KARACHI: President Pasban e Pa
kistan Altaf Shakoor insisted that the importance of the mother l
anguages could never be underestimated, because as a Pa
kistani nation we have already braved a great national loss of the Dacca Fall, only because the then rulers neglected the importance of the mother l
anguages and failed to give the due status to the Bengali l
anguage.
According to sources, AltafShakoor asserted that Pa
kistan can be a vibrant and thriving society, it needs to actively promote and patronage the mother l
anguages. He mentioned that after suffering
the los
s of East Pa
kistan we should open our eyes and give due importance to all mother l
anguages of Pa
kistan including Sindhi, Punjabi, Pashto, Balochi, Saraeki, Hindko and other regional l
anguages, besides our national l
anguage Urdu. He focused on promotion of Urdu, as it is necessary that this great l
anguage should be localized and it should adopt the great treasure of words from
the local mother l
anguages, which are very rich in culture and literature.
AltafShakoor added,” The l
anguage issue is very complex and sensitive political issue a
lso and neglecting this issue has already cost us the East Pa
kistan. Therefore, we should now actively give due importance to all mother l
anguages of Pa
kistan.”
He informed the media, “From 1952 to 1956, we failed to give the status of the national l
anguage to the Bengali, which was mother l
anguages of millions of people living in the East Pa
kistan and resultantly in 1971 we braved the national tragedy of the Dacca Fall.”
He remarked, “We are not against the English l
anguage as it is
the language of science and technology, but it is not wise to teach the English l
anguage from primary classes, as it is an accepted principle worldwide to impart early education to children solely in their mother l
anguages. “
Altaf further said that the introduction of the English and Chinese should be welcomed, as these two l
anguages are great international l
anguages. He lauded the verdicts of the Supreme Court of Pa
kistan to implement the Urdu as official l
anguage of Pa
kistan. He also welcomed the order of holding the CSS papers in Urdu and said such brave decisions would augur well for Pa
kistan in future. However, he requested for tagging more funds for the promotion of all mother l
anguages of Pa
kistan and preserving their rich literature, culture and heritage for our coming generations.
“As Pa
kistanis, we need a ‘Pa
kistani l
anguage’ which should be a rich mix of all regional l
anguages of Pa
kistan so that in future it could serve as a main communication vehicle for this big country, having diversified linguistic and cultural fabric,” Shakoor stated.
“Pa
kistani l
anguage would be developed only when our writers, scholars and thinkers work, actively, on
the localization of Urdu, to make it easily understandable for all people of Pa
kistan that speak different mother l
anguages in their homes,” he commented.
Altaf insisted that on the international mother l
anguage day, we as a Pa
kistani nation should realize that without introducing a common mass l
anguage in Pa
kistan in shape of a localized Urdu we would continue to face many problems in overcoming
the linguistic and cultural barriers between the different units of the federation of Pa
kistan.