SC orders govt to make Urdu official language immediately

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday ordered the government to immediately make Urdu the official language of the country.
The apex court bench, headed by Chief Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, gave the verdict. The court in its verdict said Article 251 of the Constitution should be implemented as it was written in the Constitution that Urdu would replace English as the official language in the country within 15 years. The chief justice said it was their responsibility to implement the Constitution.
The court said the implementation of the constitutional provision pertaining to the Urdu language was the responsibility of the government.
The court has issued nine directions to the government regarding the implementation of Urdu as the official language of the country. The chief justice read out the decision in Urdu.
In its ruling, the bench headed by Justice Jawwad S Khawaja and comprising Justice Dost Muhammad Khan and Justice Qazi Faez Isa, gave a nine-point directive for the gradual implementation of Urdu in Pakistan.
The court reserved the verdict on August 26. The petitions in this case were filed by Kokab Iqbal and Syed Mahmood Akhtar Naqvi for declaring Urdu as the official language.
The court also ruled that under the Constitution, it was necessary to adopt Urdu as the official language after 15 years of the implementation of the 1973 Constitution.
Guidelines:
(i) The provisions of Article 251 shall be implemented with full force and without unnecessary delay by the federal and provincial governments.
(ii) The timelines which are given by the government itself must be considered for implementation by the government in line with Article 251 for implementation.
(iii) The federal government as well as provincial governments should coordinate with one another for uniformity in the “rasmulkhat’ for the national language.
(iv) The federal as well as provincial laws should be translated into the national language within three months.
(v) Statutory, regulatory and oversight bodies shall take steps to implement Article 251 without unnecessary delay and also ensure compliance by regulatees.
(vi) In the competitive examinations at federal level, the recommendations of government bodies noted above should be considered by the government for implementation without unnecessary delay.
(vii) Judgment in cases relating to public interest litigation and judgments enunciating a principal of law in terms of Article 189 must be translated into Urdu and should be published in line with Article 251 of the Constitution.
(viii) In court cases, government departments should make all reasonable efforts to submit their replies in Urdu to enable citizens to effectively enforce their legal rights.
(ix) If, subsequent to this judgment, any public bodies or public officials continue to violate the constitutional command contained in Article 251, citizens who suffer a tangible loss directly and foreseeably resulting from such violation shall be entitled to enforce any civil rights which may accrue to them on this account.
Article 251
(1)The national language of Pakistan is Urdu and arrangements shall be made for its being used for official and other purposes within 15 years from the commencing day.
(2) Subject to clause (1), the English language may be used for official purposes until arrangements are made for its replacement by Urdu.
(3) Without prejudice to the status of the national language, a provincial assembly may by law prescribe measures for the teaching, promotion and use of a provincial language in addition to the national language.
Meanwhile, the applicants Mahmood Naqvi and Kokab Iqbal termed the decision historic and said that the name of Chief Justice Jawwad S Khawaja will be written in the books after this historic verdict.