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SRINAGAR/JAMMU: J&K police searched Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan’s office in Jammu and a publisher’s office in Noida as investigators widened Monday a probe into two books allegedly carrying separatist and anti-national content that were supplied to govt school libraries, sharpening a political row over lapses in scrutiny while triggering a debate over censorship.Counter-intelligence teams questioned Samagra Shiksha director and other officials at Channi Himmat on Jammu’s outskirts, while another team searched a publisher’s office in Noida. Police made no arrests and issued no official statement.Officials said searches were aimed at finding how the two books reached school libraries before content scrutiny was completed.According to an education official, four sub-committees of academicians and experts were set up to select books after library grants were received under Centre’s Samagra Shiksha scheme. They shortlisted 463 titles submitted by 364 publishers.Department scrutiny later flagged “highly inappropriate content” in “Personalities and Legends of J&K” by Hilal Ahmad and Santosh Meena, published by Jammu-based Oberoi Book Service, and “Great Personalities of Jammu and Kashmir” by Sushant Giri, published by New Delhi-based Anurag Prakashan.By then, 123 copies of the first book had reached schools in Jammu, Ramban and Udhampur, while 128 copies of the second had been supplied to schools in Jammu and Baramulla before both were withdrawn. LG Manoj Sinha’s administration withdrew both books from school libraries on July 4, suspended eight school education officials and ordered a high-level inquiry. CID registered an FIR under various sections of BNS and UAPA.BJP, Congress and other parties flagged alleged lapses. J&K Peoples’ Forum alleged “Personalities and Legends…” used terms such as “India-occupied Kashmir” and described banned JKLF founder Maqbool Bhat as “Shaheed-e-Azam”. Bhat was hanged in Tihar jail on Feb 11, 1984, after conviction for killing a CID inspector.Pushing back against calls for censorship, Kashmir’s chief cleric and Hurriyat Conference chairperson Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said banning books, ideas or organisations “doesn’t work”.“Kashmiris are proud of their civilizational legacy… You cannot ban everything written before 2019,” he said Monday. “I don’t think banning books works. If you ban books, what kind of message are you giving to society?”On Aug 5 last year, sixth anniversary of Article 370’s abrogation, J&K home department banned publication and circulation of 25 books, saying they promoted a “false narrative” and “secessionism” in the Union territory.
