Police raided bookstores in Kashmir this week to confiscate banned books by respected scholars and historians. Democratic societies don’t need to ban tepid scholarly books when government positions are strong on the merits.
If India’s legal and moral case were unassailable, basic scholarly examination wouldn’t be so threatening to them. The authors named in this ban – Snedden, Schofield, Bose – are serious academics, far from propagandists.
Banning A.G. Noorani’s constitutional analyses is particularly notable, as one of India’s most respected legal scholars. If the state’s constitutional position were even a little bit sound, his useful work easily could be debated in context of usual scholarly work instead of abruptly banned.
These bans also extend all the way to historical accounts of what happened in 1947-48 (e.g. Pakistan independence from Britain), suggesting an attempt to monopolize not just current policy but rewrite historical interpretations.
To make a finer point, the bans try to silence legitimate questions of basic political science. The threat of 7-year prison sentences even for possession isn’t messing around.
- Why was the promised UN plebiscite never held?
- Was the Maharaja’s accession valid given the circumstances?
- What about documented human rights violations by security forces?
- How do we account for the massive military presence needed to maintain control?
- Why do many Kashmiris still reject integration after 77 years?
These aren’t on the fringe or conspiracy theories. They are documented concerns raised by international observers, UN reports, and human rights organizations. You know, the kind of pacifist stuff people are supposed to be debating to help avoid an abrupt escalation into militancy.
Why does a region need over a half million security forces to silence thought if integration is done and accepted?
Think about the stark irony of the ban. India positions itself as the world’s largest democracy, claiming superiority over Pakistan’s military-influenced governance and China’s authoritarianism. Yet Kashmir experiences severe lockdowns on the press, Internet shutdowns are routine (the 2019-2020 shutdown was the longest ever in a democracy), political speakers are detained under anti-terror laws, and now academic books are banned.
Can you see a massive credibility gap between India’s self-image and practices in Kashmir?
India is escalating tensions, closing off paths to genuine resolution. Real peace usually requires acknowledging difficult truths, the opposite of banning books that discuss them. What’s particularly striking is that the banned authors are known for proposing peaceful, negotiated solutions. The police raids to silence pacifists signals clearly that a narrative outside official doctrine – even the most common form of constructive criticism – has been marked unacceptable. That’s the opposite of what should happen in a confident democracy dealing with a settled issue.
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