Govt submits plan to promote Urdu

Prime minister, president to deliver speeches in national language

ISLAMABAD: The government on Friday informed the Supreme Court that key functionaries including the president and prime minister will address official events within and outside the country in Urdu.

Submitting a short-term plan to promote Urdu language, federal secretary information told the three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, that the government is taking steps to gradually introduce Urdu as the official language.

In his report, the bureaucrat said that government institutions will start issuing official documents and forms, including utility bills, in Urdu. He added that the prime minister’s office had issued directives to grant official status to Urdu language.

According to the report, all organisations, government or semi-government working under the federation would publish their policies, by-laws and forms in Urdu along with English. In addition to this, these organisations would also publish information on their websites in Urdu within three months.

Likewise, noticeboards in all public offices, including courts, police stations, hospitals, parks, education institutions, and banks will display information in both Urdu and English, the report adds.

During Friday’s proceedings, provincial governments also informed the apex court about their plans to encourage the use of regional dialects.

Justice Jawwad S Khawja remarked that Balochistan government had taken steps to promote six local regional languages, including Punjabi in the insurgency-hit province.

Taking a jibe at the Punjab government, the judge said that the provincial government had done nothing to support the regional dialect.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 11^th, 2015.