New Delhi: The Jammu and Kashmir School Education Department Friday placed eight officials under suspension and disengaged a contractual employee after two books—’Personalities and Legends of J&K’ and ‘Great Personalities of Jammu and Kashmir’, procured for government school libraries were found to contain “separatist propaganda”, and glorified convicted terrorists such as Maqbool Bhat, Masarat Alam as “shaheed (martyrs) and legends”, a source in the UT government confirmed to ThePrint.
The two books have now been withdrawn and removed from the school libraries. About 123 copies of ‘Personalities and Legends of J&K’ had been supplied to schools in Jammu, Ramban and Udhampur districts; and 128 copies of ‘Great Personalities of J&K’ had been given to schools in Jammu and Baramulla.
According to sources, the books used “Indian occupied Kashmir” and “Indian Held Kashmir” to describe Kashmir and referred to India not as a lawful sovereign administration, but explicitly state: “India… is no more than an occupier and oppressive state”, utilising “colonial like structures” and “neo-colonial” rule.
The decision to withdraw the books and suspend officials was taken on orders of Lieutenant-Governor Manoj Sinha. While ‘Personalities and Legends of J&K’ is authored by Dr Hilal Ahmad and Santosh Meena and published by Oberoi Book Service, Jammu, ‘Great Personalities of Jammu and Kashmir’ is authored by Dr Sushant Giri and published by Aurora Prakashan, Delhi.
The authors and publishers have now been banned and blacklisted in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
According to the source, by routing this book through Samagra Shiksha, a centrally sponsored scheme implemented by the Department of School Education and Literacy under the Ministry of Education, “public taxpayer money was used to distribute separatist propaganda to school libraries in Jammu and Kashmir”.
To appear legitimate, the book profiles genuine Indian nationalists, such as Param Vir Chakra awardee Bana Singh, former R&AW chief G. C. Saxena, and former chief minister Syed Mir Qasim, a senior officer said. “However, embedded alongside these legitimate figures are convicted terrorists and avowed separatist leaders who are glorified as shaheed and legends,” the officer said
The officer added, “It describes a convicted murderer as a Shaheed-e-Azam and the father of the nation of Kashmir.”
The “separatist propaganda” issue led to a full blown controversy as BJP leader and leader of opposition in the assembly Sunil Sharma called it “academic jihad”. The BJP Saturday also demanded the resignation of J&K education minister Sakina Itoo.
Reacting to the controversy, CM Omar Abdullah reportedly said he had not even read the book.
‘Shaheed’ Maqbool Bhat, Geelani, Shabir Shah
According to the source quoted above, the book ‘Great Personalities of J&K’ glorifies Bhat in a full chapter titled ‘Shaheed Maqbool Bhat’.
Bhat murdered CID Inspector Amar Chand in the 1960s and co-founded the National Liberation Front, involved in the 1971 hijacking of the Indian airliner ‘Ganga’. He was executed at Tihar Jail on 11 February 1984.
“The book’s text claims his execution was carried out in haste to avenge the killing of an Indian diplomat in Birmingham,” the source said.
“It also openly advocates for an armed uprising, stating that his hanging birthed an “armed revolution” and that his mission remains incomplete. It also praises him as the “founding father of Kashmir’s separatist movement sponsored by Pakistan”, and who “masterminded the idea of a hijacking”, the source said, quoting from the book.
The source added that there are many other separatist leaders who are honoured in the text despite “deep ties to terrorism”. Another such ‘hero’ is Masarat Alam Bhat, who was involved in terrorism since 1990 when he joined Hizbulla and went to Pakistan-occupied Jammu Kashmir (PoJK) for illegal weapons training, the source said.
“He has faced 47 cases and repeated Public Safety Act detentions. He orchestrated massive agitations involving stone-pelting in 2008 and 2010, resulting in over 160 civilian deaths and thousands of injured security personnel,” the source said.
He was also arrested by the NIA in 2019 for terror funding, and was under ED probe in 2017 for receiving Rs 10 lakh in foreign funds via hawala operator Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, and his organisation, the Muslim League J&K (Masarat Alam faction), which was banned in 2023.
“The book uncritically quotes him saying, ‘I’m a stone thrower since childhood’ and documents, without rebuttal, his support for 2008 Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed. It notes he chanted ‘Kashmir banega Pakistan’, called the NDRF and Indian army ‘occupational forces’, and unfurled a Pakistani flag in 2015,” the source said.
‘Separatist propaganda’
The book also mentions Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Former chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) and founder of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, who died in 2021.
“The text glorifies Geelani’s stance against Indian sovereignty, framing it neutrally as his personal ‘philosophy’ rather than highlighting his active collaboration with the Pakistani state and his endorsement of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists,” the source said.
According to a second source, Geelani consistently advocated for J&K’s merger with Pakistan, guided by ideological mentor Abul A’la Maududi.
“He faced a 1997 FIR for receiving funds from Saudi Arabia and the Kashmir American Council director Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai and was charged as an ISI agent in the US. The organisations he led, Jamaat-e-Islami J&K and Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, were banned under UAPA in 2019 and 2023,” he said.
The book also mentions Shabir Shah, who faced decades of detentions between 1968 and 2015.
He was arrested by the NIA in June 2019 for terror funding, with a 2005 ED money-laundering case against him. His party, the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party (JKDFP), was banned under the UAPA in October 2023.
The Supreme Court granted him bail on 12 March 2026 due to a delay in trial.
“In the book, Shah has been lauded as ‘one of the highest profile campaigners for Kashmiri independence’ and self-determination,” the source said.
Others mentioned in the book are Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who led the Awami Action Committee, which was declared an unlawful association in March 2025. According to sources, he has been portrayed as a coalition chairman seeking “conflict resolution aligned with ‘the wishes of the people’, obscuring his documented trips to Pakistan (in 2008 and 2012) to meet their political and military leadership”.
The source added that all these people were associated with the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) which was formed on 3 September 1993, with an objective of violating Indian sovereignty, securing the right of self-determination, which expressly includes the ‘Right to Independence’ and projecting the Kashmir situation internationally as the “forcible and fraudulent occupation of Kashmir by India”.
Audit to uncover money trail
A government official said that a comprehensive financial audit to uncover the money trail to determine how many copies were printed, the total budget sanctioned for Series 4 under Samagra Shiksha J&K (2025-26), what remuneration was given to the publisher and authors, and the administrative mechanism that approved the disbursement of funds, will have to be probed.
“If this was part of series 4, what was the text in earlier series also needs to be looked into and appropriate action has to be taken against those who cleared this,” the official said.
“Moreover, the process to speed up implementation of CBSE in J&K must be done,” the official said.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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