In yet another draconian measure to muzzle dissent, the Indian authorities in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) have banned 25 books, labeling them as “secessionist literature” , US newspaper New York Times reported.
The blacklist includes works by renowned Kashmiri writers, journalists, academics and international authors whose writings examine the history, politics, human rights abuses and lived experiences of people in the occupied territory.
Among the banned titles is a book chronicling the decades-long struggle of Kashmiri women searching for their disappeared loved ones, an academic work on how history and politics shaped one of South Asia’s longest conflicts, and a journalist’s account of democracy under threat in Kashmir.
According to the NYT report, the move comes with immediate legal consequences: circulation, possession, or access to these books in the territory is now a criminal offense punishable with years of imprisonment. While the enforcement of the ban is questionable given the availability of many titles online and outside the region, authorities have already begun removing copies from bookstores.
The ban was announced on the sixth anniversary of the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status on August 5, 2019 — a symbolic timing that authors and analysts say reflects New Delhi’s intensified campaign to erase alternative narratives since the constitutional change. Since then, poets have self-censored their verses, journalists have been jailed, newspapers forcibly shut down, archives deleted, and public discourse increasingly policed.
Earlier this year in February, police carried out coordinated raids on bookstores across Srinagar and other districts, seizing 668 books. The crackdown deepened following an April attack in the territory, after which Indian troops detained thousands and demolished homes of people accused of militant links — a pattern of collective punishment repeatedly documented in IIOJK.
The US paper interviewed several people including the authors to ascertain their opinion on the book ban.
