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Middle East Eye
07-08-2025
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Kashmir: India bans books by prominent writers over alleged 'secessionist' content
Indian authorities banned 25 books in Kashmir on Wednesday, including several written by prominent authors, alleging they promote "false narratives" about the contested territory and "incite secessionism". The New Delhi-run Home Department issued a notification which accused the books and authors of playing "a critical role in misguiding the youth, glorifying terrorism and inciting violence" against the Indian state. The ban listed 25 books it said had "been identified that propagate false narrative and secessionism", including Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy's Azadi: Freedom, Fascism, Fiction; The Kashmir Dispute 1947–2012 by A G Noorani and US-based academic Hafsa Kanjwal's Colonizing Kashmir: State-building Under Indian Occupation. The government alleged that the content of the books "would deeply impact the psyche of youth by promoting a culture of grievance, victimhood and terrorist heroism". Kanjwal, an associate professor of South Asian History at Lafayette College, told Middle East Eye that the government's ban "reveals the deep insecurity at the heart of its settler colonial project in Kashmir". New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters "On one hand, it hosts events like the Chinar Book Festival, urging Kashmiri youth to read and celebrate literature. On the other, it aggressively censors the kinds of stories and histories Kashmiris are allowed to access," the award-winning academic said. "This contradiction is central to how settler colonialism operates: through erasure and replacement. Erasure of memory, history, and identity combined with a long-standing effort by the Indian state to overwrite Kashmir's past and replace it with a narrative that legitimises its control. The book ban must be seen in this broader context," she added. Attacks on human rights and freedom of expression have escalated since 2019, when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government unilaterally stripped Kashmir of its decades-long autonomy and statehood. Book seizures in Indian-controlled Kashmir spark fears of religious censorship Read More » Earlier this year, Indian authorities seized more than 600 books by or about Syed Abul A'la Maududi, a noted twentieth-century Islamic scholar and founder of Jamaat-e-Islami, one of the largest religious organisations in the Indian subcontinent. "Banning books is a defining feature of fascist regimes that fear truth and people's capacities to question state-imposed histories," Mona Bhan, a professor of anthropology at Syracuse University told MEE. "The recent move to ban books marks yet another assault on Kashmiri identity and history, reflecting the broader impunity with which India has exercised control over Kashmir since 1947," she said. "These bans are intended to suppress critical thinking and credible scholarship on Kashmir, making way for state-sanctioned narratives to dominate the Indian public," she added. Kashmir has remained at the heart of a decades-long dispute between nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan, both of which claim the territory in full but control separate parts. Since 1989, the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir has been in a state of insurgency, with tens of thousands of people arrested, brutalised or killed. Kashmiris widely view the armed revolt as a legitimate freedom struggle. The United Nations views the territory as disputed between India and Pakistan, with several resolutions maintaining the Kashmiri people's right to self-determination and calling for a resolution to the dispute through a UN-monitored plebiscite.
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
India's Modi aims for stronger energy, defence ties with Sri Lanka visit
By Shivam Patel and Uditha Jayasinghe NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India is looking to strengthen energy and defence ties with Sri Lanka and promote investments during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's two-day state visit to the island nation, where New Delhi competes with China for greater influence. Modi, set to arrive on Friday evening, will be the first global leader hosted by Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake after he took office in September. Sri Lanka is keen to attract foreign investment to stabilise its economy after a financial crisis in 2022, during which India provided $4 billion in financial assistance. India is also one of Sri Lanka's key bilateral lenders, which agreed to restructure about $1.36 billion in loans after the island nation defaulted on its debt in May 2022. "Prime Minister Modi's visit aims to strengthen the longstanding ties between Sri Lanka and India," the Sri Lankan president's office said in a statement. The visit will see pacts signed on key sectors such as energy, digitalisation, security, healthcare, as well as agreements related to India's debt restructuring assistance for Sri Lanka, it added. At their first meeting in New Delhi in December, the leaders discussed investments in Sri Lanka and plans for India to supply liquefied natural gas to Sri Lanka and help link power grids. The talks also featured development of a regional energy and industrial hub in eastern Trincomalee. In January, Dissanayake said the two were in talks on building an oil refinery there as a joint venture focusing on exports, domestic media said. When completed, the project would stoke competition between India and China, whose state energy firm Sinopec has signed a deal to build a $3.2-billion oil refinery in Sri Lanka's southern port city of Hambantota. New Delhi-run Indian Oil Corp is already the second biggest fuel supplier after state-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corp. India's foreign ministry did not comment on whether the proposed Trincomalee refinery will figure in this week's talks. It told reporters in a briefing ahead of the visit that Modi would join in a ceremony to break ground for a 120-megawatt solar power project of the Ceylon Electricity Board and India's National Thermal Power Corporation. The ministry said it hoped to wrap up an agreement on defence cooperation with Sri Lanka. December's discussions had envisioned provision of arms to Sri Lanka to boost its defence capability.
Reuters
04-04-2025
- Business
- Reuters
India's Modi aims for stronger energy, defence ties with Sri Lanka visit
NEW DELHI, April 4 (Reuters) - India is looking to strengthen energy and defence ties with Sri Lanka and promote investments during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's two-day state visit to the island nation, where New Delhi competes with China for greater influence. Modi, set to arrive on Friday evening, will be the first global leader hosted by Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake after he took office in September. here. Sri Lanka is keen to attract foreign investment to stabilise its economy after a financial crisis in 2022, during which India provided $4 billion in financial assistance. India is also one of Sri Lanka's key bilateral lenders, which agreed to restructure about $1.36 billion in loans after the island nation defaulted on its debt in May 2022. "Prime Minister Modi's visit aims to strengthen the longstanding ties between Sri Lanka and India," the Sri Lankan president's office said in a statement. The visit will see pacts signed on key sectors such as energy, digitalisation, security, healthcare, as well as agreements related to India's debt restructuring assistance for Sri Lanka, it added. At their first meeting in New Delhi in December, the leaders discussed investments in Sri Lanka and plans for India to supply liquefied natural gas to Sri Lanka and help link power grids. The talks also featured development of a regional energy and industrial hub in eastern Trincomalee. In January, Dissanayake said the two were in talks on building an oil refinery there as a joint venture focusing on exports, domestic media said. When completed, the project would stoke competition between India and China, whose state energy firm Sinopec ( opens new tab has signed a deal to build a $3.2-billion oil refinery in Sri Lanka's southern port city of Hambantota. New Delhi-run Indian Oil Corp is already the second biggest fuel supplier after state-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corp. India's foreign ministry did not comment on whether the proposed Trincomalee refinery will figure in this week's talks. It told reporters in a briefing ahead of the visit that Modi would join in a ceremony to break ground for a 120-megawatt solar power project of the Ceylon Electricity Board and India's National Thermal Power Corporation ( opens new tab. The ministry said it hoped to wrap up an agreement on defence cooperation with Sri Lanka. December's discussions had envisioned provision of arms to Sri Lanka to boost its defence capability.
