JHANDEER LIBRARY (An Earthly Paradise)
I heard about this library in the BBC program in 1995 in an interview arranged by BBC correspondent Mr. Raza Ali Abidi from one of the brothers of the owners of this library. Since then I became fond of visiting this library but this year on 17th March 2012 when I visited Multan to stay with my eldest son Mr Arbab Ali Khan , the Gm NHA Southern Punjab at Multan, he arranged my visit to this library along with my friends Haji Hassan Ali Thoro Talpur , Shahid Hussain Vistro, Engineer Madani and Hameed Driver . We were lucky enough to meet with Mian Haroon Jhandeer, MBA (USA) son of Mian Ghulam Ahmad Jhandeer who very kindly introduced about all the backgrounds of the library and enlightened us with their future planning and proposals .He very kindly hospitalized us with his gracious, flavored and delicious refreshments. I promised him that I shall compile my comments and send to them very soon. My personal observations, ideas, proposals and comments are as follows:
About 90 Kms away from Multan, on the Vehari Road, in tehsil Mailsi Distt. Vehari, there is a small and rural village, sardarpur Jhandeer at the distance of 15 Kms from the Mailsi Town. This town was established by Sardar Muhammad Jhandeer, in 1961 having a railway station also after his name. In the similar design as the Islamabad Mosque, there is a big Mosque with about eighty feet high minaret and can be seen from the very distant places. Near this Mosque, there is a Private unique library after the name of Masood Jhandeer who had two brothers namely Mian Mahmood Jhandeer and Mian Ghulam Ahmad Jhandeer. At present, Government of the punjab has opened two middle schools, one for boys and the other for girls, a Rural Health Centre, a Veterinary Hospital, electricity, Telephone Exchange, a bank, post office and a telegraph office but the road linking this village connecting the main Road is not double carriage motor way and is therefore prone to dangerous accidents .
The library has about 300 thousand books and one hundred thousand magazines and journals on all subjects and topics in all the languages. Being the largest Private library, it has a distinguished position to possess about 2000 books on religious and about 1100 copies of the Holy Quran written in different Calligraphic designs. There is also a volume of ten Paras (Separas) of handwritten Holy Quran weighing 100 Kgs lying on a large table and for turning its pages, two persons help is required.
In order to accommodate the increasing number of books, a new big double storey building of 20 rooms, has been constructed costing about Rs.20 million. A guest Room has also been arranged in this building with the facilities of free lodging and boarding for the visiting readers and research Scholars.
For the preservation of books, a book binding department has been setup equipped with a cutter and Xerox Machines. Now, all the arrangements have been made to get all the material and documents computerized for which IT and computer staff has been appointed. Sada-e-Cinema Iranian Broadcasting and Television Corporation telecast a documentary film about this library via satellite in 1995.
The same year, BBC also visited the library and a senior and learned BBC corespondent interviewed Mian Ghulam Ahmad Jhandeer and discussed about all the facts and future planning for the more development and expansion of the library. Mr Abidi highly appreciated the personal efforts and struggles taken for the maintenance of this big library by three brothers i.e Mian Masood Jhandeer, Mian Mehmood Jhandeer and Mian Ghulam Ahmad Jhandeer .
Since Masood Jahndeer Library, a reference library having a huge number with a variety of religious, national, historical, literary, cultural, heritage, educational and socio-economic books, magazines, journals and other material, is being visited by several Research Scholars, M Phil and Ph.D students, District management officers under training, vice chancellors of universities , professors, principals of colleges , Doctors etc to acquire the needful source material from the library to quench their thirst of Knowledge, research and other information about the subjects and topics they want to compile and analyze their reports and working papers .
To accommodate all the available material and books in the computerized form, a wide and spacious building has been built up costing about more than Rs. 20 million on the area of 10 acres on a very open and greenery ground surrounded by cultivated lands with all kinds of seasonal as well as cash crops i.e cotton, sugarcane,wheat, vegetables etc.
