The effect of the chill in bilateral ties clearly evident, only a handful of publishers from Pakistan can be seen at the World Book Fair here this year, with the attending few terming the decline of exchange as “unfortunate“.
Only two publishers from across the border have set up shops at the books pavilion at Pragati Maidan as others either chose to stay away or were reportedly bogged down by visa troubles.
“I have been coming here for 25 years, and I have seen over the years people really like Pakistani books, they are always buying,” said Jamshed Mirza of Karachi’s Royal Book Company, one of the participants this year. “It is unfortunate that the number of participants from our country has been low this time. There should have been more,” he said.
Mr. Mirza’s shop is next to a stall allotted to the Academy of Letters from Pakistan, which is currently empty with bare racks as the publishers are yet to turn up.
Pakistan’s National Book Foundation also chose to skip the Book Fair though the reasons were not clearly stated.
Refusing to comment on what he believes are the reasons for the low participation from his country, Mr. Mirza, however says: “I did not face any problem in getting visa or getting the books transported here, therefore I am here“. He says the yearly venture was less about trade or business but largely about exchange of culture, exchange of views and ideas. “For us, it has never been about sale or display,” he said.
“We have never come here with business considerations as our first priority, for us this has always been a platform for exchange,” Mr. Mirza said adding, “Normally there is an entourage of nearly 20 people from Pakistan but this year there are very few (people).”
A total of 1,200 Indian and foreign publishers are participating in the fair, being held from January 30 to February 7 in the capital.
At a short distance from Mr. Mirza’s stall is the outlet of Iqbal Academy, also from Pakistan. People are queueing up to have a taste of Iqbal’s poetry and philosophy.
“Last year, there were more than 10 persons from Pakistan, this year you can see for yourself,” says Ghulam Ali of the Iqbal Academy.
Asked whether the current bilateral tensions are responsible for Pakistanis staying away, Mr. Ali refused to comment. “Please do not ask such questions, we do not want to speak about IPL and other things,” he said.
“We do not know what happened. The National Book Foundation is a government agency, the government might have asked them to refrain (from coming), but we do not know why they skipped,” Mr. Ali said.
However, the tensions notwithstanding, the poetry of Iqbal who penned ‘Sare Jahan Se Achcha’ continues to attract Indians to his books. “Iqbal always sells well, this time as well. People come looking for translations and detailed explanations of his works,” he said.
