SC directs govt to adopt Urdu as official language

Constitutional provision was to be implemented by 1988

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court Tuesday directed the federal and provincial governments to adopt Urdu as the official language without any unnecessary delay, saying that there was hardly any necessity for the use of the colonial language that could not be understood by the public.

A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Jawwad S Khawaja announced the judgment, highlighting constitutional significance of the issue raised by the petitions seeking to adopt Urdu as the official language.

Saying that successive governments had failed to implement constitutional provisions and that the court was left with no other option but to issue some rules, the bench announced nine-point guidelines.

Petitioners Kowkab Iqbal and Syed Akhtar Naqvi had pleaded that the constitutional provision was to be implemented within 15 years of the date when the current constitution came into effect.

The 15-year deadline expired back in 1988, and 27 years have elapsed since then, but the mandatory provision was not implemented.

The judgment has been sent to the federal and provincial secretaries, who are to take immediate steps for implementation of article 251 in line with article 5 of the constitution as well as submit reports showing compliance with the court orders. The first progress report should be submitted in court within three months, ordered the top court.



Referring to article 25, the judgment said education had a direct link with language. “The state shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to 16 years in such a manner as may be determined by law.... Empirical studies throughout the world (including those by UNESCO) advocate the use of a child’s native language in instruction, since this is the language the child grows up with and which is in use in his home and around him; but the government seems to be ignoring this important issue.”

The bench stressed that “in the governance of the federation and the provinces, there is hardly any necessity for the use of the colonial language, which cannot be understood by the public at large”.

Even for many civil servants and public officials, who may have received education in English, this language would, in most cases, not be the language most used by them, added the court. “Many officials are, therefore, forced to spend time on attempting to initiate and take decisions in a language which they are not entirely comfortable with. The time thus spent is quite wasteful because a lot of energy is dedicated to deciphering the language of the noting – which could have been easily drafted in Urdu – rather than understanding its content or substance. This wasteful exercise at times results in absurd and farcical outcomes which could be avoided by use of the national language.”

The court warned that if, subsequent to its judgment, any public bodies or public officials continued to violate the constitutional command, citizens who suffer a tangible loss directly and foreseeably resulting from such violation shall be entitled to enforce any civil rights which may accrue to them on this account.

“It is not at all the object of this judgment to denigrate the importance of English as a language used in international commerce and other activities which require the use of that language. The point before us as noted above is very different. Article 5(2) of the constitution commands that ‘obedience to the constitution and law is the inviolable obligation of every citizen’. We are tasked to both obey the constitution and to enforce it, and we cannot shy away from our obligation to the same while the nation suffers, even if some may – from habit or training – find it more convenient to continue using the colonial language.”

The guidelines also instruct the federal and provincial governments to coordinate with one other in the script of the national language. “Federal and provincial laws should be translated into the national language within three months.... Judgments in cases relating to public interest litigation and judgments enunciating a principle of law in terms of article 189 must be translated into Urdu and should be published in line with article 251; in court cases, government departments should make all reasonable efforts to submit their replies in Urdu to enable citizens to effectively enforce their legal rights.”

 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th, 2015.