It looks like earthly paradise where all angels reside, roam and enjoy natural beauty and attractive hygienic atmosphere. But I was bit sad to see that the usage of such a treasure of educational facility was not properly made because of being away from the urban areas or towns from where people could visit and use this source material frequently. In order to make the best use of this facility, in my opinion, the following steps may be taken immediately by the philanthropist owners of this library:
1.As there is a vast and wide land available spread out all the sides and surroundings of the library, a well established building for University named as Haroon Jhandeer University covering all sciences, IT, Arts, Commerce, linguistics, international relations, socio economic politics subjects, may be constructed, starting from the very Primary education and gradually upgraded to secondary, college and University level.
2.For lodging and Boarding of the students, necessary Hostels may be constructed. For poor boys belonging to far-flung areas, all these facilities may be free.
3.Along the road linking the library from the main Multan-Vehari road, different estates for factories, industries and other commercial shopping centers and residential colonies may be arranged.
4.A motor-way road may be constructed through the personal, Government and Philanthropist, local as well as International agencies and countries.
5.Meanwhile immediately an Auditorium or conference Hall may be constructed at the roof of the newly constructed library building where national Scholars may be invited to discuss for the implementation of the above proposals along with other subjects literary as well as Socio-economic matters.
6.Near the library, along both sides of the road, small shops may be buildup for commercial purposes.
For meeting if not all but to some extent, expenses for the development of these proposed projects, about Rs.100 million ( or one million US dollars) are tentatively required for which worldly donors, philanthropists, UAE and Abu Dhabi rulers will be approached through personal sources, friends, coordinators etc.
7.Small Restaurants, a five star hotel may be constructed for the visitors and other research scholars.
8.A detailed brief for this project will be prepared after discussions in the above proposed conference/seminar.
Dr Ali Akbar Dhakan
Former Deputy Governor
State Bank of Pakistan
Presently
Chairman
Sindh Development Foundation
A-106, Shanti Nagar Near Sindhi Hotel
Block 19, Gulshan-e-Iqbal
Dalmia karachi-12.
Ph# 021-34980110,
Cell# 03003664472
I heard about this library in the BBC program in 1995 in an interview arranged by BBC correspondent Mr. Raza Ali Abidi from one of the brothers of the owners of this library. Since then I became fond of visiting this library but this year on 17th March 2012 when I visited Multan to stay with my eldest son Mr Arbab Ali Khan , the Gm NHA Southern Punjab at Multan, he arranged my visit to this library along with my friends Haji Hassan Ali Thoro Talpur , Shahid Hussain Vistro, Engineer Madani and Hameed Driver . We were lucky enough to meet with Mian Haroon Jhandeer, MBA (USA) son of Mian Ghulam Ahmad Jhandeer who very kindly introduced about all the backgrounds of the library and enlightened us with their future planning and proposals .He very kindly hospitalized us with his gracious, flavored and delicious refreshments. I promised him that I shall compile my comments and send to them very soon. My personal observations, ideas, proposals and comments are as follows:
About 90 Kms away from Multan, on the Vehari Road, in tehsil Mailsi Distt. Vehari, there is a small and rural village, sardarpur Jhandeer at the distance of 15 Kms from the Mailsi Town. This town was established by Sardar Muhammad Jhandeer, in 1961 having a railway station also after his name. In the similar design as the Islamabad Mosque, there is a big Mosque with about eighty feet high minaret and can be seen from the very distant places. Near this Mosque, there is a Private unique library after the name of Masood Jhandeer who had two brothers namely Mian Mahmood Jhandeer and Mian Ghulam Ahmad Jhandeer. At present, Government of the punjab has opened two middle schools, one for boys and the other for girls, a Rural Health Centre, a Veterinary Hospital, electricity, Telephone Exchange, a bank, post office and a telegraph office but the road linking this village connecting the main Road is not double carriage motor way and is therefore prone to dangerous accidents .
