QUETTA: While people across Pakistan and elsewhere in the world traditionally celebrated the New Year’s eve with fireworks, Ali Ahmed, 37, decided to mark the beginning of 2023 in an unconventional way: by attending a book fair in the southwestern city of Quetta.
Ahmed’s profound love for books pushed him to travel some 140 kilometers to the capital of Pakistan's Balochistan province from Kalat city to attend a one-day book fair organized by a local tabloid on Sunday to promote reading culture among the youth of the impoverished region.
Balochistan has the lowest literacy rate in the country, where 47 percent of children are out of schools, while the derelict educational structure has deprived thousands of access to quality education.
To top it all off, the province sharing a long, porous border with Iran and Afghanistan has been marred by a low-level insurgency by separatist groups for the last two decades, making it difficult for the youth, especially those living in remote areas, to have access to recreational or educational activities.
“Study is the only source to turn the darkness of ignorance into light, [so] instead of fireworks and aerial firing to start the new year, we should participate in book festivals that will educate our society and foster peace and kindness among the masses,” Ahmed told Arab News on Sunday.
“I have bought my favorite Balochi and Urdu poet Atta Shad’s books to read which will broaden my vision in 2023.”
The book fair, held on Quetta’s Saryab Road, featured more than a thousand books on history, literature, Pakistan, international affairs and other subjects.
The organizers said they chose the venue to make the fair easily accessible for all book lovers.
“We have received a positive response from book readers who are coming and buying their favorite books with up to 50 percent discount,” Jamil Ahmed, one of the organizers, told Arab News.
“In European countries, an average of 72 books are read by a single person every year, but in Asian countries, particularly Pakistan, we read books for just 7 to 10 minutes a year.”
The fair was attended by some authors as well, who expressed hope for the betterment of the literacy rate in Balochistan.
“The book fair on the first day of 2023 will be the first drop of rain that will make the educational field arable. I am very much optimistic after seeing the participation of youth in this book fair,” Abdul Hameed Azizabadi, who writes in the native Brahvi language, told Arab News.
“This trend should continue throughout the year to promote book-reading in our society.”
