By revoking the special status of Jammu & Kashmir and splitting it up into two union territories, the central government has made a mockery of democracy. It has violated the solemn promises made to the state of Jammu & Kashmir by the Union of India during the accession of the state in 1947.
The abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution and the breakup of the state has been executed unilaterally, clandestinely and coercively. The people — across religious, cultural, ethnic and ideological segments — have not been consulted. Indeed, the unprecedented security and information clampdown in the state since 5th August 2019 is proof of the government’s fear of popular discontent and democratic dissent.
We, Indians who are writers, artists, media persons and cultural activists, condemn the undemocratic and unconstitutional moves of the government in Jammu & Kashmir. We condemn the government’s division of people and territories from above, subverting the very basis of our constitutional federalism. We condemn the state of siege imposed on the people of a state already suffering for many long years.
We demand that the state of siege in Jammu & Kashmir be lifted, and all basic freedoms — including those of free expression, communication and media freedoms — be restored with immediate effect. We demand the restoration of Article 370, and the restoration of the state of Jammu & Kashmir. We declare our solidarity with the Kashmiri people, and call on all our fellow citizens to resist this authoritarian challenge to the freedom and autonomy of Jammu & Kashmir.
Read the statement in Hindi here.
For the Indian Writers Forum
1 | A Mangai | 86 | Karthik Venkatesh | 171 | Shastri Ramachandaran |
2 | Abhay Maurya | 87 | Karthika Nair | 172 | Shaswati Mazumdar |
3 | Abhinava Bhattacharya | 88 | Kavery Nambisan | 173 | Sheba Chhachhi |
4 | Achin Vanaik | 89 | Kiran Nagarkar | 174 | Shoma A Chatterji |
5 | Ajay Kamalakaran | 90 | Leena Manimekalai | 175 | Shyam B Menon |
6 | Ajitha GS | 91 | M A Baby | 176 | Shyama Dasgupta |
7 | Akeel Bilgrami | 92 | Madhu Bhaduri | 177 | Simar Puneet |
8 | Ali Javed | 93 | Madhusree Dutta | 178 | Skye Arundhati Thomas |
9 | Alok Rai | 94 | Makarand Sathe | 179 | Sohail Hashmi |
10 | Amandeep Sandhu | 95 | Mangad Rathnakaran | 180 | Sonia Jabbar |
11 | Ami Sanyal | 96 | Mangalesh Dabral | 181 | Srilata K |
12 | Amit Bhaduri | 97 | Manishi Jani | 182 | Subhash Gatade |
13 | Amit Chaudhuri | 98 | Manoj Kulkarni | 183 | Sudhanva Deshpande |
14 | Amitav Ghosh | 99 | Maria Couto | 184 | Sudhir Chandra |
15 | Ammu Joseph | 100 | Martin Macwan | 185 | Tejal Kanitkar |
16 | Anand Swaroop Verma | 101 | Maya Palit | 186 | TM Krishna |
17 | Anand Teltumbde | 102 | Maya Pandit | 187 | Uday Narkar |
18 | Ananya Parikh | 103 | Meena Kandasamy | 188 | Unni R |
19 | Ananya Vajpeyi | 104 | Megha Pansare | 189 | Vaasanthi Sundaram |
20 | Ania Loomba | 105 | Moloyashree Hashmi | 190 | Valay Singh |
21 | Anitha Thampi | 106 | Mridula Koshy | 191 | Venita Coelho |
22 | Apoorvanand | 107 | Mukul Kesavan | 192 | Venkitesh Ramakrishnan |
23 | Aritry Das | 108 | Murli Manohar Prasad Singh | 193 | Vibha Maurya |
24 | Arundhati Dhuru | 109 | N P Chandrasekharan | 194 | Vijay Prashad |
25 | Arundhati Ghosh | 110 | N P Chekkutty | 195 | Vijaya Venkataraman |
26 | Arvind Krishna Mehrotra | 111 | N P Hafiz Mohamad | 196 | Vikas Narayan Rai |
27 | Asad Zaidi | 112 | Naina Dayal | 197 | Vineet Tiwari |
28 | Ashok Vajpeyi | 113 | Nalin Ranjan Singh | 198 | Vishnu Nagar |
29 | Ashokan Charuvil | 114 | Namita Singh | 199 | Vishwanath Tripathi |
30 | Ashutosh Kumar | 115 | Nandini Sundar | 200 | Vivan Sundaram |
