Speaking of Urdu

Sargodha University VC requested the CJ take suo motto notice and make Urdu the official language of the country.

SARGODHA: During a press conference prior to the 2-day international Urdu conference, Sargodha University vice chancellor (VC) Dr Muhammad Akram requested that the chief justice take suo motto notice and issue orders to make Urdu the official language of the country.

“Those nations which forget their national languages and do not take a clear stance regarding their language are left with no stance at all,” Akram said. He said that Pakistanis needed to ensure the advancement of their language by keeping it relevant and by using it in official circles. “The official use of Urdu is the only way to ensure that the language remains vibrant and to ensure that it competes with other international languages,” he said.

While addressing Pakistani writers and poets, Akram said that there was no doubt that writers should work for the constant uplift and polishing of the Urdu language by disseminating their thoughts and ideas in the national language instead of English.

“There is no denying that learning English is incredibly important to keep us in touch and at par with the global community. However, we must not forget our own language and that is what we seem to be doing,” Akram said, adding that it was a shame that the younger generation was so focused on improving their English. “Our youngsters are so hell bent on speaking in English that many of them can barely even count in Urdu and this is shameful,” he said. Dr Akram said that we should feel proud in speaking our national language as it was an incredibly diverse and beautiful language.

“By moulding our language according to today’s needs we can communicate with a large number of people across the world and also promote our culture at the same time,” he said. Dr Akram said that nations that were unable to safeguard their languages eventually become extinct.

The meeting discussed several potential subject areas in Urdu which could be researched on scientific grounds. “It should be a matter of grave concern for us that our language seems to have become a ‘stranger in its own house,’” said researcher Dr Nazish Shah.  She said that several proposals were under consideration to form a linguistics department to educate students about world languages.

VC Akram said that Urdu was not only Pakistan’s national language but was also the lingua franca of the country’s people and was spoken and understood across the country.

Keeping in view these aims and objects, the Sargodha University Urdu department is organising a two-day international Urdu conference. The conference will be attended by writers, poets and intellectuals from across the globe. Through this conference a resolution will be passed to give Urdu its national status as Pakistan’s official language and this document will be sent to the president for approval.

The VC said the conference was likely to be held in the first week of November and delegates from India, Bangladesh, Egypt and Syria were set to participate.

Urdu department chairman Dr Tahir Taunsvi, medical and health sciences faculty dean Prof Dr Zahoorul Hasan,  faculty of science dean Dr Ghulam Hussain, director research Dr Ishtiaq Hussain, university college of agriculture principal Prof Dr Muhammad Afzal, director of academics Dr Shokat, political science dept chairman Dr Rasheed Ahmed Khan, chemistry dept chairman Dr Ilyas Tariq and history dept chairman Prof Dr Nadir Bakht also spoke about the importance of Urdu.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 30^th, 2010.