PESHAWAR: The three-day book fair at University of Peshawar on Tuesday attracted a large number of students, faculty members and book lovers.

The book fair was organised by Islami Jamiat Talba (IJT) at Peshawar University Teachers Association Hall. Around 60 stalls were set up showcasing titles on variety of subjects including medical, engineering, literature, sociology, philosophy, politics, history, journalism, climate change, Sufism, earth science, education, information technology and science fiction.

Students from local colleges and universities visited the book stalls where titles were available at 50 per cent discount. The girl students of microbiology department, UoP, set up a stall with posters, banners and charts on preventive measures against coronavirus.

A group of Afghan students displayed stall of antiques and paintings featuring Afghan national heroes. Another bookstall was set up by a Turkish national Sinan Baran, member of Pak Nur Foundation, Karachi.

Talking to this scribe, he said that it was for the second time that he displayed a stall at UoP book fair and received an encouraging response from the visitors.

Inaugurating the first day session of the book fair, Senator Mushtaq Ahmad, the provincial chief of Jamaat-i- Islami, said that annual book fair had become a distinct feature among many other healthy activities organised by IJT on the campus.

He said that reading habit among youth was being picked up as they had realised the worth of written words. Abdullah and Mamoonur Rashid, two college students, walked down from Malakand to Peshawar for buying Pashto and Urdu fiction titles.

“We love fiction books and yesterday we decided to visit the book fair. We are fortunate to find books of our choice on reasonable price. We bought Pashto and Urdu fiction books for Rs5, 000,” the duo remarked.

Yar Akbar, a bookseller, said that readers took keen interest in Pashto books including poetry, prose and fiction. He said that it was his first time to set up a stall displaying only Pashto titles.

Aleena Afridi and Ramsha Khattak, students of sociology department, said that they got hold of rare titles suggested to them by their teachers on the characteristics of human social psychology.

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2020