(Pakistan News & Features Services)
The President of Pakistan, Dr Arif Alvi, inaugurated the Karachi Festival of Books and Libraries (KFBL), the first-ever event of its kind to be held in Pakistan, in a graceful event here at the Sindh Governor House on March 2.
A large number of librarians, academics, scholars, authors and designers attended the one-hour inauguration and recognition ceremony of the KFBL, being produced by Jumbo Publishing with the collaboration of the English-Speaking Union of Pakistan while the technical assistance is being provided by the Karachi Library Association (KLA).
President Dr Arif Alvi wholeheartedly lauded the initiative of holding the KFBL around a time when the nation moved on to undertake new challenges in the age of digital technology and artificial intelligence.
“We needed such a mega-event, with focus on libraries, to bring people towards books. There’s no doubt about it that libraries symbolize the progress of civilization. Therefore, libraries need to be preserved, protected, promoted, developed, redeveloped and reshaped. As all of you know, there are multiple benefits of reading books which could be most conveniently done by visiting libraries,” he emphasized.
The President talked about the much-needed efforts for digitalization of content in order to reach bigger audience and attract the younger generation, who were more inclined to read through their own gadgets.
Aziz Memon and Syed Khalid Mahmood, the co-founders of the KFBL, also spoke on the occasion alongwith Jahangir Moghul, Past District Governor of Rotary International, and Prof Farheen Mahmood, President, KLA. All of them highlighted the need of having such events on a regular basis to bring about a real change in the lives of the people.
