The government has declared the books banned as “This literature would deeply impact the psyche of the youth by promoting a culture of grievance, victimhood and terrorism heroism.” It also blamed the books for “misguiding the youth” in Kashmir and instigated their “participation in violence and terrorism”. https://thewire.in/rights/the-attempt-is-to-erase-everything-three-women-jk-authors-on-the-ban-on-their-books
The Wire spoke to three women authors whose books were banned to find out what it means for them to be silenced, and how the erasure of the Kashmiri narrative would impact the people of J&K. Excerpts from the interviews follow.
Ather Zia’s Resisting Disappearance: Military Occupation and Women’s Activism in Kashmir
Anuradha Bhasin’s A Dismantled State: The Untold Story of Kashmir After Article 370
Hafsa Kanjwal’s Colonising Kashmir
by Vrinda Gopinath
11/08/2025
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What Does the Book Ban in Kashmir Seek to Repress? https://thewire.in/books/what-does-the-book-ban-in-kashmir-seek-to-repress
Excerpted from the essay ‘The Militarized Zone’ by Angana P. Chatterji, from Kashmir: The Case for Freedom by Tariq Ali, Hilal Bhat, Angana P. Chatterji, Habbah Khatun, Pankaj Mishra and Arundhati Roy (Verso Books, 2011). This is one of the 25 books recently banned in the union territory by the Jammu and Kashmir home department.
by Angana P. Chatterji 12/08/2025