Books: PPP govt folds Bhutto’s legacy

Pakistan Academy of Letters and National Library work in their present capacity.


Express April 08, 2011

ISLAMABAD:


The fate of hundreds of employees of the National Book Foundation (NBF) across the country hangs in the balance after the government reportedly decided to withdraw its support to the country’s premiere textbooks publishing house.


The authorities have decided to let the Pakistan Academy of Letters and National Library work in their present capacity while the NBF will be merged in the National Language Authority (NLA).

PAL and National Library have been placed under the Cabinet Division and the newly established ICT Division respectively while NBF will be merged in the NLA which is already working under the Cabinet Division.

The NBF is the only organization which is working under the Ministry of Education that has come under the axe of the government’s devolution plan in line with the 18th Amendment and as such the future of its employees is uncertain while millions of students may be deprived of the facility of getting quality textbooks at economical prices that the NBF has developed.

According to a source, those at the helm of affairs in the other two organizations have used their connections in the bureaucracy and saved their institutions as well as positions by escaping the merger scheme.

When contacted a former official of the NBF expressed his surprise at the report saying the NLA and NBF were two very different organizations. The National Language Authority’s mandate is to make Urdu the official language of the country while NBF promotes the provision of books to the general public, especially students.

The two organizations were also different from each other structurally. He said the NBF was established through an act of parliament while NLA was established through a parliamentary resolution. “An institution that is established through Parliament’s act cannot be merged into an organisation that is formed through a resolution,” he said.

“The Foundation was established by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1972 through an act of Parliament and its prime objective was to make textbooks and other reading materials available to the readers especially the students at affordable prices,” the official said. He further said that visually handicapped people throughout the world are provided Braille books developed by NBF. Institutions like NBF exist throughout the world particularly in South Asian countries like the Book Trust of India and the Bangladesh National Book Council.

The NLA was established in 1979 by Gen Ziaul Haq. “How can the two institutions which are entirely different from each other (in mandate and nature of responsibilities) be merged into one,” he asked.

It was surprising that a step which even dictators like Gen Zia and Gen Musharraf could not take against the NBF, PPP’s own government was taking to end Bhutto’s legacy.

Books are the legacy of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto, Prime Minister Gilani, Aitzaz Ahsan, Maula Bux Chandio and Raza Rabbani who are all writers.

When contacted, NBF Managing Director Mazharul Islam, said he was not aware of any such development. The NBF had launched a number of initiatives for the promotion of book culture in the country, including setting up of book clubs across the country, launching of quarterly Book Review and celebration of National Book Day.

“We received tremendous response from the public for popularising reading habits in the country,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 9th, 2011.

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