by Ameena Saiyid.
Lightstone Publishers owned by Ameena Saiyid, Nadia Ghani and Omayr Aziz Saiyid, launched its latest book Dear Mr Jinnah. 70 years in the life of a Pakistani civil servant in Karachi today at a grand event at Mohatta Palace, Clifton. The garden of Mohatta Palace was packed with over 400 guests which was a reflection of the popularity of and respect for Salman Faruqui.
The speakers were Farooq Hasan, Ameena Saiyid, Mazhar Abbas, Shahnaz Wazir Ali, Bashir Ali Mohammad, and Faisal Siddiqui. Dr Ishrat Husain spoke from Washington DC on Zoom. Hameed Haroon chaired and moderated the proceedings and also interviewed Salman Faruqui. Salman Faruqui’s son, International banker gave the closing remarks and a vote of thanks.
After the proceedings, Salman Faruqui was almost mobbed by his admirers who had bought copies of his book and wanted him to sign them.
Speech by Ameena Saiyid managing director Lightstone Publishers.
Mr Salman Faruqui, Mr Hameed Haroon, Ms Shahnaz Wazir Ali, Mr Faisal Siddiqui, MrBashir Ali Mohammad, Dr Ishrat Husain, Mr Mazhar Abbas, distinguished guests, Salam Alaikum and thank you for joining us at the launch of Dear Mr Jinnah: 70 years in the life of a Pakistani civil servant.
I want to thank Mr Hamid Haroon for his invaluable and incredible support in the publication of this book and also Lightstone Publishing Director, Nadia Ghani. Hameed Haroon’s contributions to production and design were brilliant. A big thank you to Mr Farooq Hasan for kindly hosting this event. He takes a great interest in promoting authors and books and offers his beautiful home for book launches of which several have been held
I’m grateful to Mr Salman Faruqui for entrusting Lightstone Publishers with his outstanding Memoir. Lightstone is almost six years old, but if you add the experience of our team, we have a combined publishing experience of over 250 years. Some of our forthcoming books include A Dialogue with History by Zahid Hussain and Walking a Tightrope, Tariq Khosa’s Memoir. Unveiling Jazba, a history of women’s cricket has just been published.
I have worked with many outstanding authors during my 35 years of publishing, such as Justice Dorab Patel, Princess Abida Sultan, General Gul Hasan, Sherbaz Mazari, MaleehaLodhi, Ayesha Jalal, Hasan Zaheer, JamsheedMarker, as well as Bangladeshi, Indian, American, British, Russian authors including Jaswant Singh, Sarmila Bose, David Page, Victoria Schofield, Alan McGrath, Francis Pritchett, and Shaikh Hasina on her father Mujibur Rahman’s memoirs. It’s been an honour and a learning experience working with them. I’m delighted and honoured to have had the pleasure and honour of working with Mr Salman Faruquion his book.
My only wish is that this book should be read widely by students and ordinary Pakistanis who struggle to meet both ends meet. Pakistan needs a network of public libraries which would enable people to read books and not have to buy every book they read. India has over 30,000 public libraries. We have a few hundred. If we had thousands of public libraries which had a generous, annual budget, the ordinary reader would benefit and publishers could sell thousands of copies they publish to these libraries which would enable them to publish more.
We need to reduce, indeed waive duties on paper which make books expensive. This has been my quest for decades and I have made countless trips to Islamabad before the budget appealing for this concession to promote reading, to no avail. In this year’s budget, announced a couple of days ago, a 10% sales tax has been imposed on newsprint and books. Books have always been exempted from sales tax but now, thanks to the new policy, books will become more expensive in a country of low literacy rate reading to a further decline in readers.
Today, we honour and celebrate the extraordinary career, enduring impact andachievements of Mr Salman Faruqui, a dedicated civil servant who served our nation for decades. He shares his triumphs, struggles, successes, and fascinating anecdotes about a succession of prime ministers and presidents. His sincerity, wisdom, and ability to deliver are inspirational. This book will resonate with readers from all walks of life including college students and those preparing for the CSS exam. The power of public service as shown in the book will continue to inspire us and it will remain a lasting tribute to Mr Salman Faruqui’sremarkable service.
