Reply sought in Punjabi language case

LAHORE

Justice Ayesha A Malik of the Lahore High Court on Thursday sought reply from the law ministry within two weeks on petition seeking request to make Punjabi language compulsory in schools for class 1 to 5 students.

The petition was moved on behalf of the Punjabi Adabi Board. Petitioner counsel said that according to the 1973 Constitution, it was to become the official language in 1988 but it was not done and even the recent judgment of the Supreme Court for making Urdu official language and teaching regional language was not implemented.

He said Punjabi was our mother tongue and it would be easy for students of this area to understand.

He said that for Punjabi people their mother tongue was critical to their self-esteem, identity, creativity and human development. He requested to order a compulsory part of the curriculum of the Punjabi language to the school students from grade 1 to five.