India bans dozens of books in Occupied Kashmir
- By Web Desk -
- Aug 09, 2025
SRINAGAR: In yet another attack on freedom of expression, the Indian government has banned 25 books in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), including works by Booker Prize-winning author Arundhati Roy.
According to Al Jazeera, police in Kashmir have raided bookshops after authorities claimed the banned titles propagate “false narratives” and “secessionism” in the region. The books, written by Indian and international authors, address Kashmir’s complex history and ongoing conflict—topics the government appears intent on silencing.
The ban, issued by the region’s Home Department—marking six years since New Delhi imposed direct rule—threatens prison terms for selling or possessing works by prominent scholars such as constitutional expert A.G. Noorani, historian Victoria Schofield, political scientist Sumantra Bose, and academic Hafsa Kanjwal, among others.
Roy’s Azadi, which contains essays on killings and disappearances in Kashmir by Indian forces, and Independent Kashmir by Australian scholar Christopher Snedden, were among the prohibited titles.
Other banned books include Colonizing Kashmir: State-building Under Indian Occupation by Kanjwal and Contested Lands: Israel-Palestine, Kashmir, Bosnia, Cyprus and Sri Lanka by Bose.
The censorship order was signed by Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, a political appointee of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
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Authors condemned the move, with Angana Chatterji of the University of California, Berkeley—co-author of the banned ‘Kashmir: The Case for Freedom’—stating that the order “underscores the state’s intent to criminalise scholarship and render it seditious.”
Criticism of India’s crackdown on free expression in Kashmir has grown since 2019, when the Modi government revoked the region’s special status, dissolved its statehood, and expanded security operations. In February, police also raided bookshops and seized over 650 books, alleging they promoted a “banned ideology.”