KARACHI, Dec 13: There is a great need to open up access to private libraries, some of which have huge collections, to the public so that a greater number of people could benefit from the knowledge and information contained within these books.

This was said by respected scholar, writer and media expert Obaidullah Baig, who was speaking at a seminar titled ‘Role of public libraries in socio-intellectual development of society’, held at the Defence Central Library’s auditorium here on Thursday as part of its sixteenth anniversary celebrations.

Mr Baig gave a highly informative discourse on the development of libraries from the times of antiquity to the present and said that there was a decline in reading habits in society and today, only a minority of people in Pakistan read.

He pointed out that specifically in Sindh, there existed certain private libraries that contained over 100,000 books. He particularly mentioned members of the Rashdi family as well as a library in Khairpur which owned spectacular collections with some extremely rare manuscripts, adding that people knew nothing about these impressive libraries.

Ameena Syed, head of a leading foreign publishing house, spoke about the importance of learning and commented that as she saw it, the decline of Muslim civilization began when hundreds of thousands of books were burnt in Hulagu Khan’s sack of Baghdad in 1258. She disagreed with actor and educator Rahat Kazmi’s contention, who had spoken earlier and had also said that people in Pakistan don’t read.

“If people didn’t read, I wouldn’t be here. There are thousands of bookshops in Pakistan. If we publish books that are relevant and if they are affordable, people will buy them”, she said.

She also condemned the piracy of books saying that it “Deprived us of our literary heritage”, giving the examples of literary icons Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Mushtaq Ahmed Yousufi, who, she said, had to work day jobs to support themselves financially. She also said that renowned Punjabi poet Baba Najmi, who had won an international award, washed cars in Saddar for a living. “Why are we doing this to our writers?” she questioned.

DHA Administrator Brig Kamran Aziz Qazi and the authority’s director of education also spoke.

Before the seminar, a three-day book fair was inaugurated on the grounds of the library.—QAM