By Jehangir Ali
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.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.
