Mistakes, errors in books not unusual: Javed Jabbar

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Reacting to the debatable decision of the Punjab Curriculum & Textbook Board (PCTB) to ban nearly 100 textbooks in the province without serving notices to the publishers, Javed Jabbar, a former federal minister and author of quite a few books, has made it clear that errors or mistakes were part and parcel of book industry which got generally corrected in the subsequent editions. 

“I endorse the views of the publishers that the PCTB should not have acted in such a manner even if they had found some factual errors or other mistakes in those books,” he observed in a talk show on a news channel. 

“The reputable publishers and authors work hand in hand for printing books which are authentic with accurate information. But despite every conceivable professional efforts we still find odd mistakes in various books,” Javed Jabbar explained. 

“Let me quote a couple of famous examples. A famous California-based scholar had incorrectly mentioned the religion of Pakistan’s first-ever President, Major General Iskander Mirza, as Zoroastrian which he was not. Another scholar of USA had described Field Marshal Ayub Khan as the President at the time of dismemberment of Pakistan in 1971, instead of General Yahya Khan,” he recalled. 

Javed Jabbar, currently also the honorary advisor of the National Curriculum Council, emphasized that mistakes could still be committed even though the manuscripts are sent to subject experts and historians for checking and relevance. 

Aziz Khalid, Chairman, Pakistan Publishers & Booksellers Association (PPBA) and Iqbal Saleh Muhammad, Managing Director, Paramount Books, during the television talk show, also resented the moves aimed at victimizing the publishers.