The Punjab University’s annual book fair, said to be the largest in the country, concluded at the New Campus here on Saturday.
The PU administration said that 60,000 books were sold on the first two days of the book fair. Data on sales on the third day was yet to be compiled. The third day was dedicated to families and a large number of them visited the fair and bought books on Saturday.
Several prominent politicians, journalists, artists and educators also visited the book fair. Publisher Majid Nizami, speaking to reporters, praised PU Vice Chancellor Prof Mujahid Kamran, saying he was educating young people about Pakistan’s ideology.
He said that Muslims were suffering because they had turned away from education. “When we used to read books, we were conquerors. When we stopped, we became slaves,” he said. Nizami said that the Jamaat-i-Islami was annoyed with him because he told Maulana Maudoodi, the party’s founder, that he had no right to tell Pakistan what type of democracy it should be since he had not supported the country’s creation.
Senator SM Zafar also praised the university’s vice chancellor. He said he was heartened to see how many young people were attending and showing an interest in reading.
Senator Jahangir Badar said that Pakistan needed to educate its young people if it wanted to progress. He said that many countries had developed on the back of a knowledge-based economy.
Artist Sohail Ahmed said that books were important character-building tools.
Columnist Hasan Nisar, Government College University Vice Chancellor Prof Khaleequr Rehman, Dr Ajmal Niazi, Chaudhry Muhammad Akram, Hafeezullah Niazi and Iftikhar Feroz also visited the book fair on Saturday.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 31st, 2013.