The speakers of a book-launching ceremony urged the government to increase funds of literary/intellectual institutions of the country to improve their performance.
They said that the five literary institutions working in the country are facing the problem of lack of funds. They were speaking at a book-launching ceremony organised by the National Language Authority (NLA). The event was continuation of a series of events to introduce new books to the public.
Speaking on the occasion, NLA Chairman Dr Anwar Ahmad said that it was not an easy job to publish books within the provided budget. “Earlier, mostly books were published with the government’s funds, but now we have introduced a new way to publish books sharing burden among the NLA, writers and publishers,” he said.
“We can publish a lot of books through partnership and cooperation programme. We have published 18 books within a short spam of four months,” he said.
Prominent literary figure Iftikhar Arif said insufficient funds have been provided to literary institutions. Funds of five institutions as Pakistan Academy of Letters, National Language Authority, National Book Foundation, Urdu Science Board, and Urdu Dictionary Board are even less than spending for the fuel of some ministries, he said.
Commenting on book ‘Hazeen Siddique Shaksiyat ore Shari’ of Dr Muhammad Asif, Dr Najeeb Jamal said, “Hazeen Siddique is one of the eminent poets of 20th century. We can find different shades of ‘Tasuwuf’ and patience in the work of Hazeen Saddique.” Dr Abdul Aziz Sahir made comments on the book, ‘Lisani Mutaly’ of Professar Ghazi Ilam Deen saying that his work is a remarkable addition to Urdu linguistics. Dr Mubina Talat talked about the book of Kuliyat-e-Arsh Saddique complied by Muhammad Hanif while Dr Arshad Khanum discussed the book ‘Nisaai Shaoor ki Tareekh’ (Urdu Afsana ore Urat) of Dr Asmat Jameel.
