No takers for Punjabi?

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There has been a growing realisation in the recent times that language is a significant political tool which is used by dominant groups to take control of marginalised groups. At the same time, language is a useful tool to put up resistance against hegemony. That is why post-colonial literature and feminist movements give central importance to language as they believe that language is an important constituent of social reality that may play a crucial role in titling the scale of power. Language is also viewed as a strong identity marker, both at an individual and societal level.
The Punjabi language has always been a victim of social, political and economic circumstances even before the partition of United India. In India, because of Mughal kings, whose mother tongue was Persian, Persian became the language of power and was used in courts. Urdu was very close to Persian in terms of vocabulary and structure and was mutually intelligible with Hindi. It also had an affinity with the Punjabi language at a semantic level. These multiple associations of Urdu made it popular in certain parts of India in general and in Muslim communities in particular.
The British as a part of their policy got rid of Persian language in Sindh by replacing Persian with Sindhi but surprisingly, in Punjab, Persian was not replaced by Punjabi. Instead, it was Urdu that took the place of Persian. One reason that was given by the British was that Urdu was a refined form of Punjabi. It is a sad fact that Punjabi was never viewed by the British decision makers as an independent language; rather it was looked down upon as a dialect or patois with relatively lower social standard.
Why was Punjabi viewed as a dialect and not as a language? Does Punjabi have no literature? On the contrary, Punjabi has a rich tradition of literature both in poetry and prose. But languages, in contemporary times, are not evaluated on their linguistic merits or demerits. Rather they are assessed primarily on social, political, and economic grounds. The attitude towards Punjabi was essentially based on social criteria.
Another milestone in the history of the Punjabi language was the Pakistan movement where three languages Hindi, Urdu, and Punjabi were used as identity markers for the three major population groups of India, i.e. Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs. In this simplistic divide of languages (which was largely political in nature), Punjabi was the biggest casualty. A large number of Muslims whose mother tongue was Punjabi deserted it on political grounds as Punjabi was viewed as the language of Sikhs.
After independence in 1947, the question of national language was raised and Urdu, which was a minority language, was given the status of national language. The two overwhelmingly majority languages i.e., Bengali, and Punjabi were totally ignored. There was a powerful protest from Bengali people but there was no voice heard in favour of Punjabi by the Punjabi population. One important reason for this was that Punjab had a large share in the army and was close to power centres. Having a good share in army and bureaucracy, the Punjabi elite wanted to be a part of the mainstream powerful groups and in the process deserted their own language, Punjabi.
It is surprising that Sindhi is taught in schools as a subject. Similarly Pashto is taught as a subject in some schools in KP. But Punjabi has never been a part of school education in Pakistan. Why is it so? Is there something inherently wrong with Punjabi? It’s the social attitude of people that have associated Punjabi with informal and insignificant linguistic functions in life. The language desertion phenomenon is so visible in Punjabi urban families where parents speak with their children in Urdu which is considered to be a prestigious language. Another weakening factor for Punjabi is its low pragmatic value in terms of getting jobs on market. This factor is strengthened as Punjabi does not get any support from educational institutions.
It is feared that a large number of families from Punjab would lose Punjabi language in a couple of generations. There are a number of researches available about the significant role of mother tongue in early education. If we want to reclaim Punjabi language, the first step is to provide it educational backing by teaching Punjabi as a subject in schools in Punjab. Also, there is a need of official patronage at least at the provincial level for the promotion of language. It is important to note that the Constitution of Pakistan, Article 251, clearly states about the potential measures of teaching and promotion of a provincial language, “Without prejudice to the status of the national language, a provincial assembly may by law prescribe measures for the teaching, promotion and use of language in addition to the national language.” The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly has passed a bill declaring five local languages as educational languages. This is a welcome initiative. Can Punjab Assembly pass some bill for the teaching and promotion of Punjabi in the province?

