GCU organises book fair

The three-day Book Fair, organised by the Government College University Lahore Library Society, has proved that Pakistani youth has retained its interest in book reading in the cyber age. The Library Society's survey reveals that students purchased over 8,000 books out of their meager pocket money from the Book Fair housing more than 80,000 on various subjects.
Addressing the closing ceremony, noted journalist and Old Ravian Khalid Ahmed said that reading and writing is a Muslim tradition. He said "read" is the first Quranic commandment of Allah for Muslims. The Prophet (PBUH) encouraged Muslims to leave their homes and proceed to destinations as far away as China to seek knowledge. It implied that one ought to part with one's pre-conceived notions to approach a source of knowledge such as books, so that meaningful learning is not obstructed by one's long standing prejudices.
GCU Vice-Chancellor Professor Khalid Aftab said the university education entails unbiased learning, which enables the youth to chalk out their destination based on their individual journey in the realm of intellect. He assured the audience that GCU would continue to take such initiatives in the future. He thanked the publishers for providing discounts to students on books.
Addressing the ceremony, GCU Chief Librarian Abdul Waheed said that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) monitors both the number and type of books published per country per year as an important index of standard of living and education, and of a country's self-awareness. However, he expressed dejection that no such record is available to Unesco in connection with Pakistan.
Talking to media, the GCU students claimed that the Book Fair implied as if the fountain of knowledge itself had walked up to them to quench their thirst. Sara Javed, a student BA (Hons) English, said that she had bought seven books of literature. She said that she would have needed 10 days to find these if she buys them from the market.