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Pindi's 50-year-old weekly book bazaar closed down

Pindi's 50-year-old weekly book bazaar closed down

Book vendors have been stopped from setting up stalls due to traffic issues
02 Jan, 2017

The traffic police have stopped vendors from selling books in Saddar, bringing a 50 year old book bazaar that took over the area’s pavements every Sunday to an end.

Vendors have been coming to Bank Road in Saddar every Sunday, where they arrange stalls on the sides of the roads and sell books, magazines and textbooks.

The books available ranged from subjects such as law, engineering, literature and religious books to gardening and housekeeping magazines. A landa bazaar was also organised on Bank Road and Haider Road every Sunday.

The Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) collected Rs300 per stall from the vendors for a day. Every Sunday, traders in Saddar would close their shops and commercial buildings for the weekly holiday and the book stalls would take up temporary residence in front of their plazas.

However, the traffic police have now stopped the vendors from putting up stalls on the pavements and sides of the roads, as they can get in the way of traffic.

RCB spokesperson Qaiser Mehmood told Dawn the bazaar was closed by the traffic police, and not the board. “We allowed the vendors to sell books, and charged them a fee for a day for the last 50 years,” he said.

City Traffic Officer (CTO) Yousaf Shahid told Dawn traffic congestion forced the police to close down the bazaar. He said the second hand market was what attracted most people to the area, and what the traffic police wanted to close down, but the vendors argued that other markets should be closed too.

“Therefore, we asked all the stallholders not to put up their stalls on the pavements and roadsides from Jan 1,” Mr Shahid said.

He added that traffic has increased in the cantonment areas over the years, and Saddar lacks adequate parking space for visitors, with the landa bazaar and book bazaar exacerbating the problem.

But book lovers who came to the area on Sunday responded to the move with resentment, saying that the books were not only cheaper at the stalls but the book market was a special feature on Sundays in Saddar.

“I came to buy books, but I was shocked to see the book bazaar had ended. The police and civic body have deprived the people of a [place] to get cheaper books,” Mohammad Akhtar, a retired government employee, said.

He said bookstores are expensive and are no prominent public libraries in the area, so people have no choice but to purchase cheaper, second hand books.

Fouzia Ahmed said she visits Saddar every weekend to buy textbooks and storybooks for her children and second hand clothes from the landa bazaar.

“My husband loved to visit the book bazaar and search through the books, but there is no charm in Saddar on Sundays anymore,” she said.

