17th Karachi International Book Fair opened: All progress made possible by books, says minister

KARACHI: All the progress in the world today is owed to the book, said Sindh’s Minister for Education and Culture Syed Sardar Ali Shah on Thursday.

Inaugurating the five-day 17th Karachi International Book Fair at the Karachi Expo Centre, he said that even in an era of digital devices nothing has the ability to replace the pages of a book.

“Perhaps we are the last people today who have had the pleasure of turning the pages of the books,” he remarked.

Syed Sardar Shah said that Urdu and Sindhi are not being given sufficient attention in private educational institutions, and only 2 percent of such schools will have teachers for teaching these languages in future.

“If we do not transfer our languages to the next generations, then books (written in them) will remain useless. It has become necessary to protect our languages.”

The provincial minister was the special guest at the book fair. He said that it was a pleasure for him that he was inaugurating the book fair for the third time.

He said that the first book he read was ‘Shah Jo Risalo’, which he studied on the advice of his grandfather.

He said that book fairs should also be held in Hyderabad, Larkana and other districts of Sindh. He also assured cooperation in this regard from the government.

On the occasion, former member of the Sindh Assembly Mehtab Akbar Rashidi said that two years ago when the whole world was dealing with a pandemic and people could not even meet their loved ones, it was the book that stood by them. “When you read a book, you gain awareness of a new world. A book is a medium that connects you to the world. The habit of reading books makes you strong mentally and socially,” she added.

Chairman of the Pakistan Publishers and Booksellers Association and the Karachi International Book Fair Aziz Khalid said the fair had been opened by school and college students even before its official inauguration. “Today, we are glad that the book culture which was started 17 years ago is proving to be fruitful. Public interest in the book fair is increasing every year.”

Khalid Aziz said that the price of paper is increasing by the day and books have become so expensive that they are almost out of reach of the readers. He requested the federal government to reduce the tax on paper.

Writers, poets, and social and political personalities who visited the fair were of the opinion that it would serve to improve the image of Karachi.

The children visiting various stalls expressed their happiness over being able to buy their favourite books at discounted prices. The interest taken by women in the books on display was also noticeable.

At the fair books are being provided at a discounted rate of up to 70 per cent by the publishers. The Karachi International Book Fair will continue until 12th December 2022.

Leader of the MQM-P Aamir Khan, senior journalist Qazi Abid, writer and poet Fatima Hasan, Agha Masood, Aleem Qureshi, British publisher Charlie, senior journalist, writer and columnist Mahmood Sham, the fair’s Convener Waqar Mateen, Deputy Convener Nasir Hussain, Nadeem Mazhar, Nadeem Akhtar, Kamran Noorani, Waseem Abdul Hassan and a large number of other eminent personalities graced the occasion.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022