31 | Atamjit Singh | 116 | Nandita Narain | 201 | Vivek Narayanan |
32 | Ayesha Kidwai | 117 | Nayantara Sahgal | 202 | Zahoor Sidiqui |
33 | B R P Bhaskar | 118 | Neelan Premji | 203 | Zoya Hasan |
34 | Badri Raina | 119 | Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay | 204 | Ajai Singh |
35 | Bali Singh | 120 | Neeraj Malik | 205 | Usa Rai |
36 | Bama | 121 | Nikhil Narkar | 206 | Kiran Singh |
37 | Bezwada Wilson | 122 | Nilanjana Roy | 207 | Shobha Singh |
38 | Bhasha Singh | 123 | Nirupama Dutt | 208 | Shreemoyee Moitra |
39 | Bina Sarkar Ellias | 124 | Nityanand Tiwari | 209 | Sahej Rahal |
40 | C P Aboobacker | 125 | Nupur Asher | 210 | Krishnan Unni P |
41 | C S Chandrika | 126 | Orijit Sen | 211 | Indu Chandrasekhar |
42 | Chaman Lal | 127 | P N Gopikrishnan | 212 | Vidya Rao |
43 | Chanchal Chauhan | 128 | P Sainath | 213 | Natasha Ginwala |
44 | Chandrakant Patil | 129 | Pamela Philipose | 214 | Pallavi Paul |
45 | Civic Chandran | 130 | Pankaj Bisht | 215 | Anuradha Kapur |
46 | Dalip Kaur Tiwana | 131 | Perumal Murugan | 216 | Urmilesh |
47 | Damodar Mauzo | 132 | Prabhat Patnaik | 217 | Abhishek Majumdar |
48 | Danish Husain | 133 | Prabodh Parikh | 218 | S Vijayaraghavan |
49 | Debaditya Bhattacharya | 134 | Parvathi Ramanathan | 219 | Senjuti Mukherjee |
50 | Dileep Chavan | 135 | Rahman Abbas | 220 | Mallika Sarabhai |
51 | Dilip Borkar | 136 | Rahul Roy | 221 | Leela Jacinto |
52 | Divya Bharathi | 137 | Rajendra Chenni | 222 | Saba Hasan |
53 | E V Ramakrishnan | 138 | Rajendra Rajan | 223 | Merlin Moli |
54 | Ebbar Rabbi | 139 | Rajendra Sharma | 224 | Rayees Ahemed |
55 | G Arunima | 140 | Rajesh Joshi | 225 | Gita Jayaraj |
56 | G N Devy | 141 | Rajesh Saklani | 226 | Svati Joshi |
57 | G P Ramachandran | 142 | Rajib Ray | 227 | Mohsin Alam Bhatt |
58 | Gauhar Raza | 143 | Ram Prakash Tripathi | 228 | Rachita Taneja |
59 | Geeta Kapur | 144 | Ram Rahman | 229 | Tishani Doshi |
60 | Geetanjali Shree | 145 | Raosaheb Kasbe | 230 | Madhusudhanan |
61 | Githa Hariharan | 146 | Rekha Awasthi | 231 | Promona Sengupta |
62 | Gopi Krishnan | 147 | Ritu Menon | 232 | Tanvi Mishra |
63 | Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar | 148 | Rosalyn D’mello | 233 | Trina Chatterjee |
64 | Hariyash Rai | 149 | Rukmini Bhaya Nair | 234 | Sanjana Sarkar |
65 | Harsh Mander | 150 | S Raghunandana | 235 | Somdev Thakur |
66 | Hirala Rajasthani | 151 | Saba Dewan | 236 | Sukaina Hussain |
67 | Huchangi Prasad | 152 | Sadanand Menon | 237 | Prama |
68 | Indira Jaising | 153 | Sahiram | 238 | Arjita Das |
69 | Ishrat Syed | 154 | Saleem Peeradina | 239 | Arita Chakraborty |
70 | J Devika | 155 | Salil Chaturvedi | 240 | Ashish Sahoo |
71 | J V Pawar | 156 | Salim Yusufji | 241 | Ustab Nath |
72 | Javed Malick | 157 | Sambhaji Bhagat | 242 | Jayant Manchanda |
73 | Jawari Mal Parakh | 158 | Samik Bandyopadhyay | 243 | Savita Singh |
74 | Jeet Thayil | 159 | Sandeep Pandey | 244 | Nikhil Wagle |
75 | Jenifer Areng Datta | 160 | Sanjay Bohidar | 245 | Poile Sengupta |
76 | Jerry Pinto | 161 | Sanjay Joshi | 246 | Abhijit Sengupta |
77 | K G Shankara Pillai | 162 | Sanjay Rajoura | 247 | Bina Paul |
78 | K N Panikkar | 163 | Sanjeev Kaushal | 248 | Girdhar Rathi |
79 | K Neela | 164 | Sanjeev Kumar | 249 | Vishal K Dar |
80 | K P Ramanunni | 165 | Sara Joseph | 250 | Akansha Rastogi |
81 | K R Meera | 166 | Sara Rai | 251 | Nissim Mannathukkaren |
82 | K Satchidanandan | 167 | Sethumadhavan | 252 | Rammohan K T |
83 | Kalpana Swaminathan | 168 | Shabnam Hashmi | ||
84 | Kanti Mohan | 169 | Sharankumar Limbale | ||
85 | Kanupriya Sharma | 170 | Shashi Deshpande |