National language status demanded for Pashto

Karachi
On the International Mother Languages Day on Saturday, the Qaumi Milli Awami Party (QMAP) staged a rally outside the Karachi Press Club to demand national language status for the Pashto language.
The protesters, including a large number of schoolchildren, took part in the rally carrying placards and banners. They shouted slogans against the government's negligence in giving regional languages their due status.
QMAP Sindh General Secretary Sabreen Khan Chagharzai said when Pakistan came into being it was decided that all its nationalities would have equal rights and the administration of the country would run on parliamentary and democratic system. Sabreen said the Pashto language was considered an international language. Former Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai had twice addressed the UN general assembly in Pashto. While education at every level was provided in Pashto language in Afghanistan, in Pakistan neither the Pashto language was declared a national language nor it was given the right to be used on official level, he added.