GWADAR: Scores of people, including women, students and young children, hailing from Gwadar and other areas of Makran made their way to the book festival organised by the Rural Community Development Council (RCDC). The festival commenced in the port city on Thursday would conclude on Sunday.

The festival was inaugurated by former federal education minister Zubaida Jalal and Balochistan MPA Mir Hamal Kalmati. The opening ceremony was also attended by Commodore Mohammad Waris, the commander of Gwadar Naval Base.

Hundreds of books in Urdu, English and local languages such as Balochi, Brahvi and Pashto have been put on the stalls. The most popular among these were the stalls selling books in English.

An exhibition of the works of local artist, Hafeez Gohar Jee, was also organised as part of the festival, which was inaugurated by Samina Shakeel, a member of the provincial assembly.

“I have painted rural life and attempted to promote local culture and traditions in my work,” Gohar Jee said.

At the inaugural ceremony, Ms Jalal, Mr Kalmati, Khuda Bakhsh, the chairman of RCDC, district council chairman Fida Hussain Dashti, Abid Rehim Sohrabi, Prof A.R. Dad, Prof Raman Bamari, Rehim Mehar and Ahmed Iqbal spoke about the importance of languages, books, local culture and traditions.

“Books are old friends of human beings,” Mr Kalmati said, adding that through books, we can preserve our history, culture and traditions. He said it was the responsibility of writers to raise awareness among people about our history and culture.

The speakers appreciated the RCDC’s efforts in arranging the festival and exhibition and termed it a good attempt to promote local languages as well as the culture and tradition of Balochistan.

Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2016