CM’s adviser ties the Expo Centre exhibition to Punjab’s scholarship, laptop and skills schemes for young people.
LAHORE: Ali Dar, adviser to the Punjab chief minister on artificial intelligence and international cooperation, opened the Expo Book & Stationery Fair 2026 at the Lahore Expo Centre on Friday, using the occasion to argue that books still matter in a province racing to adopt AI.
A book, he said, remains a person’s best friend and one of the most effective sources of knowledge and intellectual growth. Reading builds critical thinking, understanding and creativity, he said, and nations that embrace books and research go on to lead.
Dar linked the fair to Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s education programmes, describing them as unprecedented. He cited the Honhaar scholarship programme for university students, the laptop scheme, the Khud Mukhtar self-employment programme and the Hunarmand Naujawan skills initiative as investments in the province’s younger generation.
No nation could achieve lasting progress without promoting education and knowledge, he said, adding that empowering young people through modern skills and opportunity was a key priority of the Punjab government.
The exhibition brings publishers, booksellers and stationery makers under one roof, giving students and parents a single place to compare titles and supplies.
The appeal for reading comes as the province reshapes classrooms. Punjab has reduced the textbook load by 25% and made AI a compulsory school subject. Dar’s message was that the two are not in conflict: technology raises the value of the analytical habits that reading builds.
He praised the organisers’ efforts to promote a reading culture, which he said was essential to building an informed and forward-looking society.
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