International Mother Language Day celebrated at PAL

Islamabad

The government would work for the promotion of mother languages across the country, said Irfan Siddiqui, adviser to the Prime Minister on National History and Literary Heritage.

He stated this on the occasion of the International Mother Language Day in a special event organised by the Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) here on Sunday.

PAL Chairman Professor Dr. Muhammad Qasim Bughio, Dr. Inam-ul Haq Javed, managing director of the National Book Foundation (NBF), Dr. Fozia Saeed, executive director of the Lok Virsa, Fateh Muhammad Malik attended the event. Scholars Qayyum Bedar, Waheed Zuhair, Reheem Mehar, Naveed Haider Hashmi, Tahira Ehsan Jatak & Dr. Liaqat Sunny from Balochistan, Inayat Ullah Faizi from Chitral, Nasrullah Khan Wazir, Saleem Raaz, Noor-ul-Amin Yusufzai, Aseer Mangal, Dr. Yaar Muhammad Mamnoon & Najeeb Ali Shah from KPK, Jamshed Dukhi, Hassan Hasrat, Aslam Sehar, Nazam Diya,Hafeez Shakir, Khalid Taaj from Gilgit/Baltistan, Tanveer Sehear, Hafeez Khan, Khalid Dhariwal, Musarrat Kalanchvi, Yusuf Qamar, Ikhlad Ul Hassan and Yasmeen Hameed from Punjab, Dr.Fiyaz Latif, Dr.Ehsan Danish, Shoaib Ali Kalhoro from Sindh, Sarwat Mohyuddin, Muhammad Hameed Shahid,Fareeda Hafeez, Anjum Khaleeq, Ali Ahmed Qamar, Shaida Chishti, Safdar Wamiq, Afshan Abbasi, Dr. Samina Awan and Dr. Wasima Shehzad from Islamabad and others from across the country participated in the event.

Irfan Siddiqui, adviser to the prime minister, said that if writers and scholars would work with this spirit for the promotion of Pakistani literature and languages then how our mother languages could die. “Debate would leave positive impact on promotion of mother languages. The presence of scholars and writers in today's event proved that you were seriously want work for this great mission and sought different suggestions from them. The government was planning to organise conferences across the country at regional levels, including Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

The adviser to the prime minister said that the National History and Literary Heritage Division would be the first to implement Urdu as official language of the country. The Division is implementing Urdu as official language. Government had started work on adoption of Urdu as official language on the directions of the Prime Minister as well in pursuance of the Supreme Court orders. Number of government departments had stated its official correspondence in Urdu but it would take time, government wanted its adaptation by will of people instead of imposing. 

Dr. Muhammad Qasim Bughio, chairman of the PAL, said that his organisation was trying to promote national languages.

He said that the government has established a separate ministry to achieve these objectives. This ministry would hopefully work positively and effectively. He urged that a national level policy should be devised to promote national languages.

Professor Fateh Muhammad Malik said that the government should implement the Supreme Court decision regarding the implementation of national language in its real spirit.

NBF Managing Director Dr. Inam-ul-Haq Javed said "We must promote national languages and mother tongues". There are some Pakistan languages which still do not have any authentic and agreed upon system of alphabets.