Syed Zishan Haider, a schoolteacher, is going through a boring phase of his job. Appointed librarian at Chakwal’s only public library on May 7, 2025, he spends eight hours there every day, all alone. The library has no other employee as the posts have remained vacant since the previous employees retired.

Iqbal Library, located within the premises of the historic Committee Bagh, renamed Liaquat Park after PML-N MPA Chaudhary Liaquat Ali Khan in 2018, presents a sorry picture due to years of neglect and declining public interest in reading.

The exact date of the library’s establishment remains uncertain. However, senior nonagenarian lawyer Ziaul Hassan Zaidi tells Dawn that it was set up in the early 1960s in a small room at Baldia Plaza, Bhoun Chowk, as the Municipal Library. In 1989, it was shifted to its present two-storey building.

Iqbal Library comprises a reading hall and two rooms, one for the librarian and the other for women readers. The upper floor houses a variety of books.

The library contains more than 5,000 books, most of which have remained untouched for years and are now covered in dust and cobwebs.

“I got the library cleaned by hiring a labourer and paid him from my own pocket. The library does not receive any annual funding from the district administration,” Syed Zishan Haider says.

The library has neither a drinking water facility nor a cafeteria. Only two or three elderly people visit it. Around 25 years ago, it offered members almost every Urdu and English daily as well as local weeklies. Today, it offers only one Urdu daily and a local newspaper, both provided by a member rather than the district administration.

Records examined by Dawn show that only 624 people became members of the library between 1990 and 2026. This is in a district with a population of more than 1.7 million and a literacy rate of 77.79pc, ranking seventh in Punjab.

The library’s outer walls are crumbling and its windowpanes are broken, with no repairs carried out for years. An electricity bill of Rs7,822 has remained unpaid for two months, and the library has received a disconnection notice.

Several deputy commissioners have visited the library in recent years and promised improvements. On July 25, 2021, DC Bilal Hashim visited the facility, followed by DC Adnan Mehmood Awan on Aug 16, 2022, Additional Deputy Commissioner Khawar Bashir on Aug 22, 2023, and DC Quratul Ain Malik on Feb 21, 2023. Their promises of renovation and improvement, however, yielded no results. The current DC, Sara Hayat, has also visited the library twice, on May 5, 2025, and Sept 25, 2026, pledging to revive it. Her promises, however, have yet to materialise.

“Most books in the library are old and dusty. If new books are added, timings are extended and youngsters are encouraged to put away their mobile phones and read, more students will come,” says Tallat Nisa, a regular library member.

Iqbal Ansari, who pays for two newspapers supplied to the library, has called for a joint meeting of current members to devise a practical solution for its smooth operation.

When contacted, DC Sara Hayat told Dawn that she wanted to renovate the library. “Chappar Bazaar took up all of our time and effort. Now that it is complete, we can focus on other things,” she said.

Prof Shahid Azad stressed the need for a practical solution to keep the library running.

“The library could only be run by a committee comprising book lovers and by holding literary gatherings in its hall,” he said, adding that books meeting the modern requirements of researchers should be made available.

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2026