PESHAWAR: The wave of bomb blasts and suicide attacks in Peshawar city might have stopped but the damage extremism and terrorism have caused to the people of this city continues as another bookstore is closing down due to ‘intellectual bankruptcy’ in the city.

Despite offering 50 per cent discount on books on sale, there is hardly any buyer around in the two-storey Shaheen Books Peshawar, located on University Road.

In a city where shoppers throng the market the moment sale opens on branded clothes, shoes and other items, it is ironic that no one bothers to peep into the bookstore. No one even bothers to look at a heart-wrenching dark-coloured poster message by the owner displayed on its entrance.

“The entire society collectively is in grasp of moral degradation, senselessness, extremism and terrorism because of their ignorance. People don’t have the habit of reading anymore. So libraries and bookstores have no meaning for such society. Under such circumstances, we are forced to close down our bookstore,” says the ominous looking black-poster on the entrance of Shaheen Books Peshawar.

Owner of bookstore says he can’t sell even a single magazine as there are no buyers

The bookstore opened in 1992 by a book-lover Mustafa Kamal from Karak is now in the hands of his son and nephews. Riaz Gul, his son, still remembers how foreigners residing in University Town and local literati used to throng the bookstore.

Women used to buy fashion magazines. But with the passing of time as extremism forced educated and literate families to move to other cities, the number of book buyers dropped around 2005. After that it was a gradual decrease in the number of visitors to the bookstore.

In 2007, as the law and order situation aggravated, Saeed Book Bank, one of the most popular bookstores in Peshawar Sadder, closed down business and moved to Islamabad.

“I think bomb blasts may have caused damage to the city but closure of the bookstores like Saeed Book Bank and now Shaheen Books is a severe blow to the intellectual life of this city,” says Saima Munir, a rights activist.

Saeed Book Bank was forced to move out of city due to kidnapping for ransom threats. London Book Agency, another bookstore in Saddar, is also just selling course books. Shaheen is also going to shrink its business to stationery. These are all after effects of terrorism and extremism that engulfed this city for the last decade or so. Those, who could afford to buy books or hailed from educated class, have left the city long ago. Now people might afford books but they have no liking or habit of reading books. “As a result, bookstores are not doing any business,” explains Riaz Gul.

Riaz Gul recalls how once the bookstore had thousands of books of all genres. Now he is forced to sell the remaining books on half price due to bad business. He has also returned a huge bulk of books to the publishers. “I used to sell 200 to 300 magazines back in 90s. Now I can’t sell even one,” he adds.

Riaz Gul while narrating how he has been trying hard to sell books on discount and still unable to attract booklovers to the store, has tears in his eyes. It is quite visible that he is not as much concerned about business as much about the senselessness and intellectual poverty of the people in the city.

“I am amazed how people take their children to eat at international food chains and restaurants but fail to get them good books,” says Riaz Gul with a heavy heart.

The textbooks taught in schools don’t tell them history. The youth need to know history and read other books so that they could learn manners, share ideas and hold intellectual discourse.

“Unfortunately parents like to buy their children Tablets and cellular phones than buying a good book,” says Riaz Gul, who is also going to convert his bookstore into a stationery shop since he has to earn a living.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2016