The library has about 300 thousand books and one hundred thousand magazines and journals on all subjects and topics in all the languages. Being the largest Private library, it has a distinguished position to possess about 2000 books on religious and about 1100 copies of the Holy Quran written in different Calligraphic designs. There is also a volume of ten Paras (Separas) of handwritten Holy Quran weighing 100 Kgs lying on a large table and for turning its pages, two persons help is required.
In order to accommodate the increasing number of books, a new big double storey building of 20 rooms, has been constructed costing about Rs.20 million. A guest Room has also been arranged in this building with the facilities of free lodging and boarding for the visiting readers and research Scholars.
For the preservation of books, a book binding department has been setup equipped with a cutter and Xerox Machines. Now, all the arrangements have been made to get all the material and documents computerized for which IT and computer staff has been appointed. Sada-e-Cinema Iranian Broadcasting and Television Corporation telecast a documentary film about this library via satellite in 1995.
The same year, BBC also visited the library and a senior and learned BBC corespondent interviewed Mian Ghulam Ahmad Jhandeer and discussed about all the facts and future planning for the more development and expansion of the library. Mr Abidi highly appreciated the personal efforts and struggles taken for the maintenance of this big library by three brothers i.e Mian Masood Jhandeer, Mian Mehmood Jhandeer and Mian Ghulam Ahmad Jhandeer .
Since Masood Jahndeer Library, a reference library having a huge number with a variety of religious, national, historical, literary, cultural, heritage, educational and socio-economic books, magazines, journals and other material, is being visited by several Research Scholars, M Phil and Ph.D students, District management officers under training, vice chancellors of universities , professors, principals of colleges , Doctors etc to acquire the needful source material from the library to quench their thirst of Knowledge, research and other information about the subjects and topics they want to compile and analyze their reports and working papers .
To accommodate all the available material and books in the computerized form, a wide and spacious building has been built up costing about more than Rs. 20 million on the area of 10 acres on a very open and greenery ground surrounded by cultivated lands with all kinds of seasonal as well as cash crops i.e cotton, sugarcane,wheat, vegetables etc.
It looks like earthly paradise where all angels reside, roam and enjoy natural beauty and attractive hygienic atmosphere. But I was bit sad to see that the usage of such a treasure of educational facility was not properly made because of being away from the urban areas or towns from where people could visit and use this source material frequently. In order to make the best use of this facility, in my opinion, the following steps may be taken immediately by the philanthropist owners of this library:
1.As there is a vast and wide land available spread out all the sides and surroundings of the library, a well established building for University named as Haroon Jhandeer University covering all sciences, IT, Arts, Commerce, linguistics, international relations, socio economic politics subjects, may be constructed, starting from the very Primary education and gradually upgraded to secondary, college and University level.
2.For lodging and Boarding of the students, necessary Hostels may be constructed. For poor boys belonging to far-flung areas, all these facilities may be free.
3.Along the road linking the library from the main Multan-Vehari road, different estates for factories, industries and other commercial shopping centers and residential colonies may be arranged.
4.A motor-way road may be constructed through the personal, Government and Philanthropist, local as well as International agencies and countries.
5.Meanwhile immediately an Auditorium or conference Hall may be constructed at the roof of the newly constructed library building where national Scholars may be invited to discuss for the implementation of the above proposals along with other subjects literary as well as Socio-economic matters.
6.Near the library, along both sides of the road, small shops may be buildup for commercial purposes.
For meeting if not all but to some extent, expenses for the development of these proposed projects, about Rs.100 million ( or one million US dollars) are tentatively required for which worldly donors, philanthropists, UAE and Abu Dhabi rulers will be approached through personal sources, friends, coordinators etc.
7.Small Restaurants, a five star hotel may be constructed for the visitors and other research scholars.
8.A detailed brief for this project will be prepared after discussions in the above proposed conference/seminar.
Dr Ali Akbar Dhakan
Former Deputy Governor
State Bank of Pakistan
Presently
Chairman
Sindh Development Foundation
A-106, Shanti Nagar Near Sindhi Hotel
Block 19, Gulshan-e-Iqbal
Dalmia karachi-12.
Ph# 021-34980110,
Cell# 03003664472
