Pakistan

Mother tongue day: ‘Regional languages and Urdu should join hands’

Experts urge for need to promote and uplift language.

Our Correspondent February 21, 2015

Federal Minister for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage, Senator Pervaiz Rashid addressing a symposium on the eve of International Mother Tongue Day. PHOTO: INP

ISLAMABAD: All languages spoken in Pakistan are national languages; Urdu being the source to bring together the Muslims of the subcontinent has been given the status owing to its political history.

These views were expressed by linguistics at a symposium on International Mother Language Day organised by the Pakistan Academy of Letters on Saturday to observe the International Mother Language Day.

Speaking at the occasion, Minister for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage Senator Pervaiz Rashid urged for promotion of the mother language and underlined the need to promote and uplift the language with an aim to enrich the nation’s knowledge.

The minister said Urdu being a national language was indeed a treasure trove of knowledge adding that national and mother languages also play an important role in the development of literature.

He emphasised that culture cannot be promoted by adopting other languages and that only the mother tongue was the most powerful instrument of preserving and developing national heritage.

“When a nation is deprived of its mother tongue, it ceases to develop. It is perhaps due to this reason that the nations around the globe have started to observe International Mother Tongue Day,” he maintained.

“No language can survive by only external support unless its speakers stop considering it as an inferior to other languages In the future only those languages would survive which would have power to compete with other languages,” said writer Dr Attaul Haq Qasmi, adding that many international languages like Sanskrit are dying due to their incompetency.

“There is a struggle between regional languages and Urdu, scholars complain that the regional languages do not get the proper attention because of Urdu, which is wrong,” said professor Fateh Malik.

Dr Atish Durani argued that “Some language experts are responsible for death of their respective languages; the high collective reading habits can help languages in existence,” he stressed.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 22^nd, 2015.

COMMENTS (1)

Chachoo | 9 years ago | Reply Urdu being the source to bring together the Muslims of the subcontinent has been given the status owing to its political history. Lol. The minister of PMLN dont know that Urdu has nothing to do with Islam. This language is mainly spoken in a Non Muslim majority UP region of India and Non Muslims speak that language as well. Nowhere in this history it is stated that You have to speak Urdu to be a Muslim or this language signifies the Muslim status. This is sheer stupidity. Religion do not need any language to be propagated and protected.

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