PESHAWAR: Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) leader Sikandar Sherpao on Thursday underscored the need for promoting regional languages, saying the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had taken no step to promote local languages, particularly Pashto.
He was speaking at a function held at Watan Kor in connection with the International Mother Language Day.
A number of poets, literati and intellectuals were present on the occasion.
Highlighting the importance of mother tongue, Sikandar Sherpao said
that the developed countries imparted education to children in their own languages to make them understand the concepts in a better way.
The QWP leader said the government should make concerted efforts for the promotion and preservation of regional languages.
He also urged the literary organisations to join hands to play their due role in this regard.
“A language links people to their culture,” he maintained, adding, that ignoring one’s language was harmful for a nation.
Sikandar Sherpao said Pakistan being was a multilingual and multicultural society was home to around different 70 languages.
Demanding the promotion of the Pashto language and its teaching in schools, he maintained the Constitution of Pakistan also called for promotion of local languages.
He expressed concern over the extinction of some regional languages in the country including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said a language was the source of communication and education, therefore, its extinction discontinued the transfer of social values to the coming generation.
Commenting on the prevailing political situation in the country, Sikandar Sherpao said that media was under siege to curb dissenting voices.
He said the Constitution guaranteed the freedom of expression, but the government was hell-bent on depriving people of their due rights.
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