The writer is Professor & Director of Centre for Humanities and Social Sciences at Lahore School of Economics and author of Rethinking Education in Pakistan. He may be contacted at [email protected]

26 COMMENTS

  1. Urdu is now the language of Punjab… any Punjabis left are all abroad.. the Gora and the Bihari bureaucrat won. Have fun

    • the writer does not know the history and tries to play with facts. why Britishers introduce Sindhi in sind, Bengali in Bengal and did not introduce Punjabi, kashmiri and Pushtu in respective regions? it was primarily due to Frontier Forward Policy and these regions were integral part of frontier forward policy. that is why British Ind…ian administration , instead of favoring reports from DCs in 1852-4 did not introduce. imposing urdu and hindi in the Punjab was part of defense policy of Britishers. liner in his famous work" indigenous education in the Punjab" wrote that there was not a single urdu and hindi school in the Punjab before annexation in 1849.

  2. It is unjust to underrate this article by simply arguing that writer does not know history and tries to play with facts . , when these are the facts which make history . I fully endorse the writer's point of view and understand his agony for the hostile attitude from past and present governments towards Punjabi which is the largest spoken language of Pakistan .

  3. Kudos to writer for highlighting such a core issue. As the following clauses of 18th amendment secure and defend the maximum autonomy to the 4 units/provinces of this federation…

    18th Amendment

    Further to amend the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan WHEREAS it is expedient further to amend the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan for the purposes hereinafter appearing;

    AND WHEREAS the people of Pakistan have relentlessly struggled for democracy and for attaining the ideals of a Federal, Islamic, democratic, parliamentary and modern progressive welfare State, wherein the rights of the citizens are secured and the Provinces have equitable share in the Federation;

    (8) On the omission of the Concurrent Legislative List, the process of devolution of the matters mentioned in the said List to the Provinces shall be completed by the thirtieth day of June, two thousand and eleven.

    91. Amendment of Article 246 of the Constitution.- In the Constitution, in Article 246, in paragraph (a),- (a) in sub-paragraph (i), for the word "Balochistan" the word "Balochistan" and for the words "North West Frontier" the words "Khyber Pakhtunkhwa" shall be substituted and the word "and" at the end shall be omitted

    STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS The Constitution of 1973 was not implemented in letter and spirit. The democratic system was derailed at different times. The non-democratic regimes which came into power at different times centralized all authority and thus altered the structure of the Constitution from a Parliamentary form to a quasi-Presidential form of Government through the Eighth and Seventeenth Constitutional Amendments. Thus, the equilibrium established by the Constitution between various organs of State was disturbed which led to weakening of democratic institutions. This inter alia deprived the Provinces of their legitimate constitutional rights in governance and utilization of their natural resources. It also resulted in absence of rule of law, lack of confidence in the judicial system and distance between the Provinces and the Federation, 2. It was in this background that the Charter of Democracy was signed between Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed and Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif on 14th May, 2006. The objects of the Charter were to ensure undiluted democratic governance and fundamental rights for the people of Pakistan. An All Parties Conference was also held in London. The historic struggle continued for a just and fair system for Provincial Autonomy. The momentum thus created led to the election of February, 2008 and to the eventual exit of General (R) Musharraf in August, 2008.

    The fundamental rights of an individual and the remaining 4 nations' units/provinces of this federation Balochistan, Pashtoonkhwa, Sindh & Punjab have been promised/secured in the said amendment…one of the very fundamental rights is education…We demand to the respective governments of all provinces, federal government of this remaining Pakistani federation, humans rights commissions, the high courts of the 4 provinces and apex court make the concerned Education Ministries of all 4 provinces execute the set fundamental right of Sindhis, Pashtooons, Balochs & Punjabis by getting their languages declared as the official national languages of respective provinces and introduce them as the compulsory literary language instead of an alien language Urdu by eliminating it once and for all. Besides that rest of all the science & humanities subjects including Islamiat/Ethics should be taught in English; keeping in view the status of English as lingua franca across the globe and the importance of it to gain positions in the corridors of power. Because it is universally set/accepted principle as well as the constitution of this federation secures/protects that all the children should be imparted education at least at the primary level in their mother/national tongue as have been advised/recommended by the sages of all ages…

  4. Pakistan could only be saved if its original langauges and cultures are saved, especially PUjab's because, its 60% of pakistan, if 60% of pakistan is uneducated and diprived from mother language education who will pakistan develop??

