Why Police are Raiding Bookshops For ‘Jamaat’ Books In Kashmir

At a bookshop near Gaw Kadal bridge, another bookseller expressed regret over the raids, though he denied his shop had 

“It makes no sense,” he said. “All these books are published by Indian publishers and are available in cities like Delhi, Bengaluru and Lucknow. They are easily accessible on the Internet as well. How will seizing their titles help anyone anyway?”

As he spoke, a young man alighted from his two-wheeler and approached the bookseller, showing a book cover on his phone. “Do you have this book,” he asked, referring to Maududi’s ‘The Islamic Law and Constitution’ published in 1960. The owner shook his head. “No.”

When The Quint asked the man if he was aware that there was a crackdown underway on all written material authored by Maududi in Kashmir, he smiled sheepishly. “It isn’t for me. I need it for someone else.”

The sense of fear is hardly new. Over the last six years, J&K has seen rampant use of preventive detention laws such as the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the Public Safety Act (PSA)

Many of these cases are likely linked to terrorism, but numerous journalists and scholars have also been targeted — and later released by courts.