KARACHI: A book mela at Urdu Bazaar was launched on Sunday. Among the writers who turned up for the launch and expressed their views on the promotion of books included Shaukat Siddiqui, Prof Saher Ansari, Dr Asif Farrukhi, Firasat Rizvi and others.

Shaukat Siddiqui dispelled the impression that new technology has distanced readers from books. He quoted examples from the West, the very house of technology, where books are getting more and more popular with the passage of time.

He said that the libraries in London and Washington are the most well-equipped centres of up-to-date knowledge, maintained with the purchase of books on various subjects and thronged by readers. It is the low literary rate and falling standards of education which, in our country, have discouraged the demand of books, Shaukat Siddiqui opined.

Prof Saher Ansari, while lamenting the closure of book shops in recent times, emphasized the need to educate the new generation in classics. He said that it is essential to maintain a link with history and culture.

Rasheed Umer Thanvi was saddened to see that literature that attracted the young is no longer available and appealed to writers to look into it.

Other speakers included Firasat Rizvi, Dr Askari and Abu Shamil. Dr Asif Farrukhi did the compering.

Qamer Zaidi of Welcome Book Port hosted the launch and thanked the audience.

—Hasan Abidi