A large number of people, including students, visited on Sunday the 18th Karachi International Book Fair (KIBF) being organized by the Pakistan Publishers and Booksellers Association at the Karachi Expo Centre.
The organisers said that according to an estimate, a record 150,000 visitors attended the annual book fair on its fourth day. The five-day event, which has been going on sinceDecember 14, will end today on Monday.
Several political, religious, academic and literary figures as well as lawyers, judges and other personalities were among the attendees, and publishers and booksellers gave special discounts on books to the visitors.
More than 140,000 books have been showcased in the 18th KIBF. The event has also hosted book launching ceremonies and seminars by different publishers to encourage academic and literary personalities.
Participants said that one of the advantages of the KIBF was that reasonably priced books based on almost all subjects, including children books, were available at the fair.
Quiz competitions, tableau and other activities were also held for the visitors. The organizers also provided wheelchairs for disabled persons to access the fair. The Alkhidmat Foundation provided free water to the visitors.
The 18th KIBF also introduced a board game based on Palestine to raise awareness about the issue among children. The game included names of the cities and locations, where Israel was conducting its military offensives against Palestinians. The visitors, particularly students, expressed special interest in the game.
The stall by the Inter-Services Public Relations, media and public communications wing of the Pakistan armed forces, also received significant attention of the visitors. Children and youth showed keen interest in the books based on biographies of the martyred soldiers, their achievements and acts of bravery.
During his visit to the book fair, Muttahida Qaumi Movement - Pakistan (MQM-P) Convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said that the KIBF was doing a service to the nation and those who were organizing it should be commended.
"This century is the last century of the fragrance of books. The scent of it should be absorbed as much as possible", Siddiqui said, adding that the fair dispelled the notion that Karachi was pulling away from knowledge, understanding, wisdom and literature. “Today this thought has died”, he said.
The MQM-P convener remarked that Karachi is mini-Pakistan and such literary activities make its identity. In response to a question, he said that many good books were being published these days, while he mostly read social sciences books.