    • tariq, u did not comment on questions i raised, i think writer should should enrich us why Britishers did not allow Punjabi, pashto and kashmiri and supported urdu and Hindi

      • Could you please leave the British alone now that they are gone for more than sixty years. The most valid question that the writer raises is this "Can Punjab Assembly pass some bill for the teaching and promotion of Punjabi in the province?" Which means whether the cause of saving Punjabi as a language is a popular cause among the Punjabis. If it is not, then nobosy can save it.

  5. It is of no use to downgrade work done by others. Dr. Shahid Siddiqui sounds sympathetic to the cause of Punjabi language. Aamir is trying to give an emphasis to why the injustice was done to Punjabis and their language. I think we need to have a collective of people to work on the gigantic issue. We need to know not only the what and why of what has happened but more time and greater amount of energies are required to work out how to win the rightful status of Punjabi language. Just discussing and debating, while political and economic realities keep making things more difficult by the day, is not enough.

  6. The British administration after the annexation of Punjab( from the Lahore Durbar) in 1849 did not like the idea of (subjucated) Punjabi nationalism,which was equally cherished by Muslims,Hindus and Sikhs,who fiercfully resisted the invasion of Punjab by the East India company´s forces.The British successfully divided the Punjabi people into religious communities by propogating the cause of Urdu, an alien language as the language of all muslims.Aligarh school propogated Urdu as language of all the muslims of the subcontinent under the patronage of British colonial power.Punjabi muslims were regarded inferior to those of UP and Awad,hence their mother tongue was considered to be of no value.After the partition on communal lines the new rulers,Jawahar Lal Nehru and M.A. Jinnah continued to suppress the language of Punjab.Nehru hated to mention even the name of Punjab as he considered himself the last English gentleman in India.Mr.Jinnah was also not different. Poor Punjab and poor Punjabis lost their language and identity.

  7. Trilok Singh jee, has pointed out the core cause……….answer for u aamir….

    • ajmal ji, it is a hard fact that it was britshers who introduced URDU and Hindi in our regions. they neither introduced Punjabi nor Pashto nor Kashmiri. but u donot want to know the historical back ground.
      terlok ji, ur note is good yet i have some observations to share.
      1- during maharaja Ranjeet singh times, there were many Punjabi schools from delli to dir & Peshawar and one can check list given by G.W.Litner in History of indigenous language in the Punjab yet Punjabi was not court language but Persian.
      2- it was Britishers who first ( before annexation of the Punjab) divided Urdu & Hindi than after that successful experience they imposed Urdu and promoted Hindi in the Punjab in mid 19th century.
      3- it was Britishers who introduced the novel idea about Hindi and Urdu as two different languages, it was Britishers who fixed scripts of Bengali and Sindhi( for Bengali they supported Devanagari script and for Sindhi Arabic script Nasaq. yet the issue of Punjabi script remained in confusion so Punjabi used both shah mukhi and gurmukhi scripts. i met some old sardars who were young at time of partition at Punjab Sahib in 90s. i had a Punjabi book in shahmukhi script which old sardars read easily. nowwith the help of electronic revolution we can bridge this difference of scripts by using interchangeable soft-wares.
      4- it is a reality that under the policy of divide and rule Britishers bifurcate us in many pieces but to overcome this we should delink ourselves from colonial interpretations of history. it was British historians who portray Ranjeet Singh as a staunch Sikh rather than a Punjabi. it is a reality that there were hindus, sikhs and muslims in Lhore Darbar yet Britishers and their court historian gave negative impression. they told us that Lhore Darbar was fanatic sikhs while Britishers were secular. our secular friends esp buy that thesis. on the other hand there were fanatic sections in sikh who called Lhore Darbar as first sikh empire.
      5- UP elite both hidus and muslims had a sense of superiority and britishers used it . if u read Ain e kbari, there were three major source of evenue in mughal times Lhore, Gurat and delli. but Britishers wanted to create new center, new feudal lords, new elite for there interests. so they used all efforts in that regard.
      6- regarding post partition first about pakistan. i read records of first education conference held nov 27 1947. first education minister in his speech supported not only all pakistani mother tongues but also accepted historical continuity of provinces too. so in early days there was no contradiction between mother tongues and Pakistani nationalism. there was a hue and cry regarding jinnah speeches at Dhaka of 1948 yet if u read it u will feel how our so called historian misinterpret those speeches. inhis speeches jinnah did not spoke against mother tongues but only said if ur assembly accepted it than i had no objection. it means in his eyes there was no contradiction in using mother tongues and pakistani nationalism. he did not declared that urdu will be sole national language yet he said urdu will be langua franka. there is a hell of difference between langua franka and sole national language. one thing which we must remember iabout CPI. one month before CPI was divided in feb 1948 and mischievously, CPI created west pakistan CP but east pakistan CP remained under Calcutta for next two years. what that means? so jinnah reacted against that decision because some superhuman indian minds wanted to use issue of language for separatist movement in eastern wing. yet after jinnah's death Liaqat ali khan and his team came with new interpretation of Pakistani nationalism in which there was no room for Pakistani mother tongues. in 1951 Urdu was declared Sole national language. than rest is history.
      7- regarding nehru and India, sardar ji, u should read an editorial of Faiz ahmad faiz written in 27-June 1947, just after 24 days of 3rd june plan. viewpoint recently reproduced it. it was congress who before partition had plans to divided the Punjab yet faiz exposed them timely yet in 1966 they did it. now a days people r trying to follow congress in Pakistan.
      last two sentences, Jinnah has two things in his credit due to which now historians r not criticizing him as did congress. 1- acceptance of cabinet mission plan which means autonomy to provinces and no partition of the Punjab and Bengal 2- acceptance of united Bengal move and giving go ahead to suharwardy and surat bose. yet people like Liaqat ali khan and Isphani did not like it and criticized jinnah.

