Visitors to the makeshift Lyari Textbook Public Library, popularly known as the Mulla Fazil Hall Library, can be forgiven for feeling a bit like the proverbial blind man looking for a black cat in a dark room.

Located in Karachi’s oldest neighbourhood, Lyari, the library once boasted a collection of more than 9,000 books, displayed in neatly lined wooden cabinets and steel shelves in a spacious and aerated hall, with ample light. Despite the rickety furniture and worn out textbooks, a steady stream of students and youth benefitted from this library for close to four decades.

But the situation changed towards the end of 2022 when, in a hurried move, the library was shifted to its current, albeit temporary, location at the Football House in Chakiwara, a few minutes away from its original location near Aath Chowk.

“For three months, we didn’t have a location for the books, the shelves and other library equipment,” one employee there tells Eos while requesting that he not be named. “We had 38 bookshelves and many of them were damaged, including some beyond repair and they are no longer of any use,” the employee adds. Eos counted 27 bookshelves at the current location. 

Once the biggest library in Karachi’s Lyari neighbourhood, the Mulla Fazil Hall Library has been operating from a temporary location for the last two years. Infrastructure issues aside, the library has not purchased any new books in nearly two decades…

LACKING IN THE BASICS

During the demolition of the old library and the shifting of the books and furniture to the new location, a physical register, which was the catalogue of the books at the library, was misplaced. 

Now, visitors have to scan the shelves, the ones that survived the shifting, in search of books, often buried under layers of dust. 

Shah Jahan, a student of Lyari University, says he keeps a piece of cloth to clean the dust on the chairs and tables.  “Students do the cleaning themselves on most days,” he tells Eos. Jahan adds that it took six months for the makeshift library to have a water cooler and functional washrooms. 

But what good is a library if it fails to fulfill its basic purpose? We are not talking about free wifi and state-of-the-art computer labs for students to explore digital resources, but new books.

This is frustrating for students, which was obvious in interactions Eos had with those at the library. One student, Nadeem Kareem, said that most of the textbooks and reference material at the library, once the biggest reference library in Lyari,  were outdated and irrelevant.

Akbar Faiz, who is the director of the library department for Lyari Town, confirms this. “The library hasn’t made any new purchases [of books] in nearly two decades,” he tells Eos. The request for funds to purchase new books is sent every year, but it is turned down due to a lack of resources, adds Faiz. 

As things stand, the library’s annual budget for new books has remained stagnant and unpaid at Rs300,000 for the last two decades.

DARK, DUSTY CORNERS

For the longest time, the library served as a place where students could read and study in peace, away from the frenzy of the congested and predominantly lower-middle class neighbourhood.

But that, too, changed at the new location, and the library wears a deserted look till noon daily, when it gets electricity supply. This, too, is disrupted for a couple of hours every few hours.

“We had a UPS [uninterruptible power supply] system at the old building, which had been gifted by a donor,” says Hazaran Baloch, who is a student and a regular visitor to the library. “But when the library was relocated to this [Football House] building, the UPS was stolen within a few weeks,” he tells Eos.

Abdul Rehman, a student of international relations at the University of Karachi, points out that the makeshift library hall has only two windows. “Everytime there is a power outage, only a handful of students are able to stay inside, by sitting close to the windows,”  he says.  “Most students have to step outside due to the poor light and excessive heat, which is made worse by the poor ventilation,” he tells Eos.

If you can conquer that, you have to brace for the mosquitoes or any other pest that might crawl out from one of these dark, damp corners, chimes in another student. 

The Football House, whose ground floor is the makeshift location of the library, has the office of the district football association on its first floor, where a variety of activities take place throughout the day. Some of those visitors often spend hours on the ground floor, outside the library. These people often engage in raucous arguments, which is disruptive for the students.

“There are continuous debates taking place between those individuals sitting outside the library,” a frustrated Rehman tells Eos, while pointing to the group of five men arguing loudly while sitting on chairs at the entrance.

A SHARP DECLINE 

For author and social activist Ramazan Baloch, who grew up in Lyari and narrated many of its stories, the libraries in the locality are in a slump. He says that poor management by the municipal authorities and a paucity of readers has expedited the process.

“Until the 1990s, nearly every UC [union council] had at least one library, along with a reading hall,” he says. This was at least the case till the devolution of municipalities from the district municipal committee (DMC), to town municipal committees (TMC), he adds.

Under the devolution plan, the seven DMCs in Karachi were divided into 25 TMCs in 2022. Each TMC was further broken down into administrative sub-units, called UCs. Under this set-up, District South was divided into two towns: Saddar and Lyari, with each having 13 UCs. The director of libraries remains responsible for the libraries in various UCs of a particular town, with funds provided by its TMC.

The libraries have continued to decline over the years, first shrinking in size and reduced to a single room, before vanishing altogether.

“Today, the number of [functional] libraries in the Lyari area is down to four, and even their fate is uncertain,” laments Baloch. 

THE MALAISE OF MISMANAGEMENT

One library employee, who didn’t wish to be named, reiterated that the situation deteriorated after the new municipal set-up was introduced. Around the same time, the provincial government decided to demolish the old library to construct a multipurpose complex, in which the library was slated to get an adequate amount of space, and even an auditorium.

As of now, a quasi-constructed six-storey building stands at the location, with its completion unlikely anytime soon.

Nasir Karim, who has been the chairman of Lyari Town for the last eight months, insists that the library will get its fair share of space in the new building. “I have approached high-ranking officials in the provincial government over the issue and I have been assured that the library will have adequate space and the promised auditorium,” he tells Eos.

But Karim also insists that the new building would be completed in six months. 

Faiz, the director of the library department, has heard such promises many times before. He says that it would take at least two more years to complete. “Till that time, we have no other option but to use this location,” he adds.

Until that time, the library management could do worse than ensuring cleanliness and quiet for those still visiting it. And perhaps it can persuade some of the students to catalogue the books that the library is still  left with. 

The writer is a member of staff.
X: @Ayaz_Jurno

Published in Dawn, EOS, July 14th, 2024