PESHAWAR – A Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Languages and Cultures Authority should be set up for the promotion and preservation of all thirty languages spoken in the province, a resolution adopted at the conclusion of the fifth Languages and Cultures Conference demanded on Sunday.
Delegations, representing different areas in the provinces, had gathered for two days to discuss the problems faced by the languages being spoken in their regions. Unanimously, they opposed the plan suggesting the district-wise teaching of mother tongue and demanded that this should be started at primary level because more than one language were spoken in many districts of the province.
In another resolution the participants demanded that all the multi and bilingual children in KP should be given the option to choose between various languages, adding that a department for KP languages studies should be established at all the public universities of the province to facilitate research on native language and literature.
The delegations also demanded of the KP government to preserve and promote the cultural heritage of the province and to make a column of ‘Mother Tongue’ in the next census to know the exact number of the speakers of a certain language. They also suggested that all languages should be included in the mother tongue column of the national identity card.
They also asked the government to comply with the resolutions of the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization and of other international bodies that call for the preservation and promotion of mother languages and local cultures. Sessions were presided over by former chief secretaries of KP Ejaz Ahmed Qureshi, Ejaz Raheem, Director General of the Iranian Cultural Centre Agha Muhammad Zakiri and Dr Afzal Siraj.
The speakers included Razi Khan Burki, Karimullah Qureshi, Fakhruddin, Inayat Jalil, Ishtiaq Ahmed, Abdus Salam Noori, Chishtiar, Haider Zaman Haider and others. The Awami National Party Senior Vice-President Senator Haji Muhammad Adeel was the chief guest on the concluding day of the conference which was opened by Pakistan People’s Party Senator Farhat Abbas.
Various performers also displayed their acumen at the conference.
