The language question

The language debate in Pakistan has long remained a contentious one with a sensitive history. The Supreme Court order to make Urdu the official language, will stir this debate further. The bench ordered 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”. It is unarguable that it is only a minority that is comfortable with speaking and understanding English, but to completely replace a language that has been used officially since the birth of the country is going to be a very challenging task indeed.

While using Urdu as an official language will be a welcome step, we must remember that English has been used in matters of business for so long, that many official terms do not have direct Urdu replacements. And often, even when there are Urdu words available, the public is more familiar with the English terms. These include various designations, court orders as well as parliamentary terms, to name but a few. The switch from English to Urdu, then, may not necessarily be as simple or as inclusive as it is expected to be. What is needed is better research on finding colloquial Urdu words that these English terms will be replaced by, because otherwise the public at large may still end up finding the language in official use unintelligible, even after the switch to Urdu is made. Having said that, it is also true that using only English as the official language has led to more class-based discrimination because it is usually elite, private schools that are able to equip students with complete command over it. The use of Urdu at an official level, therefore, could turn out to be a real positive. At the same time, the importance of regional languages must not be ignored and these must be given their due status as well. Many countries in the world have more than one official language. Perhaps, we should also show a bit more flexibility and inclusivity on this front.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 12^th,  2015.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.