Over 600 books of religious organization seized in Indian-administered Kashmir

By Hilal Mir

​​​​​​​SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir (AA) - Police in the Indian-administered Kashmir capital Srinagar seized more than 600 books by or about Abul Ala Maududi, a noted twentieth-century Islamic scholar and founder of Jamaat-e-Islami, one of the largest religious organizations in the Indian subcontinent.

In a statement on X, police said: “Based on credible intelligence regarding the clandestine sale and distribution of literature promoting the ideology of a banned organization, police conducted a search in Srinagar, leading to the seizure of 668 books.”

The police said that “legal action has been initiated under Section 126” of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, which allows a magistrate to intervene when authorities fear breach of peace.

Anadolu learned that a few major bookstores were raided in Srinagar, and books written by Maududi or other scholars associated with the Jamaat were seized.

Jamaat-e-Islami Kashmir was declared an “unlawful association” on Feb 28, 2019, by the Indian government, months before the region’s autonomy was scrapped in Aug 2019 and dozens of its leaders and activists were arrested. In Feb last year, the ban was extended for five more years.

Even though several members of the organization fought the recent assembly elections in Kashmir, something it had been advocating against in the past, the authorities have shown no leniency towards its cadres.

The organization was at the forefront of the raging anti-India insurgency when it began in the late eighties of the last century and was widely believed to be the political front for the largest militant organization, Hizbul Mujahideen. In the early 2000s, however, it announced that it had no association with Hizb but would continue to call for a negotiated settlement of the Kashmir dispute under UN resolutions.