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Half of Pakistan's population-that is, 70 million-is under the age of eighteen, with 40 million between the ages of 8 and 18. However, only 2 percent of this latter group constitutes the "reading class."With an adult literacy rate of only 38 percent and a per capita income of US$ 480 (Pakistan Economic Survey 1998-99 [Islamabad: Government of Pakistan] ), the main customers of children's books are children themselves and not their parents or the much needed network of school libraries. Low literacy rate and poor purchasing power are the primary barriers to the development of children's literature in Pakistan.
The most significant development of Pakistani children's literature is in Urdu, a language that evolved in the Indus basin around 1200 AD and was refined mostly in the last two centuries under the patronage of the later Mughals, the British government, and after Independence the governments and individuals in Pakistan and India. Among the regional languages, Sindhi and Pushto are promising, but thus far the publications in these two languages are limited to folklore and poetry and are heavily dependent on translations.
The development of Urdu children's literature in Pakistan is characterized by a struggle for survival among everincreasing ideological conflicts and sociopolitical influences. This literature can be examined under five broad historical periods, from the establishment of the British colonial government in India in 1857 to the present time.
Pre-Independence (1857-1947) The Urdu language, patronized by the British as a secular alternative to Persian, became an identity symbol for Indian Muslims toward the end of the nineteenth century. During the pre-Independence period, Urdu children's literature was a promenade between two poles: secularization and Islamization. While the British and their loyal supporters in India produced secular and occasionally some Christian-missionary literature, the champions of identity wrote on Islamic moral, historical, and ideological themes. Later, as a reaction to the Islamization of Urdu, some writers like K. L. Ralia Ram wrote on Hindu religious themes. Urdu children's literature also benefited from translations of Western classics that were eagerly adapted in books about local themes.
It is children's magazines, rather than books, that have played a significant role in the development of Urdu children's literature, because of poor marketing and marginal profits in book publishing. With the introduction...