Call to give rightful place to Punjabi

LAHORE: Punjab Institute of Language Art and Culture (PILAC) held a seminar on language and culture as a segment of its ongoing cultural festival.

World Punjabi Congress Chairman Fakhar Zaman ascribed step motherly treatment to Punjabi to the Punjab politicians, bureaucracy and pseudo elite class.

He said no one speaks in Punjabi in provincial assembly but they prefer to speak in bad Urdu and incorrect English despite the existing rules that members can speak in mother tongue.Fakhar Zaman said that except Punjab, education at primary level is imparted in respective mother tongues in the three provinces.

He emphasised that use of archaic words and purist approach regarding Punjabi should be shunned and replaced by current modern lingo. Fakhar said that media is giving no importance to Punjabi culture and instead programmes exhibiting low level comedy are flooding channels. He said that there should be concerted efforts of Punjabi loving people to give rightful place to Punjabi.

Dr Yaqoob Khan Bangash, eminent scholar pleaded vehemently the case of Punjabi in historical perspective. He said nations cannot flourish if they remain alienated from there mother tongue and culture. Hussain Majrooh said that had Punjabi adopted by Sikh rulers instead of Persian, things would have been different. He opined that writer can best express in his mother tongue.

Bina Goindi said she has experience of living abroad and that she has felt that your mother tongue is supreme in all societies. Writer Farhat Parveen was of the view that as a Punjabi one must write in mother tongue along with Urdu and English. Actor and compere Adeel Hashmi also agreed with speakers that Punjabi should be given deserving place as it is a language of great merit.