A book fair was organized by an educational institution in Turbat, Balochistan, which the organizers say led to the sale of books in the ‘hundreds’ of books.
A literary, cultural and academic festival was organized under the auspices of Balochistan Academy of Literature and Research, in which people belonging to different schools of thought participated.
Ghafoor Shad, chairman of Balochistan Academy, says that this was the first festival of its kind in the region, in which a large number of people participated more than expected and bought a record number of books.
In his view, the number was ‘nearly 3.5 million not long ago’.
The special feature of this program was that apart from literary figures, political leaders including economists, singers, intellectuals also participated in it, apart from this, book fairs, cultural stalls, art exhibitions, musical nights and mushairas were also organized. had gone
Ghafoor Shad told Independent Urdu that the program is the beginning of a new style of festival in Kech district, similar to Ayaz Melo in Punjab and Faiz in Sindh.
According to Ghafoor: ‘I am sharing my experience that people are less interested in panel discussion in any literary festival, but in our program when this series started, there were about 1500 chairs, which were all filled and this in I think we have success.’
Former Chief Minister of Balochistan Dr. Abdul Malik Baloch, Economist Qaiser Bengali also participated in this festival among the political leaders and informed the participants about the economy.
Ghafoor said: ‘In this festival, apart from local booksellers, we also invited publishers from Karachi and Lahore, whose number was more than 30, who set up book stalls. According to the data we collected, people Bought about 35 lakh books in three days which is a record.
Kech district of Balochistan is one of the insurgency affected areas.
Ghafoor says that the purpose of organizing the festival was to bring the people closer to literature and books and to promote friendship, which resulted in the participation of people of different schools of thought in each program, while it included men and women. The participation ratio of women remained half.
He said that earlier this kind of celebrations were not customary among them.
“We have started it, in the future we will try to continue organizing these kinds of events.”
Ghafoor said that booksellers told us and we ourselves observed that people took a lot of interest in books and books on various topics including culture, Balochi language, literature, history and science.
Abdul Ghaffar, who set up a book stall at the festival, said that it was different from other book fairs because students and the general public were more interested in books, and there was no individual without a book stall. You’re gone.
Abdul Ghaffar, a bookseller, told Independent Urdu: ‘People bought more novels apart from textbooks, mostly those in the English language.’
He said that besides fiction, science, politics, non-fiction, poetry, old classical novels were bought.
Ghaffar said: ‘Our stalls were frequented by students who were reading literature and their teachers had advised them to buy such books, besides the number of women was also high.’
He said that the changed atmosphere I felt was also due to the fact that the students who came would ask for specific books, as if they already knew about them.
“I have been setting up book stalls in every area of Balochistan, but the atmosphere in Turbat was different because book lovers were generally interested in books.”
Ghaffar said that he sold three lakh books from his stall during three days which was not so much before, similarly if we look at the total, those who are saying that it is around 35 lakh. If the books are sold, the price is the same.
The festival is named after Atta Shad, a well-known Balochi, Urdu poet of Balochistan.
(Abdul Ghafar and Asad Baloch)
On this, Ghafoor Shad said: ‘Atta Shad is a big name not only in Balochistan but also in Pakistan. ‘
Who was Atta Shad?
Urdu and Balochi language poet Muhammad Ishaq, who later became known as Atta Muhammad and then Atta Shad, from Kech district, was born on November 1, 1939 in Sangani Sir Kech Makran.
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After graduating from Punjab University in 1962, he first joined Radio Pakistan and then in 1969 with the Public Relations Department in Balochistan as an Information Officer.
He said in an interview about his name: ‘When he was admitted to the school, by chance there were about seven named Muhammad Ishaq, the teacher said that there are already many of that name, so change it Thus they named me Atta Muhammad, who later became Atta Shad.’
Due to his unique style and delivery of words, he is considered a poet of unique lips and tone, his poetry collections include Singab, Barfag Balochi Collections, Ship Sahar Nadeem, Roach Garu and Gachin.
He was also awarded Presidential Medal for Good Performance and Star of Distinction by the Government of Pakistan.
He died on 13 November 1997 in Quetta. Some of his famous poems are listed in the books of academic literature.
The pious people showed great generosity
They drank from us and disgraced us
Don’t stop the flood, make a way
Who said, build a house with a river
Poems are written in faith
The cost of a bowl of water on my land
A hundred years of loyalty
Let us also quench our thirst
Enjoy life
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2024-08-20 11:33:56