Police in disputed Kashmir raid bookstores, seizing books related to Islamic group

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Police in Indian-controlled Kashmir raided bookstores and seized hundreds of books linked to a major Islamic organization in the disputed region, where strict controls on the press have escalated in recent years.

The raids began on Friday in Srinagar, the region’s main city. Police said in a post on the social media platform X that they acted “based on credible intelligence regarding the clandestine sale and distribution of literature promoting the ideology of a banned organization” and seized 668 books.

According to booksellers, the seized books were mostly published by New Delhi-based Markazi Maktaba Islami Publishers, which is affiliated with the Indian branch of one of the largest Islamic and political organizations in the Indian subcontinent, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind.

Indian authorities banned Jamaat-e-Islami in Kashmir as an “unlawful association” in Feb. 2019, months before New Delhi ended the region’s semi-autonomy in Aug. 2019. In New Delhi’s effort to shape what it calls “Naya Kashmir,” or a “new Kashmir,” the territory’s people have since been largely silenced as India has shown no tolerance for any form of dissent.

Most of the books seized were authored by Abul Ala Maududi, a prominent twentieth-century Islamic scholar and founder of Jamaat-e-Islami who advocated integration of state and religion.

Booksellers in Srinagar said police officers passed by their stores, ordering them to surrender any books by Maududi and to stop selling them in the future. One shopkeeper said he told them the books were available across India and on online platforms, but they refused to entertain any argument and confiscated the books.

More books were seized as police teams also carried out raids in some other parts of Kashmir and conducted “stringent checks” of bookshops “to prevent the circulation of banned literature linked to Jamaat-e-Islami,” a police statement said on Saturday.

“These books were found to be in violation of legal regulations, and strict action is being taken against those found in possession of such material,” police said.

Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety, while militants in the Indian-controlled portion have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels’ goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.

India insists that militancy in Kashmir is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the charge, and many Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.

Jamaat previously sided with the armed rebellion against Indian rule, but in the late 1990s it said it distanced from it and instead advocated political means. During the time, when the rebellion and counterinsurgency measures were at peak, many Kashmiris were detained for keeping such literature. In response, some people got rid of the books while others buried them to protect themselves during anti-rebel raids.

In 2011, authorities filed charges against Kashmir education officials over a textbook for first graders that illustrated the word “tyrant” with a sketch resembling a police official.

Praveen Donthi, senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, said the most recent crackdown “reeks of naivete” and potentially could give such literature new traction by making Kashmir’s alienated youth curious about the works.

“It’s not very difficult to find a soft copy of the same,” he said. “At a time when New Delhi has been trying to project normalcy and stability, the optics of this move don’t do any good to its democratic credentials.”

The crackdown on books has been widely criticized in Kashmir.

Several Jamaat leaders who contested a recent local election in Kashmir called the seizure of these books “unjust, unconstitutional and a violation of fundamental rights.” In a statement, they said the seized books were legally published in New Delhi and were being lawfully distributed to bookstores across the region.

“If the government has any security concerns, we are fully prepared to cooperate with any investigation,” the statement added.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a key resistance leader in Kashmir, called the police operation “condemnable” and “ridiculous.”

“Policing thought by seizing books is absurd to say the least, in the time of access to all information on virtual highways,” Mirwaiz said in a statement.