J&Ok: Omar government slams LG over book ban | India News

SRINAGAR: J&Ok’s governing National Conference (NC) on Friday decried banning books as “unfortunate and deeply ill-conceived”, days after LG Manoj Sinha-led dwelling division banned 25 titles, together with some by Booker-prize successful writer Arundhati Roy and constitutionalist AG Noorani.The NC assertion got here with a reassurance that it was making an attempt to see how the ban may very well be revoked below the Union Territory’s (UT) system of governance the place the LG oversees such issues. Global rights organisation Amnesty additionally questioned the transfer. The dwelling division has described the motion as a part of an ongoing crackdown on publications allegedly selling secessionist ideologies, glorifying terrorism, or disseminating distorted historic narratives.Chief minister Omar Abdullah responded to accusations that he had ordered the ban. “Get your facts right before you call me a coward, you ignoramus. The ban has been imposed by the LG using the only department he officially controls – the Home Department. I’ve never banned books & I never would,” Omar posted on X, responding to the allegations.Following Tuesday’s order below part 98 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) 2023, police had on Thursday seized allegedly “subversive” books from shops and literary venues, together with Chinar book competition on the banks of Dal Lake.NC spokesman Tanvir Sadiq requested “why we are so afraid of differing opinions”. “History shows that banning books only fuels curiosity, people want to know why something is banned, and readership often increases as a result. Silencing or intimidating opinions never worked and it won’t work now,” Sadiq mentioned.Amnesty India harassed that of the 25 banned books, together with Roy’s Azadi, many had been written by revered journalists, historians, feminists, and peace students, and these weren’t “terror manuals” however “critical voices”. “Censoring books on the basis of an executive notification without due process and judicial oversight doesn’t bring peace; it silences dissent. When govts fear ideas, it tells you more about the state than the speech,” Amnesty mentioned in a press release.Thursday’s seizures included copies of A Dismantled State: The Untold Story of Kashmir After Article 370 by Anuradha Bhasin, The Kashmir Dispute, 1947–2012 by Noorani, and Kashmir on the Crossroads by Sumantra Bose.