Book fair draws thousands to Expo Centre on opening day

Karachi
The distinctive smell of new and old books drew people in large numbers to the Expo Centre, where the 11th Karachi International Book Fair opened on Thursday morning.
People of all age groups took a break from their daily routines to visit the numerous stalls put up at the fair and buy books of their choice.
Women, along with children, also spared time in the afternoon after school hours and came in big numbers.
The five-day book fair, which will continue till November 16, appeared to cater for people of various socio-economic backgrounds and ideological leanings. From Manto’s ‘Siyah Hashiye’ to Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi`s ‘Bahishti Zewar’, there was something for every reader.
For the 18-years-old Anum, it was the cheap prices that made her come all the way from Baldia Town. Pointing at an English novel, she said: “The same book would cost me around 500 rupees, but here I have just paid 150.”
Manzoor, a bookseller for Dar-ul-Quran publishers, said the response was phenomenal at his stall, especially by women.
Speaking from experience, he said he found women to be more habitual readers than men. The number of women at his stall clearly vindicated his claim.

More efforts needed
The opposition leader in the National Assembly, Syed Khurshid Shah, said that as a state, Pakistan did not put in enough efforts to prove to the world that it was an educated and civilised country.
“We say that we have 62 percent literacy rate, which the world rejects, as justifiably the criteria to judge literacy is beyond reading the headlines of newspapers,” he said while speaking as chief guest at the international book fair.
Shah said that where the country’s population was increasing by every passing day, the reading habit in society at large was decreasing though Pakistan had a phenomenal presence of youths.
“The respective governments have restricted our priorities to flashy schemes; we want metro, trains, infrastructure, but what about the people who are going to use those incentives?” he asked.
“We are sadly not matching the rapid global pace in respect of the education sector.”
The opposition leader recalled that when he took charge of the education ministry back in the second tenure of Benazir Bhutto, the education to GDP ratio was raised to 2.56 percent from 1.95 percent.
He said Bhutto wanted the percentage to hit four percent, but before the ambition could have been materialised, the government was dismissed.
Today the education percentage to GDP had alarmingly shrunk to 1.86 percent, he added.
Shifting his attention towards the consul general of Turkey in Karachi, Murat Mustafa Onart, he said the relationship between the Pakistani and Turkish people was historical as it dated back to Khilafat Movement and Reshmi Rumaal Movement, and in order to further strengthen that bond one should refer to historical books.
Aziz Khalid, chairman of the Pakistan Publishers and Booksellers Association, presented a welcome note to the participants where he highlighted the success of the book fair year by year.
He said that given the response of the people of Karachi, it appears that the Karachi International Book Festival will continue to mark its pleasant impact on the people of the metropolis.