SRINAGAR – Police in Indian-controlled Kashmir raided bookstores and seized 668 books linked to a significant Islamic group within the disputed area, the place strict controls on the press have escalated lately.
The raids started on Friday in Srinagar, the area’s important metropolis. Police mentioned in a publish on the social media platform X that they acted “based mostly on credible intelligence concerning the clandestine sale and distribution of literature selling the ideology of a banned group.”
Based on booksellers, the seized books have been principally printed by New Delhi-based Markazi Maktaba Islami Publishers, which is affiliated with the Indian department of one of many largest Islamic and political organizations within the Indian subcontinent, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind.
Indian authorities banned Jamaat-e-Islami in Kashmir as an “illegal affiliation” in Feb. 2019, months earlier than New Delhi ended the region’s semi-autonomy in Aug. 2019. In New Delhi’s effort to form what it calls “Naya Kashmir,” or a “new Kashmir,” the territory’s individuals have since been largely silenced as India has proven no tolerance for any type of dissent.
A lot of the books seized have been authored by Abul Ala Maududi, a outstanding twentieth-century Islamic scholar and founding father of Jamaat-e-Islami who advocated integration of state and faith.
Police groups additionally carried out raids in another elements of Kashmir and carried out “stringent checks” of bookshops “to forestall the circulation of banned literature linked to Jamaat-e-Islami,” a police assertion mentioned on Saturday.
“These books have been discovered to be in violation of authorized rules, and strict motion is being taken towards these present in possession of such materials,” police mentioned.
Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan every administer a part of Kashmir, however each declare the territory in its entirety, whereas militants within the Indian-controlled portion have been combating New Delhi’s rule since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris assist the rebels’ aim of uniting the territory, both below Pakistani rule or as an impartial nation.
India insists that militancy in Kashmir is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the cost, and plenty of Kashmiris take into account it a reliable freedom wrestle. Tens of hundreds of civilians, rebels and authorities forces have been killed within the battle.
Jamaat beforehand sided with the armed rebel towards Indian rule, however within the late Nineteen Nineties it mentioned it distanced from it and as a substitute advocated political means.
The crackdown on books has been broadly criticized in Kashmir.
A number of Jamaat leaders who contested a current local election in Kashmir known as the seizure of those books “unjust, unconstitutional and a violation of elementary rights.” In a press release, they mentioned the seized books have been legally printed in New Delhi and have been being lawfully distributed to bookstores throughout the area.
“If the federal government has any safety considerations, we’re totally ready to cooperate with any investigation,” the assertion added.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a key resistance chief in Kashmir, known as the police operation “condemnable” and “ridiculous.”
“Policing thought by seizing books is absurd to say the least, within the time of entry to all data on digital highways,” Mirwaiz mentioned in a press release.
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