Cultural Pursuits: Urdu poet laments the decline of the language
The former chairman of the National Language Authority and Academy of Letters, Iftikhar Arif, has underlined the need for a definite political vision to promote Pakistan’s national language.
He was speaking at an event organised by the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation on Saturday.
Arif, an Urdu poet, said that poor use of Urdu in the media and in schools, is damaging the language.
Although he lamented the decline of Urdu, he agreed that the importance of the English language in Pakistan’s economic and political activity cannot be underestimated.
He stressed that all languages of Pakistan must be supported so that they are promoted on a national level. It is important that no language feels like it’s being side-stepped, Arif said at the event.
He also recited selections from his poetry before a packed audience.
The event was organised by the institute’s Centre of Biomedical Ethics and Culture.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 23rd, 2012.
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Mr. Arif is not supposed to lament on our Pakistani Urdu language. He is an Indian who sought refuge in Pakistan much later for earning money and better career. He was issued Pakistani nationality on his request which after a passage of time he declared it lost and was again issued Pakistani nationality certificate. It was all a dubious activity. Urdu was already being spoken in this part of subcontinent before the creation of Pakistan. The Panjab province, when united has been the cradle of Urdu language, nurturing the nascent language. Even today the best Urdu spoken in Indian films is from the families which hailed from Pakistan especially Peshawar and Lahore. Pirthavi Raj Kapoor’s family alongwith Yousuf Khan ,Shah Rukh Khan and Aneel Kapoor all are from Peshawar, Similarly Rakesh Roshan’s family hailed from Gujranwala and Pran from Lahore, just to mention only some. Pakistani Urdu is progressing by inclusion of other words of local Pakistani languages. No refugee has to tell us or lament about our Pakistani Urdu language. Today the pronunciation and dialect brought by refugees is associated with the terrorist organization. Pakistani Urdu is a model in itself and need not to be followed by language of the refugees. Naeem Khosa
Governments should be concentrating upon English, and Chinese, as the important languages.