In the film Namak Halal, Amitabh Bachchan delivers this dialogue: “I know such English that I will leave the British behind. You see sir, I can talk English, I can walk English, I can laugh English, I can run English, because English is such a funny language.”
But Sindh Assembly Speaker Nisar Khuhro wasn’t laughing on Tuesday, when confronted with a prime example of how the Queen’s English can go horribly awry when used by government offices. Khuhro was annoyed over a written reply to a question put to the relief department, so much so that he asked the Sindh Assembly secretary to look up the original answer to see if there was a mistake made by the staff or by the department.
The offending sentence: “The District Government Sukkur and Jamshoro have been paid compensation to the legal heirs of deceased persons. However the provincial Government has not been made payment of compensation to the legal heirs of deceased.”
“Why is the word ‘been’ in here? I don’t know what to make of this. I don’t understand this English,” Khuhro said, as MPA Haji Muzaffar Ali Shujra, who was answering questions, seemed at a loss for words. Law Minister Ayaz Soomro was told to ensure that such mistakes weren’t made, since the sentence seemed to imply that the district governments had not made the payments, when they had.
English lessons were in store for others as well. Information Minister Shazia Marri, for one, pointed out the mistakes in the resolution drafted by MPA Nusrat Seher Abbasi, paying tribute to the late Pir Pagaro VII.
Language was on the day’s agenda in any case. Abbasi was slated to present a resolution for Sindhi to be given the status of a national language in Pakistan, an issue that will inevitably lead to a contentious debate in the house. Perhaps the memory of the language riots of the 1970s have faded for some.
Others never had the chance to exercise their verbal skills. At the beginning of the session, PPP MPA Mohammad Nawaz Chandio was rather adamant in trying to point out that the front row for ministers was completely empty but Khuhro had to nearly shout at him to sit down and his microphone was never turned on. Local Government Minister Agha Siraj Durrani and Law Minister Soomro did turn up later though.
And speaking of English, this gem of a letter from a district official in Rawalpindi sent to the Punjab ombudsman last year, in response to an information request by the Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives speaks volumes about how English is used. “The information sought for, hence, can not [sic] be conveyed to every a, b or c, who might exploit it according to his own sweet will and designs.”
Published in The Express Tribune, January 18th, 2012.
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sindhi as national language?he must be out of his mind, why not urdu as government language, who knows english in pakistan, only 10%ppl who exploit 90%ppl