About Sialkot Cantonment:
Sialkot Cantonment is cantonment area in Sialkot adjacent to city area. It is one of the oldest and most important Cantonments of Pakistan. It was established in 1852 by the British Indian Army. As gleaned from the old records, the Sialkot Cantonment is the precursor of Wazirabad Garrison which stood established for a sojourn from 1849-52. The site of Sialkot Cantonment was chosen by Sir Charles Napier, GCB, the then Commander-in-Chief, in 1851. The Wazirabad Cantonment was vacated and the garrison shifted to “Seealkot Cantt”, as it was then called, where actual occupation was effected in 1852. “Cantt” is an abbreviation for cantonment.
The congenial climate, prospects of meeting military requisites and close proximity to the Jammu and Kashmir state led to the genesis of Sialkot Cantt. The Sialkot Cantonment is primarily flanked by two rivulets called nullas in vernacular i.e. nullah “Palkhu” towards the north and nullah “Bhed” towards the south, both originating from the Indian Kashmir.
It serves as a military base and residential establishment. The civil population of Sialkot Cantonment is approximately 191,000 . The cantonment maintains its own infrastructure of civic facilities and is outside the jurisdiction of Sialkot District Government. Its civic facilities are managed by Sialkot Cantonment Board. Sialkot Cantonment houses two divisions of infantry. There is also a small Sialkot Cantonment Airport in Sialkot Cantt in use by Army aviation.
* About Salik Shaheed (SJ) Garrison Library, Sialkot*
Salik Shaheed (SJ) Garrison Library, Sialkotwas recently inaugrated. Located in Sialkot Cantt this library is open to public and not only restricted to Army persons and families. Books of all genres are available in its collection including subcontinent history, military history and literature.
*Salik Shaheed (SJ) Garrison Library Sialkot* was inaugurated on 1st June 2019 near the Garrison Gymnasium in *Sialkot Cantt*. It is among few E libraries of Pakistan and the first library to display E-newspaper. Developed in a modern design and latest furniture, this library is perfectly air-conditioned. This library has a separate section named as “Iqbal Center of Excellence and Learning” , where all of the Allama Iqbal’s work and research is available along with his biographies and related books. There are few TV screens displaying his history, documentaries and pictographs. Upon applying membership, you are eligible to come and study in this library from 10 am to 9 pm except Wednesday. Personal laptops are allowed inside. Almost all books can be issued for a period of 14 days with the membership.
The latest modern Integrated library Management System is Installed and all the data from the old database has successfully migrated to the new system. The IT and Library staff were trained accordingly. This was a unique experience with the Pakistan Army personals. I am very much thankful to the Maj Gen, Colonel, Major and all other staff members for their trust, love and hospitality.
Koha community in Pakistan and Asia
Koha-Pakistan was initiated by Mr Sher Afzal khan in October 2018, with the aim of developing, maintaining and promoting Koha in Pakistan and Asia-pacific. Before this Mr Sher Afzal contributed in the field of OSS both National and International forums. In this year Koha-Pakistan organized International Conference “Pakistan Koha-Con19 in Islamabad in which 08 countries experts, pioneer of koha participated.
For further details please visit the website of Koha-Pakistan Community on www.kohapaksitan.org
About Me: Sher Afzal Khan
More than 14 years of Professional experience in the field of Information Sciences, Knowledge Management, Information Communications Technologies, Open Source Technologies, Research & Development Lead Trainer and consultant Open Source Technologies. He is also the Member of the Board of Trustee and Vice Chairman Reed Pakistan, Founder of “Koha Pakistan”, Winner of IEEE, Emerald and other International awards winners. He has in-depth command on supporting consulting open source software and successfully done 45 + Open Source Software projects both nationally and internationally. He is also Country Ambassador for DSpace OS software by MIT University USA for Pakistan. He has conducted 120 + workshop, training and was invited as speaker by International community i.e. Uzbekistan, UEA, USA, Philippine, Grace, Germany and many other part of the world.
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