Over the protests of local academicians, the ruling administration in Kashmir has removed the works of two award-winning writers from the curriculum of two government-run universities, claiming their writings propagate “secessionist ideology.”
The two are Basharat Peer’s memoir, The Curfewed Night, and Kashmiri American poet Agha Shahid Ali’s poetry collection, which were removed from the M.A English curriculum of the government-run University of Kashmir and Cluster University. The censorship is the latest blow against intellectual freedoms in the tense province since its autonomous status was revoked by the Indian government, which moved in troops to extend control over the Muslim-majority province, one of the world’s great tourist attractions.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch has complained about the increasing repression, saying Indian authorities “are restricting free expression, peaceful assembly, and other basic rights,” and that “repressive policies and failure to investigate and prosecute alleged security force abuses have increased insecurity.”
The two varsity administrations have been directed to immediately drop Basharat Peer’s memoir and Shahid’s poetry collection, considered to be “teaching resistance literature,” from the M.A English curriculum of the two universities under the new education policy.
This story was originally published in asiasentinel.com. Read the full story here