Published in Dawn January 2nd, 2017

Comments

Only truth Jan 02, 2017 09:33am
People are only concerned about CPEC. So no books required.
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muhammad usman khan Jan 02, 2017 10:08am
Very sad. This was a big entertainment in Rawalpindi on Sunday. I was a regular visitor to this bazar even sometimes I don't need any book. You can find some good book at a low price.
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Red Dawn Jan 02, 2017 10:21am
Well..... Explains why we are where we are. I loved that bazaar. Been there every week in 2010 and 2011.
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Sara Jan 02, 2017 10:25am
I have family memories attached to Sunday Suddar Bazar.
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Sara Jan 02, 2017 10:26am
I have family memories attached to Sunday Suddar Bazar.
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ahmad Jan 02, 2017 10:52am
I have my childhood memories attached to it, on Sundays would go with my father and mother and surely was one of the most exciting days of the week. i still have images of it in my mind :) Pindi will miss it.
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Tariq Rashid Jan 02, 2017 10:56am
I also used to go there and loved to go through the books and choose some for myself and kids but the closure of stalls means the bazar will look less charming to those fond of reading books available at affordable prices...
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Shabbir Ahmed Jan 02, 2017 11:41am
What a solution to traffic congestion and what a shame! I am afraid, the pigmies at helm of affairs, might one day stop entry of the sick and the patients in the hospitals to avoid congestion.
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white noise Jan 02, 2017 11:52am
I grew up in a middle class family and could never afford new books and if it was not this market, I would have not been able to study at all, I owe my success to this market, its just sad that its closing down and I am sure there is a hidden agenda behind all this.
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Junaid Jan 02, 2017 11:54am
In Zarardi-Shariff model...there is no need for books for masses!
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Ali Gohar Hunzai Jan 02, 2017 01:05pm
Very Saad! On week ends Sadar Book bazar used to be a great attraction for book lovers. They took the opportunity from book lovers. Not only the books these people have cut down many beautiful trees all the way from Sadar to Islamabad. Yet the traffic issue is the same.
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Fida Hussain Jan 02, 2017 01:13pm
It is not rational decision taken up by Govt( R Traffic Police) If there is traffic problem Govt should give alternate space to sellers in near location rather than closed the whole bazaar routed out.
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naveed Alam Khattak Jan 02, 2017 01:55pm
This was my favorite bazar from 2006-2010. i bought lot of books from this place at very cheap price. very sad.
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Naveed iKram Jan 02, 2017 01:58pm
Another shameful act. The great attraction it was has to be done away with. Disgusting! By the way, the traffic congestion is due to the fact that shops & bazars don't have a closed day in Rawalpini Saddar. These open every day of the week, poor employees are exploited and solution is found in closing down the book bazar. The simple solotion is that other shops in Saddar must observe weekly holiday on Sunday.
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Javed sarfraz Jan 02, 2017 02:02pm
PERHAPS AN ALTERNATIVE PLACE NEARBY CAN BE FOUND FOR THESE ACTIVITIES.
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rabia shoaib Jan 02, 2017 02:14pm
Very disappointing. This was one of my favorite places to visit. Is shutting down everyhting the right solution here? Why doesn't the traffic police work a little harder and devise an effective management plan rather than depriving the masses of books ?
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Evren Jan 02, 2017 02:18pm
I am disgusted by this, been visiting this market since my childhood in the late 80s. I loved te fact that you could pick up readers digest, gardening magazines and technical manuals. They should come to possibles aolution. This was part of Pindi culture. Having an ice cream from softie, getting your hair cut from imperial ans picking up some book so was a monthtly Sunday ritual. :(
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Osayed Jan 02, 2017 02:33pm
No doubt it was for a good cause and of benefit to a lot of people, but if an action/activity as good as this is carried out in a wrong fashion can become a nuisance. It is very important for everyone to follow the law, and blocking roads to put up a stall even if it sells Life saving drugs should not be allowed, instead the government should take out an alternative place for these vendors to continue selling books and enlightening many. Waiting for the govt to look into this issue and bring these vendors back in an improved manner.
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Thoroughthinker Jan 02, 2017 02:42pm
This is the result of fast capture of book culture by electronic media.
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Nasir Rashed Jan 02, 2017 03:07pm
I loved this Sunday book bazaar since my college days at Gordon College I still used to visit this bazaar when ever I come to Pindi . This Sunday bazaar had its own charm ,now if it is gone will only become a dream Please try to save this bazaar for me and like minded people of Rawalpindik
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Dr. Salaria, Aamir Ahmad Jan 02, 2017 03:44pm
What a shocking news to close down the famous gold-mine of books, magazines, periodicals and publications etc. located in the heart of Saddar Bazar, Rawalpindi Cantonment, since many decades? I remember vividly, visiting this gold mine of books every Sunday as a school boy and student of C.B. Sir Syed School near the old President House in Rawalpindi Cantt. The books were neatly scattered and stacked on the sidewalks in and around the historic “London Book Depot” next to the USIS. I used to spend lot of time there in order to read and buy books to quench my thirst of reading and possessing top quality books and magazines. On top of that, the prices of those books and magazines at that time were fantastically low and affordable even for a school going student like me. It’s a pity that this historic place will be no more.
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Mohammad Afaq Jan 02, 2017 04:04pm
Very Sad..Instead of Appreciating this literary element we are closing down...I visited this bazar number of times and get alot of boojks from here.
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Ali Azhar Shah Jan 02, 2017 04:46pm
This step of the illiterate Police is extremely condemnable . It is not justified on any pretext . Bòoks can not be compared with second hand clothes . The Police Officer who could not close Sunday landa bazar without closing second hand book stalls should think again .
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Aftab Jan 02, 2017 05:38pm
Great. More illiterates!
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Abdul Aziz Khan Jan 02, 2017 06:13pm
Actually the book bazars in most of the big cities are like a tradition. It is really sad that the bureaucracy has swallowed this tradition too due to its incompetency. It is very clear that the incompetent officers could not evolve any action plan to organize the traffic even on Sunday which is a closed day because they have no brain to make solutions of the problems. They just adopted the easy way to ban the setting up of stalls on the footpaths. One should ask them that the vehicular traffic pass on the roads or on the footpaths. Thanks God at the moment there is no former Home Minister Rehman Malik, otherwise he would immediately declare the Rawalpindi Saddar area as RED ZONE, like the Constitution Avenue of Islamabad.
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Ehsan Jan 02, 2017 09:03pm
Instead stop traffic for the bazaar, this is how you preserve history. People should talk to their local MPA/ MNA etc
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Aamir Jan 02, 2017 09:17pm
Very sad, i used to love buying books here.
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saqlain Jan 03, 2017 01:27am
Dear Leaders and concerned officials, I was unable to buy new books from shops for my studies and used to get books from Mall Road on weekend. Today, i am foreign Graduate please keep this facility to many mores like me to push their dreams please.
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jalaluddin s. hussain Jan 03, 2017 07:54am
While living in Brossard, Quebec, Canada and enjoy reading inexpensive books and magazines all the time , I feel bad that my former city people ( I lived in Rawalpindi for more than 20 years), I feel sad that the book lovers of cheap books have been deprived of "Book Bazaar" . The Police and Municipal authorities must review their decisions.
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R S Chakravarti Jan 03, 2017 08:11am
@Only truth Probably the most sarcastic comment I have seen!
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Ashraf Quraishi Jan 03, 2017 12:03pm
It may be frustrating for some people but the traffic problem is another reality that cannot be ignored. We must understand that roads and sidewalk are for driving and walking not for market of books or whatever. It is not the issue of book loving. Book sellers should find some other and better place that doesn't disturb the traffic and I am sure book lover will find the new place very close to their hearts.
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Sheikh Waqar-ul-Hassan Jan 03, 2017 01:52pm
I think education and knowledge is not a priority of the administrators of the country. This can be clearly seen on PTV. They have stopped airing English language content that was a good mean to learn through listening.
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Waqar Jan 03, 2017 10:07pm
Its a good decision as this bazar caused a lot of traffic mess. But RCB should allocate alternate open space for the bazar. It was the only place where poor people could purchase 2nd hand things.
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