SRINAGAR — Police in Jammu and Kashmir have raided dozens of bookshops and seized hundreds of copies of books by an Islamic scholar, sparking angry reactions by Muslim leaders.
Police claimed searches were based on “credible intelligence regarding the clandestine sale and distribution of literature promoting the ideology of a banned organisation”.
Officers did not name the author, but store owners said they had seized literature by the late Abul Ala Maududi, founder of the Jamaat-e-Islami, an Islamic organisation and political party.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP government banned the Kashmir branch of Jamaat-e-Islami in 2019 as an “unlawful association”.
New Delhi renewed the ban last year for what it claimed were “activities against the security, integrity and sovereignty” of the nation.
Anger among Muslims
Plainclothes officers began raids on Saturday in the main city of Srinagar, before launching book seizures in other towns across the Muslim-majority region.
The raids sparked anger among Muslim leaders.
“The seized books promote good moral values and responsible citizenship,” said Shamim Ahmed Thokar.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Kashmir’s chief cleric and a prominent leader advocating for the right to self-determination, condemned the police action.
“Cracking down on Islamic literature and seizing them from bookstores is ridiculous,” Farooq said in a statement, pointing out that the literature was available online.
“Policing thought by seizing books is absurd — to say the least — in the time of access to all information on virtual highways,” he added.
In 2019, the Modi government scrapped the Article 370 of the Constitution ensuring the limited autonomy in the state that remains a bone of contention between India and Pakistan. — Agencies
