Speak thy vernacular: Displaying pride in pashto, hindko

Seminar to “highlight the significance of mother tongues and promote a sense of unity and harmony in society”.

PESHAWAR: Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s information and culture minister termed the renaming of the province a manifestation of the “long and consistent struggle” for the Pakhtun identity on the occasion of International Mother Tongue Day here on Monday.

The identity of a nation stems from its mother tongue and people who forget these languages will never rise to a respectable place in the comity of nations, provincial minister for Information and Culture Mian Iftikhar Hussain said.

The seminar was organised by the K-P Culture Department at Peshawar Press Club to “highlight the significance of mother tongues and promote a sense of unity and harmony in society”.

The minister said the K-P government had taken measures to include native languages in the syllabus and added that “people of all languages living in the province are equally respected as they add different hues and colour to the cultural beauty of the province.” He added the government will soon arrange a seminar seeking suggestions from people speaking different indigenous languages.

Dr Raj Wali Shah Khattak urged authorities to devise a comprehensive plan for the promotion of languages and suggested that scholars of their respective tongues should form the syllabus.

Similarly, Prof Abaseen Yousafzai said foreign countries like America, Japan, China and other European states had made progress by imparting their own languages but Pakistan, by virtue of depending on foreign languages, was lagging behind.

He said Pashto was a rich language, boasting of 45 authentic dictionaries, with people even pursuing medical and engineering in Pashto in Afghanistan.

On the other hand, Dr Salahuddin said Hindko was the second largest language of the province after Pashto, but the government was not considering its promotion.

He said the government should supervise all the regional languages and help them survive. Moreover, he asked for setting up of a Hindko academy.

Siddique Akbar suggested that for the promotion of Pashto, its script be made easier so the common people could easily read, write and speak it.

It was unanimously agreed that all languages should be respected and used to strengthen ties between different cultures instead of being a cause for conflict. The government was urged to take result oriented measures to support different languages and integrate them into the syllabus.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 22^nd, 2011.