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Dubai: Book stores have received Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf's autobiography but are awaiting approval from the censor board to release it, representatives at bookstores said yesterday.
"We're expecting an answer today," said a marketing representative from Magrudy's book store in Dubai yesterday, adding that the book could be on the shelves today or tomorrow.
She said that "200 to 350 books have been ordered" for all of the store's branches in the UAE, and that more were expected to be ordered soon.
Interested customers at Virgin Megastore at Mall of the Emirates requested to be contacted when the book was available, according to Shijil Kottupurath, a sales associate there.
Sandeep Damodaran, sales associate at the Jashanmal bookstore at Mall of the Emirates, said the books were expected "any time" today or tomorrow. Damodaran said he was getting "15 to 20" requests for the book at the Jashanmal bookstore every day, mostly from South Asians.
He said the price of the hardcover version was expected to be between Dh70 and Dh100. "It will most probably sell for Dh99," he said. The representative from Magrudy's agreed, saying the coverage the book has received in the local press has evoked interest among "Pakistanis, Indians, and those who follow the political developments in the region."
According to her, the uncertainty over the book's release date was attributed to the fact that it had been sent to the censor board for approval. She said books of a political nature were often sent to the censor board before going on the shelves. "Because this book deals with sensitive and controversial topics it has been sent to the censor board," she said.
The only books that were rejected, she added, were those that contained "excessive violent or sexual content".
The memoir, launched in New York last week, sparked interest after the president offered a number of interviews to television stations in the United States, which also included a late night comedy show.
His claim in one interview that the former US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage had threatened to bomb Pakistan "back to the Stone Age" following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US caused controversy, which the president refused to elaborate on citing a contract with his publisher not to disclose the contents of the book before its launch.
The uncertainty over the book's release date was attributed to the fact that it had been sent to the censor board for approval ... books of a political nature are often sent to the censor board.
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