World | Pakistan
Thaw brings book bounty
Rows and rows of low-cost paperback editions of Indian books on medicine, engineering, management and business administration are stacked on shelves in a bookshop located in a posh neighbourhood of Pakistan's commercial hub of Karachi.
- By Amir Zia, Correspondent
- Published: 00:00 March 17, 2007
Karachi: Rows and rows of low-cost paperback editions of Indian books on medicine, engineering, management and business administration are stacked on shelves in a bookshop located in a posh neighbourhood of Pakistan's commercial hub of Karachi.
In another nearby bookstore one finds piles of books on English literature, history, politics and philosophy - all published in India. A step by step guide to salat [prayer] for men, published by Kutubkhana Ishayat-ul-Islam, New Delhi, is only one of the dozens of children's titles of Islamic literature imported from India.
The Islamic story and education books published by Goodword Books, New Delhi, also have a wide market among Pakistani children. "Books imported from India cost less and are of good quality," said Saleem Hussain of Liberty Books, which has a chain of bookstores in Karachi.
"They are fast taking over the market which once was considered the domain of books imported from the United Kingdom and the United States. Indian education books have developed a huge market over here."
Booksellers of Karachi say that Indian books cost only a third or fourth of the price of the same titles published by Western publishing houses. But it is not just the educational books, which remain in demand in Pakistan. Thanks to the thaw in relations between the South Asian neighbours, imports of all kinds of books from India have increased in recent years.
From Khushwant Singh to Arundhati Roy, and Kiran Desai to Rabindranath Tagore all enjoy a prominent place on shelves in Pakistani bookstores. Books on yoga, meditation, Indian movie stars and film industry also have a wide market.
Zia Hussain, chief executive of Publishers & Marketing Associates, says that Indian books were helping in promoting the reading habit. "Although book piracy remains a big issue in Pakistan, Indian books can still compete with the pirated ones because of their low price and good quality."
Poor infrastructure
Pakistani publishers, with poor infrastructure and small market size, are of no match to their Indian rivals. Ramzan Ladhani, a bookseller at Say Publishing, said that titles, topics and production of Indian books were far better than the local ones. "Our books are also costly compared with the Indian because paper here is expensive. The bulk production in India helps them reduce the cost further."
While academia, students, intellectuals and people associated with the book trade welcome Indian books - some of the Pakistan's religious and political parties see it as a bad omen.
Munawaar Hasan, secretary general of the Jamaat-e-Islami, feels that it was an Indian cultural invasion from all sides - starting from movies and music to now books. "It is obvious that Indian books promote and propagate Indian ideas, Indian values and Indian culture in the garb of secularism," he said.
Share this article
News Editor's choice
-
A year after 173 defenceless people were killed
Mumbai itself is far from safe from another deadly attack, even though the level of security consciousness of the average Mumbaikar has been raised since 26/11
-
Nato supports Obama's plea
European and other allies to send around 6,000 troops to Afghanistan
-
Official confirms mayor is the suspect
Many witnesses have come forward, justice secretary says
-
Into an oasis of values
A place to snuggle in the warmth of old manners away from the bustle of city life
