Bookstores business down in Nangarhar province

JALALABAD (Pajhwok): Some bookstore owners in eastern Nangarhar province have said public interest in buying books has declined by 80 percent lately which ultimately affected their business.

Pajhwok reporter visited a famous publishing house and a book store in Pashtonistan Square and noted that in three hours only three persons entered the book store. The three people were university students and wanted to buy books.

Abdul Haq, a student of Nangarhar’s Education and Training Faculty, told Pajhwok Afghan News he was unable to buy books due to worsening economic conditions thus he asked the book store owner to allow him to take snapshots of the pages from where he had to complete his homework.

“Our two textbooks one 220 afs and another 250 afs are higher than that financial ability of half of our classmates to buy them therefore we get its photocopy,” he said.

Najibullah Momand, the owner of a Momand Bookstore, said from the past nine months there is massive decline in their business activities.

Meanwhile, the Afghanistan Sciences Academy member and senior cultural activist Ustad Mohammad Asif Samim said one of the reasons behind the dwindling books business was the deteriorated economic situation but the most important reason was the growing distance from the culture of book reading and use of social media.

Nangarhar Information Director Qari Noor Mohammad Hanif said they celebrated the book reading week in order to promote the book reading culture among youth.

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