LAHORE: The Punjab government`s drive against the producers of `hate literature` has come under a cloud after the release by courts of publishers and booksellers arrested by an overzealous police whereas questions have been raised over what is `hate material` and who defines it.

Some 452 hate material cases have been registered in Punjab since January this year, according to official record obtained by Dawn. As many as 470 people have been arrested in the specified period for allegedly producing hate material, around 260 cases sent to the courts and 66 of them decided. There have been 24 convictions.

Earlier this month, the Punjab government notified a ban on 150 books and CDs (compact discs) for carrying hate material.

The list was advertised in the newspapers but a board of religious scholars empowered to identify hate material maintains it had recommended a ban on a large number of these books some 70 of them a decade ago. The board says there are another 50 books that must be banned.

On the other hand, there are booksellers and publishers who say they have been unfairly persecuted by a police force which in turn is under pressure to deliver some quick results under the National Action Plan (NAP).Khalil Butt, 85 and a book publisher, was arrested on January 9 this year for allegedly selling hate material. He says he did not know the book was banned. There had been no government notification, which was what saved him in court, along with his advanced age.

Masood Usmani of Urdu Bazaar Lahore`s Idara-iIslamiyat was booked the same day for selling a book written `in defence of the Quaid-i-Azam`. He was bailed out after it was proven that he had been acquitted in the same case three years ago.

The police registered a case against Hannad Shakir, again an Urdu Bazaar book dealer, on January 10 af ter declaring that a book he possessed contained hate material. Anti-Terrorism Court acquitted Shakir on March 9 on the ground the police had no authority (or ability) to declare a book as hate material and that the competent Muttahida Ulema Board had not declared that the book contained hate material.

Like for the others named above, the experience left Shakir shaken. The clean chit cost him Rs300,000 in money and he says he was humiliated for three months.

He is thinking of quitting the business.

The Association of Publishers and Sellers of Islamic Books General Secretary Jamalud Din Afghani says the police have been acting blindly. They did not separate the wheat from the chaff, the aim apparently being to show a large enough number of arrests in quick time.

`We run a regulated business. We have built our reputation over years. But while the police pounced upon us, those who are producing `the real` hate material are untouched. We are visible.

They remain hidden,` he said in a talk with Dawn.

Who decides it is hate material There is a Muttahida Ulema Board which has the authority to declare any written or spoken word as hate material. Reconstituted by the Auqaf Department on April 14, 2014, it brings together religious scholars of the four main sects in the country to deal with controversial matterslikelaws, traditions and hate material. It has representation from different government departments and the CounterTerrorism Department (CTD) of police.

Generally, now it is the CTD that identifies the objectionable material and sends it to the board for opinion. A sub-committee of the board deals with such material on its behalf.

There are no guidelines in black and white for action.

Depending on just how severe the scholars think an offence is, the board bans the material found objectionable or it can ask the publisher and the author to remove or amend the objectionable portions. Failure to remove marked passages justifies a ban.

Asked to intensify action against hate material under the NAP, the police opted for direct action against the material they felt was objectionable without having it confirmed through the authorised Muttahida Ulema Board.

The booksellers were shocked. They asked the board to better notify the banned books and CDs of hate material so that the established traders could know their limits and protect themselves against police highhandedness.

The board accepted their demand and issued a list to the CTD for publication innewspapers for general awareness, also taking serious note of the police excesses. The list was sent to the home department which had it published in the newspapers earlier this month.

Old material, new material Maulana Raghib Naeemi, a member of the board and its sub-committee concerned, says the booksellers were given another list of banned books which is yet to be notified by the government. And they voluntarily destroyed nearly 70,000 such books worth Rs5 million.

Sources in the board say it had been banning material from time to time but the government did not notify it.

Maulana Naeemi says nearly 70 books which were included in the recently notified list of hate material were banned over a decade ago. `We have not banned these books and CDs after the NAP was formed. We meet every month and consider over a dozen books referred to us by the CTD.

We ban the ones containing controversial content but the process of notifying them for public awareness has been slow. Maybe they were waiting for the NAP,` he said.

Officials in the provincial home department have their own version to share: They say they were never given the lists despite asking for them. The CTD officials support the home department claim.

The home department officials, who didn`t want be named for personal and official reasons, say the spate of terrorism in recent times made it necessary to notify the banned material.

Previously the police would occasionally take action against individual producers of hate material. This was so because of the caution that must always be exercised in dealing with `controversial` religious matter s.

`The dispute that eruptedbecause of unplanned action by the police on the booksellers has been settled,` one official told Dawn. `No-one would be `unnecessarily` bothered. Nor will those generating hate literature spared.

`We have sent the list of the banned books to the DCOs and DPOs, for crackdown,` another official said.

He says the government had decided to register all printing presses to plug unknown sources of hate material. Mentioning of the senders` National Identity Card numbers on parcels was also being made mandatory to check dissemination of hate material, and reach its producers.

Official record obtained by Dawn indicates registration of 450 hate material cases in Punjab since January this year. As many as470 personswerearrested.

Around 260 cases were sent to the courts which have decided 66 of them. There are convictions in 24 cases.

CTD as the pivot The Counter-Terrorism Department is to lead the crackdown on hate material.

A CTD, Punjab, official does accept the responsibility and says the police action had led to some unwanted arrests because the police failed to properly scrutinise the material before swooping on book sellers and publishers.

He says its specialisedforce is keeping a watch over the entire province. Of the 50 cases it has registered, 15 relate to hate material.

For instance, the CTD nabbed a man called Ikram Bhai in Sheikhupura. He belonged to a banned outfit and was involved in printing and disseminating hate material. He was detained for 90 days and further action will be taken against him after further investigations to ensure his conviction.

The CTD official says all printing presses are being asked to send all material to the Muttahida Ulema Board for scrutiny before publishing it to avoid trouble. And whereas he recognises the role of the board in declaring a written or spoken word as hate material, he does maintain: `We also take action on our own when there is absolutely no doubt about the nature of hate material.

Maulana Naeemi says locating and destroying real hate material is primarily an intelligence job. `To guard against hate material in book publishing we are considering making it mandatory for every publisher to send a copy of every new book to us. It has to be accompanied by an affidavit saying the book does not contain any objectionable content. Those not following this direction will face action,` he says.