Punjabi to Punjabi dictionary launched

LAHORE: A Punjabi to Punjabi dictionary was launched under the auspices of Punjab Institute of Language, Art, and Culture by Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar at a ceremony at the Governor’s House.

The ceremony was attended by noted scholars, artists, singers, journalists and activists of Punjabi language. The governor said that everyone feels at home when they use their mother tongue which is always associated with their identity and culture. He congratulated PILAC for preparing such a big dictionary of Punjabi language consisting of seven volumes. He said it was the biggest Punjabi dictionary of the world as the greatest number of Punjabi speakers were in the sub-continent. He also agreed with the proposal of eminent analyst Sohail Waraich that Punjab should also celebrate "Punjab Day" on some specified date to highlight its customs, traditions, games, cuisine and culture in general.

Samsam Bukhari, Punjab Minister for Information & Culture, appreciated publication of the dictionary and assured the Punjab government would continue its support to launch such literary projects with the aim to promote mother language, art and culture of Punjab. Sohail Warraich declared the compilation of the dictionary as a milestone in the history of Punjabi language. He emphasized on the importance of research and referencing for the development of a language and critical analysis for which a dictionary is always needed.

Dr Sughra Sadaf expressed her gratitude over completion of such a great work of compiling a dictionary. She paid special thanks to the government which supported the institute for the project. Dr Shahid Kashmiri, supervisor of the dictionary project, described how they had completed the project in its stipulated time of two years.

Zia Shahid said that Punjabi language should be declared a compulsory subject at primary level to make the new generation aware of their great mother language having literature of thousands of years.

Dr. Ajmal Niazi, Dr. Hussain Ahmad Paracha, Dr. Nabila Rahman, Sajjad Mir, Shoukat Ali, Arif Lohar, Baba Najmi, Bushra Ejaz, Amina Ulfat, Haroon Adeem, Iqbal Qaisar, Mudassir Iqbal Butt, Shahida Mini, Beena Goindi, Sarwat Mohiuddin, Arshad Ansari, Naveed Chaudhry, Mansoor Afaq, Habib Mian and others related to the field of Punjabi language, art and culture spoke to the occasion and appreciated the research and publication.

plantation: Lahore Transport Company (LTC) with the cooperation of its Turkish private transport operator organised a tree plantation ceremony on Tuesday to mark clean and green campaign week.