Pak arrests book sellers for selling pirated copies of Jaswant's book

Oxford University Press (OUP) has legal rights to publish in Pakistan the book, 'Jinnah: India-Partition-Independence'. Since it has not supplied stocks of the book in English in the Pakistani market, pirated copies are being sold in cities like Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Karachi for Rs 200 as against the original price of Rs 1,350.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) launched a crackdown on those selling pirated copies following a complaint by OUP. Apart from arresting about two dozen book sellers and distributors, the FIA has seized pirated copies from shops across the country.

Singh's controversial book has been in great demand in Pakistan and book stores flew in thousands of copies from India even before it was formally launched in the country. OUP Managing Director Amina Syed said it is very difficult to stop the piracy of a book which is in such great demand.

She said Singh has informed OUP that he will visit Pakistan in December to promote the book. "We will be able to release its Pakistan edition before his arrival. The edition is in the final stage and copies will also be supplied to other parts of the world from here," Syed said.