Police raid IIOJK bookshops after India bans 25 titles for ‘secessionism’

OCCUPIED SRINAGAR: Police in IIOJK raided bookshops on Thursday after authorities banned 25 books, including one by Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy, saying the titles “excite secessionism” in the contested Muslim-majority region.

The raids came after the government accused the writers of propagating “false narratives” about Kashmir, “while playing a critical role in misguiding the youth” against the Indian state.

“The operation targeted materials promoting secessionist ideologies or glorifying terrorism,” police said in a social media statement.

“Public cooperation is solicited to uphold peace and integrity,” it said.

Authorities also seized Islamic literature from bookshops and homes after a similar directive in February.

The order banning the books was issued on Tuesday — the six-year anniversary of New Delhi’s imposition of direct rule — although the ban took time to be brought to wider attention.

Chief cleric and separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said the ban “only exposes the insecurities and limited understanding of those behind such authoritarian actions”. “Banning books by scholars and reputed historians will not erase historical facts and the repertoire of lived memories of people of Kashmir,” Farooq said on social media platform X.