Bibliophiles flock to book fair defying bomb threat

The booklovers flocked to the book fair on last Friday of February although a militant outfit threatened to carry out bomb attacks.

Ansar Al Islam, a banned militant outfit, on Thursday threatened bomb attack at the book fair. A general diary was filed with Shahbagh Police Station in Dhaka in this regard.

Despite bomb threat, visitors crowded the book fair even though the turnout was low from the morning to noon. But later, the number of visitors continued to increase gradually.

The booksellers also passed busy day and expressed satisfaction with turnover.

According to the booksellers and publishers, very few people visited the fair in the morning and noon but the visitor participation increased significantly in the evening.

Mahfuzul Karim, stall manager of Puthiniloy Publications, said that they were worried as very few people came to the fair until the evening. The scenario changed after the evening with a swarm of booklovers. He also expressed his satisfaction with the turnover.

Some publishers and booksellers echoed the same, saying that they got frustrated on last Friday as many readers didn’t come to the fair after the news of the bomb threat spread.

A K M Kamruzzaman, assistant manager of University Press Limited said, “Those who generally do not purchase books came to the fair. The readers who purchase books did not come to the fair fearing bomb attacks.”

This was last Friday but sales could not gain momentum, he added.

Some booklovers said that they want the government to ensure the security of people at the book fair and curb terrorism in the country. A good number of young people came to the fair and staged protests against the bomb threat.

Faruk Hasan, a student of Dhaka University, said that they want to gain knowledge and move the country forward in the future, but the terrorists want to take the country back.

The participation of booklovers proves that the young generation will never bow down to the terrorists, he added.

Former Vice-chancellor of Dhaka University Professor Dr. AAMS Arefin Siddique told The Business Post that the terrorists fear of knowledge and truth. This is why they want to launch attack at the book fair, he added.

“The high turnout of visitors proves that the people of the country are fond of books. They will never bother about terrorism as they are freethinkers and secular. The country will move forward with promoting knowledge and truth,” he said.