GWADAR: Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) leader Mir Hamal Kalmati inaugurated the annual book fair at the RDC Council here on Thursday.

Prominent writers, poets and scholars, including Asif Farrukhi, Dr Fatima Hassan, Waja Khuda Bakhsh Baloch, Kaleem Lashari, Aqil Abbas Jafari, Hassan Sunray and Nasir Rehim Sorabi, and book lovers attended the fair.

Short films, Gwadar’s famous sand art, paintings, theatre and other activities are scheduled to feature in the four-day festival.

Speaking at the inaugural session, Mr Kalmati, who is also a member of the Balochistan Assembly, said that Gwadar with its historical and cultural background was fast moving towards a new era of development and progress.

The BNP-M leader said that Rs2 billion had been allocated in the current year’s budget to protect and preserve Gwadar’s cultural status and history. Promotion of knowledge and literature was part of educated and civilised societies, he said.

“We must prepare our youths for facing future challenges. They must benefit from the available resources and give all attention to their education,” Mr Kalmati aid.

Other speakers, including Dr Fatima Hassan, Aqil Abbas Jafari, Khuda Bakhsh, Nasir Rehim Sorabi and Hassan Sunray, stressed the need for promoting book culture in the country.

They said in the changing world it had become inevitable to get familiar with developments in the fields of science, technology, space science and other streams of knowledge.

They agreed that with the advent of computers, android phones and tablets, the reading culture in Pakistan and other developing countries had been affected, but in order to meet future challenges reading habit must be encouraged.

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2019