Srinagar, 14 February 2025: Jammu and Kashmir police seized hundreds of books linked to Jamaat-e-Islami from bookstores in Srinagar, according to media reports and Police.
A bookstore owner in Srinagar’s Lal Chowk, the city’s commercial hub, told The Wire that police personnel arrived at the shop around 3:30 p.m. on Thursday.
“They asked about the types of books we had, saying there was a ban on some books. Later, they seized books written by Maududi and Islahi,” the store owner said, requesting anonymity.
Abul A’la Maududi, an Islamic scholar from Pakistan, founded Jamaat-e-Islami, which later inspired the formation of its J&K chapter in 1952. Amin Ahsan Islahi, another Pakistani scholar, was a founding member of the group.
“Based on credible intelligence regarding the clandestine sale and distribution of literature promoting the ideology of a banned organisation, police conducted a search in Srinagar, leading to the seizure of 668 books. Legal action has been initiated under Section 126 of the BNSS,” Srinagar district police posted on X.
Under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, Section 126 empowers an executive magistrate to demand a person show cause for why they should not be required to execute a bond or bail bond for maintaining peace for up to a year.
Sources said most of the seized books were published by MMI Publishers, a New Delhi-based publishing house founded in 1948, and included essential literature associated with Jamaat-e-Islami J&K.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government of India banned Jamaat-e-Islami J&K under the anti-terror law on February 28, 2019, citing its alleged involvement in "fomenting militancy and anti-India propaganda for fuelling secessionism in Jammu and Kashmir.”
Last year, the Union government extended the ban for another five years. Despite the ban, several former and serving members of Jamaat contested the 2024 J&K Assembly elections.
Ghulam Qadir Lone, a former general secretary of Jamaat, led an eight-member panel that held discussions with the government of India to lift the ban.
Reports indicate that a Kashmir-based politician allied with the BJP facilitated these talks. However, the initiative faced resistance from active Jamaat members, including its current president Hameed Fayaz, who has remained incarcerated since the reading down of Article 370, when J&K was restructured into two ‘Union Territories.’
Lone’s son, Kalimullah Lone, contested the 2024 election but lost to Awami Ittehad Party’s Khursheed Ahmad Sheikh. Except for Sayar Ahmed Reshi, who ran from Kulgam, all Jamaat-affiliated candidates lost their security deposits.
It is pertinent to mention that books on the Kashmir conflict authored by international writers have long been banned in the Kashmir Valley. Publications analyzing the region’s history, political turmoil, and human rights issues remain unavailable as authorities restrict their circulation.