PESHAWAR, Aug 9: The Rehman Baba Memorial Library in Hazarkhwani, in the outskirts of provincial capital, has been without books and staff for more than 11 years.

The library, set up in 1994 in memory of the Pushto mystic poet at his birthplace at a total cost of Rs25 million, was inaugurated by the then president Farooq Ahmed Khan Laghari. Besides the library, there is a cultural hall, a canteen and the tomb of Rehman Baba and the whole premises is called Rehman Baba Complex.

The building had remained under the control of the provincial culture department for a period of seven years (1994-2000) after its inauguration. Later the municipal corporation officials took its control and finally it came into the hands of directorate of Archives and Libraries, NWFP, in 2004.

The directorate, however, is faced with shortage of staff and it has failed to make library functional so far, official sources said.

Jamsheed Mohmand, the joint secretary of Rehman Baba Adabi Toulana (Literary Society),said that the those spreading Rehman Baba’s message wanted to take the control of the library but their efforts were all in vain.

“The library should be handed over to us (the literary society)”, he demanded.

A delegation of the society had also met the NWFP chief minister and governor on the issue. “The building needs maintenance and the library staff, so that it can be used for research on the mystic poet by students “, Mr Mohmand said.

The two-storey building is in dilapidated conditions and needs renovation, official sources said. There are no books in the library except a heap of files of the defunct Deputy Commissioner’s office record. Its ceiling fans and window frames have been stolen away by unknown people.

There is only one watchman out of the three who were posted duty at the building. One watchman was removed recently and the other was performing duty at the house of one of the officials of the directorate of Archives and library, NWFP.

The watchman who was performing duty at the dilapidated library was also running a taxi stand as the a great number of people visited the tomb of the mystic poet.

There was another shrine of Taoos (peacock) Baba near here where a large number of visitors came to see the peacocks and listen to the music played at the shrine. Those visitors also misused the library building.

“The library building has become a hub of drug addicts “, said Mushtaq Khan, a resident of Hazarkhwani who regularly paid visits to the tomb.

“There is no need of library here as most of the people are illiterate”, Mr Khan said.

“Lack of awareness and literary taste is the reason that libraries are in deterioration as government is apathetic to them”, said Rokhan Yousafzai, joint secretary of the Progressive Writers Association.