At the time of partition of India in 1947, we inherited a trilingual society in Punjab. English enjoyed the supreme position of official language, while Urdu along with English was made language of learning, and Punjabi which was the language of the soil was allowed only as a spoken language of Punjabis. People accepted this as a circumstantial oppression but situation altogether changed after partition when Punjabi was discarded outright.
Within a span of two decades trilingual character of our society changed into bilingual, leaving Punjabi at the mercy of highly anti-Punjabi mindset ruling elite and instinctively hostile bureaucracy. This is the tragedy of Punjabi language which is the language of majority in Pakistan. It is the mother tongue of more than 100 million people of Punjab and is spoken as first language by 60% and easily understood by almost 80% of Pakistanis. It is the 12th most spoken language in the world, 11th most spoken language in India, 4th most spoken language in Canada, 3rd most spoken language in South Asia and 2nd most spoken language in Britain. It is a complete standardised language owned by approximately 150 million people around the globe.
I request the government of Pakistan and Punjab to take positive steps for the protection of our heritage and the language of our forefathers. Ban on Punjabi as a medium of instruction and a compulsory subject at primary level must be lifted. Punjabi along with Pashto, Balochi and Sindhi should be declared national languages of Pakistan. It is time to learn from history and never forget that it was the language issue which sowed the seeds of cessation in the minds of Bengalis 62 years ago. The Mother Language Day is celebrated worldwide to commemorate the sacrifices of those Bengali students who laid their lives for their mother tongue.
TARIQ MAHMUD JATALA
Lahore
be muslim first and then punjabi.we should save our language and culture,so punjabi is our mother language.it should be in our schools,like other province they have sindi,pathan,,,,,,etc, and they love their language and culture, pakistan zindabad ,punjab zindabad
love u proud of being punjabi
There is nothing more pathetic then the confusion of the confused. Brand Name Muslim is synonymous with Sunni Arabia so that excludes a lot of people to start with. Then is the brainwashing of Punjabi children where a Arabic speaking Kari who teaches them 'Morals studies" at the ripe old age of 3 years. The mothers are so happy that her child is now "near God". Tomorrow he will study another foreign lingo called urdu, which is not spoken by the parents. Then he will be subjected to English by a native of (urdu/punjabi extraction). No wonder we are a confused lot. It is like America saving countries with their "FREE DING DONG ARMIES". All they do is create a refugee crisis for EUROPE. PLEASE LET US BE US AND OTHER GO BACK FROM WHENCE YOU CAME.
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