KARACHI, Sept 5: Thanks largely to the perseverance of Karachi Nazim Naimatullah Khan, a book bazaar was held on the lawns of the Frere Hall on Sunday after a gap of over three months.

Despite the fact that police officials on Fatima Jinnah Road made visitors park their cars near the Metropole Hotel and deposit their identity cards, a large number of book lovers managed to come to the Frere Hall. At least 30 booksellers had set up their stalls.

Mr Khan, who came to the book bazaar in the evening, told Dawn that he favoured the idea of holding book bazaars in a proper way. "This is an activity which serves two purposes. One, it enables dealers in second-hand books to earn some money. Two, it enables bibliophiles to purchase hard-to-come-by books, which are fast becoming prohibitively expensive," he said.

The city nazim said he had spoken to the US consul-general about the book bazaar. "I told him that no attack on the US consulate had ever been launched from the book bazaar. Only peace-loving people come to book bazaars."

When his attention was drawn towards the fact that tight security arrangements had inconvenienced the visitors, he spoke to Saddar Town Police Officer Sanaullah Abbasi who, according to the nazim, promised that from next Sunday visitors would be allowed to park their cars on the premises of the Frere Hall.

The executive district officer of the city government's community development department, Iqbal Ahmad Zubaidi, told Dawn that he would hold a meeting with senior police officials next week, adding that there were only a few details that needed ironing out.

The district officer of the city government's culture department, Saifur Rahman Grami, said that large crowds still came to the book bazaar, proving that they were actually addicted to reading. He hoped that the number of visitors would increase from the next week.

Talking to Dawn, a bookseller said that he was very happy about the city government's decision to restart the book bazaar on the lawns of the Frere Hall. "We set up book stalls near the Regal Chowk when the Frere Hall book bazaar is closed. But there is a literary environment here which attracts more book lovers."

The Frere Hall book bazaar was closed on May 29 following two bomb blasts in front of the Pak-American Cultural Center which occurred in quick succession on May 26, killing one policeman.

Earlier, the Sindh government closed the Sunday book bazaar on Aug 24, 2003 at the request of the US consul-general. However, Karachi Nazim Naimatullah Khan reopened the bazaar after a gap of two weeks.