Promotion of all native languages, cultures stressed

PESHAWAR: The Gandhara Hindko Board, a literary and cultural organisation, arranged a function on Thursday in connection with the International Mother Language Day.

The day is marked worldwide on February 21 to promote awareness about linguistic and cultural diversity.

The United Nations has declared the year 2019 as the International Year of Indigenous Languages.

The theme for this year’s the International Mother Language Day is “Indigenous languages as a factor in development, peace and reconciliation”.

The board hosted the programme at the Dr Zahoor Ahmad Committee Room of the academy. A language researcher Professor Muhammad Adil was the chief guest.

The speakers stressed the preservation and promotion of all native languages and cultures. They said all languages and cultures should be respected and promoted as there is unity in diversity.

Emphasising due status for all mother languages and cultures, the chief guest said the nations, which gave importance to mother languages prospered in every walk of like.

He praised the Gandhara Hindko Board and the Gandhara Hindko Academy for working for the promotion of not only Hindko but also other Pakistani languages.

A walk was arranged in the end to highlight the importance of native languages and cultures.

It may be mentioned here that Hindko is among the nine officially recognised languages of Pakistan, others being Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto, Balochi, Seraiki, Kashmiri and Brahvi.

The Gandhara Hindko Board has been preserving and promoting Hindko along with other languages since its launch in 1993 while the Gandhara Hindko Academy, which it runs, became functional in 2015.