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Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Saturday (July 4) suspended eight officials of the school education department, terminated the services of a contractual employee and ordered an inquiry into the approval and distribution of two books that it said contained “highly inappropriate content” glorifying separatism in the Union territory.

The directive came following objections raised by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress and other political parties. They alleged that these books glorified separatist leaders and promoted an anti-national narrative in the region.

In a government order dated on July 4, the administration mentioned the publications had been supplied to government schools under the Samagra Shiksha library programme. The school education department had already ordered the books’ withdrawal on July 3 because it termed the content inappropriate and had potential to affect public order and educational standards.

The two books – titled Personalities and Legends of J&K, co-authored by Hilal Ahmad and Santosh Meena (Oberoi Book Service, Jammu), and Great Personalities of Jammu and Kashmir, authored by Sushant Giri and published by Anurag Prakashan, Delhi, have ignited controversy in the region after politicians across the party lines demanded action over the books’ contents.

A total of 123 copies of the first book had been supplied to schools in Jammu, Ramban and Udhampur districts of the Jammu division, while 128 copies of the other had been distributed in Jammu and Baramulla districts of the Kashmir division, the report said.

Screenshots circulating on social media purportedly show one of the books describing Maqbool Bhat, the founder of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), who was hanged inside the Tihar jail, as “Kashmir’s first dreamer for an Independent Kashmir”. Media reports also claimed that the books referred to separatist leaders in the valley, including late Syed Ali........

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