PESHAWAR: In a narrow alley in the heart of Peshawar’s walled city, the scent of dusty pages lingers in the air as visitors step into Chaka Gali, a book bazaar believed to be even older than Partition that continues to serve students and collectors with stacks of used and rare titles at prices few other markets can match.
Thought to have been there in some form before 1947, the market remains one of the oldest surviving second-hand book bazaars in Pakistan. Its tight street is lined with small, dimly lit shops where wooden shelves sag under the weight of textbooks, novels, encyclopedias and exam guides.
Some titles lie in neat piles. Others are scattered on the ground. Most have passed through many hands.
“Chaka Gali is more than 70 years old,” Abdul Jameel, a bookshop owner in his 50s, told Arab News. “You can see the houses [around]. They are almost older than the partition [of Pakistan and India].”
The market’s offerings cater to a wide range of interests. Textbooks for schoolchildren sit alongside Urdu and English fiction, MBBS manuals, CSS prep guides, and religious literature, all at steeply discounted prices.
