Science Fiction in Pakistan

I don’t know if science fiction as a genre even exist for Pakistani readers. When you go to book stores, you don’t find any books other than religous ones or text books needed for school curriculum. How can an average reader than get exposure to different genres of writing and specially fiction?

Movies are still available through internet or on pirated DVDs, but as any science fiction lover would tell you, visualizing the stories on your own is always more gratifying than watching somebody else’s visual interpretation of your favorite story. Moreover, there are so many amazing stories that are just not long enough to be converted into a movie or a show. But due to lack of availability, and awareness, our Pakistani readers are deprived of a great source of intellectual stimulation that can definitely counter the ill effects of extremist doctrinations.

My hope is that with efforts like “The Salam Award”, we may be able to make a teeny tiny bit of difference and make Pakistani readers fall in love with this beautiful realm of human imagination.