LAHORE - The Govt College University Lahore Library Saturday basked into glory as it contributed the first ever digital book from Pakistan to the electronic catalogue of the World Digital Library (WDL), a cooperative project of the Library of Congress and the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). The university shared with the world an historical book titled The History of the Afghans published in English in 1829. GCU Chief Librarian Abdul Waheed proudly said that the Government College University Lahore Library was the only library in the world which houses the 181-year-old book and the same can be confirmed from the electronic catalogue of the World Digital Library. The book is the first history of the Afghan people translated from a non-Western language to appear in a European language. The original work was composed in Persian in 1609-11 by Neamet Ullah in the court of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir. Neamet Ullah based his work on material compiled by Hybet Khan, an attendant of the Afghan General Khan Jahan Lodi. The translation is by the German philologist Bernhard Dorn (1805-81). The book covers the history of Yacoob Israel, to whom the work attributes the origin of the Afghans; the life of Yacoobs grandson, King Talut (Saul) and the migration of his descendants to Ghor (in present-day Afghanistan) and the spread of Islam and the influence of Khalid Bin Waleed, a celebrated army officer who converted to Islam and spread it in central and south Asia. The work then chronicles the reigns of rulers of two dynasties that gave way to the rise of the Mughal Empire, namely the Sultans Behlol, Sikander and Ibrahim of the Lodi family and Sher Shah of the Suri family. The last section recounts the lives of Afghan dervishes-turned-saints. The Book concludes with accounts of the genealogy of the Afghan tribes that descend from Sarbanni, Batni and Ghurghust, the three sons of the forefather Abdul Rashid (also known as Pathan), a descendent of King Talut. The GCU chief librarian said WDL is an online library which is in multilingual format and has significant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world including manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, recordings, films, photographs, architectural drawings and other significant materials. Abdul Waheed said that GCU now stands with seven institutes like Library of Congress, Yale University Library and Brown University Library which have shared material on Central and South Asia through the platform of World Digital Library. Only 37 libraries of World have yet succeeded to add its digital book on World Digital Library electronic catalogue as its criteria is very tough, the chief librarian added. Abdul Waheed said that the GCU students are benefit from the rich resources of WDL. He said that the university would also upload more books on literature and history of the Sub-Continent on WDL in near future. He said that 5,000 original digitized letters of literary figures in the stock which can also be shared with the WDL.