PESHAWAR: The book-lovers from local schools, colleges and private and public sector universities thronged the Puta Hall of University of Peshawar on the second day of annual book fair here on Wednesday.

A joint venture of Islami Jamiat Talba (IJT) and National Book Foundation (NBF), Peshawar chapter, the three-day annual book fair was launched on Tuesday. It will be concluded on Thursday (today). More than 60 bookstalls have displayed around 100,000 titles at the fair, offering a discount of Rs30 per cent to 35 per cent.

The visitors took keen interest in books on Islam, history, education and psychology. Most of the girl students thronged a stall of Urdu literature selling fiction books. They were fascinated by a novel titled Janat Ke Pattey (Petals of Paradise) authored by noted fictionist Nimra Ahmed with the theme of importance of observing Purdah and a successful family life.

Shazia Gul Khan, a student of English literature at Agricultural University told Dawn that the event was a special treat for book-lovers. “It helps to arouse interest of young students to develop a taste for reading books and inspires them to generate creative ideas. I bought more than a dozen books on English literature,” she added.

Leading publication houses from Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar have set up their stalls at the fair, showcasing books on variety of topics including human psychology, medicines, computer, and philosophy, politics, engineering, plants, economics, education, history, sociology, Islamic teachings, Urdu, Pashto and English literatures.

Faiza Ali, a resident of Lahore who set up a stall at the fair, said that girl students were interested in Islamic books to know about rights and duties of women. “Interacting with Pakhtun girls was a wonderful experience. I found them eager for reading books, especially those written on family life and training on social responsibilities in a male dominated society,” she added.

The IJT and NBF have been organising grand book fairs every year at University of Peshawar, Islamia College Peshawar and Agricultural University Peshawar for the last six years to promote reading habit through book culture.

Murad Ali, an organiser of the fair, said that number of visitors increased manifold over the years. “Over 6,000 book buffs show up every day. We expect 15,000 on the last day,” he said.

Asmatullah Ghurzang, a poet student hailing from Bajaur Agency, said that he found English and Pashto books very interesting. “I regret to say that most educational institutions here don’t encourage such events. Book culture should be promoted to contribute towards a civilised society,” he said.

Prof Sohail Ahmad said that the book fair brought new and fresh titles on Urdu classics -- Ghalib, Ghulam Abbas, Premchand, Manto, Krishan Chander and Mumtaz Mufti. “I bought among others, Shaukat Wasti’s Urdu translation of Milton’s ‘Paradise lost’. When it comes to love of books, then money doesn’t matter,” he added.

Published in Dawn March 5th , 2015

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