashmir after Article 370
Anuradha Bhasin
Harper Collins India
17. Resisting Disappearance: Military Occupation & Women's Activism in Kashmir
Ather Zia
Zubaan
18. Confronting Terrorism
Edited by Maroof Raza
Penguin India
19. Freedom in Captivity: Negotiations of belonging along Kashmiri Frontier
Radhika Gupta
Cambridge University Press
20. Kashmir: The Case for Freedom
Tariq Ali, Hilal Bhatt, Angana P. Chatterji, Pankaj Mishra and Arundhati Roy
Verso Books
21. Azadi
Arundhati Roy
Penguin India
22. USA and Kashmir
Dr. Shamshad Shan
Gulshan Books
23. Law & Conflict Resolution in Kashmir
Piotr Balcerowicz and Agnieszka Kuszewska
Routledge
24. Tarikh-i-Siyasat Kashmir
Dr. Afaq
Karwan-e-Tahqiq-o-Saqafat Kashmir
25. Kashmir & the future of South Asia
Edited by Sugata Bose & Ayesha Jalal
Routledge
Bashaarat Masood is a Special Correspondent with The Indian Express. He has been covering Jammu and Kashmir, especially the conflict-ridden Kashmir valley, for two decades. Bashaarat joined The Indian Express after completing his Masters in Mass Communication and Journalism from the University in Kashmir. He has been writing on politics, conflict and development. Bashaarat was awarded with the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards in 2012 for his stories on the Pathribal fake encounter. ... Read More
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