KARACHI – The federal government should give Sindhi and other local languages of the country the status of a national language besides taking special measures for their promotion, demanded speakers at a literacy conference on Tuesday. The two-day national literary conference on ‘Analysis of promotion of Sindhi language and literature’ is being organised by the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology (FUUAST) Sindhi Department in collaboration with the Higher Education Commission (HEC) at FUUAST Gulshan campus.
Speaking at the conference, chief guest MNA Nawaz Yousuf Talpur said he had submitted a bill in the National Assembly (NA) for giving the status of National Languages to the local languages of the country including Sindhi. However, he added, the bill is still under study by the NA Standing Committee on Law and Parliamentary Affairs. The former federal minister said that the bill was submitted with signatures of around 41 MNAs belonging to all political parties including PML-N, PML-Q and other parties having representation in the NA. “Hopefully, the bill would be passed by the Assembly,” he added.
“First, I requested the constitutional reforms committee for taking up my bill under consideration but Mian Raza Rabani (Chairman of Committee) refused. After that, I approached Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, who assured me of full support for the passage of the bill in the NA session,” said Talpur. The senior PPP leader said that all the signatories of the bill were working tirelessly for tabling the bill in the assembly.
“If I am able to get the bill passed unanimously from the NA, I will feel that I have contributed something special towards Sindh and others,” concluded Talpur.
FUUAST Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mohammad Qaisar said that Sindhi is a very old language while the culture of Sindh is very rich and no other culture rivals it in diversity. “Sindhi is an international language and I have seen Sindhi language departments in many European universities”, he added.
Noted scholar Dr Ghulam Ali Allana explained the short history of obstacles in the way of development of the Sindhi language. “When Karachi was declared the capital of Pakistan in 1951, the government had announced Urdu as the official language in all government institutions, resulting in the closure of at least 1,300 Sindhi schools in Karachi alone at that time,” said Allana.
Allana said that when the government had banned the use of Sindhi language in government correspondence, Sindhi resistance literature was created and GM Syed – a signatory of the Pakistan Resolution passed by the Sindh Assembly in 1943 – had become an opponent of Pakistan.
He added that General Ayub Khan had alleged that Sindhi officers were inefficient and could not be posted on federal government posts, but Zulifkar Ali Bhutto proved that he was an efficient Sindhi. Admiring the imposition of one-unit, Allana said that if the one-unit had not been imposed, how Zulifkar Ali Bhutto could have established the Sindhi Language Authority in Sindh, which promoted the Sindhi language a lot.
“More than 500 websites are running on the internet in the Sindhi language and it cannot be ended by anybody,” said the scholar. He disclosed that the Indian government has approved Sindhi as a national language but Pakistanis are still for such an announcement. The country can progress with the development of Sindhi and other local languages and the government should rethink, he added. FUUAST Arts Faculty Dean Prof Dr Seemi Naghmani said the Sindhi language had a very rich historical background and any language cannot end as languages are the basis of communication and development.
Referring to Aitzaz Ahsan’s book ‘The Indus Saga and the Making of Pakistan’, she said that after reading the book, ‘I can say that all Pakistanis are Sindh-based and Sindhis.
She also talked about her admiration for Shah Jo Risalo (a book of poetry by Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai) and Ajrak (a shawl considered the icon of Sindhi culture).
Shah Abdul Latif University Khairpur’s Urdu Department Chairman Prof Dr Mohammad Yousuf Khushk read out a paper on ‘globalisation and modern trends of teaching of literature and languages in developed countries.’
Management and Sciences Dean Dr Salman D Mohammad, Prof Nawaz Ali Shouq, Sindhi Department Chairman Dr Inayat Laghari, Dr Abdul Jabbar Junejo, Taj Joyo, Dr Kamal Jamro, Hakim Burirro, Ashok Kumar among others also addressed the participants and explained various aspects of development of Sindhi language and literature.
They also demanded that the government should come forward and support the Sindhi language for more development.
‘Give Sindhi its due, make it a national language’