  8. Without getting subjective by questioning that who speaks what at his home; let me objectively quote here exact text of the both speeches of Jinnah at east Pakistan(Bangladesh) describing about language of the state… In a public meeting at the Race Course ground on March 21, 1948, Jinnah explicitly termed "The State language of Pakistan is going to be Urdu and no other language."
    he said:
    "About language, as I have already said, this is in order to create disruption amongst the Mussalmans. Your Prime Minister has rightly pointed this out in a recent statement and I am glad that his Government has decided to put down firmly any attempt to disturb the peace of this province by political saboteurs, their agents. Whether Bengali shall be official language of this province is a matter for the elected representatives of the people of this province to decide. I have no doubt that this question shall be decided solely in accordance with the wishes of the inhabitants 'of this province at the appropriate time.

    Let me tell you in the clearest language that there is no truth that your normal life is going to be touched or disturbed so far as your Bengali language is concerned. But ultimately it is for you, the people of this province, to decide what shall be the language of your province. But let me make it very clear to you that the State language of Pakistan is going to be Urdu and no other language. Anyone who tries to mislead you is really the enemy of Pakistan. Without one State language, no Nation can remain tied up solidly together and function. Look at the history of other countries. Therefore, so far as the State Language is concerned, Pakistani language shall be Urdu. But, as I have said, it will come in time.

    Jinnah left no doubt about his language policy when he repeated almost the similar message in his notorious convocation address at the University of Dhaka, on March 24, 1948. Among many other comments and sermons, Quaido categorically repeated: "Make no mistake about it. There can be only one State language, if the component parts of the State are to march forward in unison and that language, in my opinion, can only be Urdu"
    he said,
    "There can, however, be only one lingua franca, that is, the language for intercommunication between the various provinces of the State, and that language, should be Urdu and cannot be any other. The State language therefore, must obviously be Urdu, a language that has been nurtured by a hundred million Muslims of this sub-continent, a language understood throughout the length and breadth of Pakistan and above all a language which, more than any other provincial language, embodies the best that is in Islamic culture and Muslim tradition and is nearest to the language used in other Islamic countries. It is not without significance that Urdu has been driven out of the Indian Union and that even the official use of the Urdu script has been disallowed. These facts are fully known to the people who are trying to exploit the language controversy in order to stir up trouble. There was no justification for agitation but it did not suit their purpose to admit this. Their sole object in exploiting this controversy is to create a split among the Muslims of this State, as indeed they have made no secret of their efforts to incite hatred against non-Bengali Mussalmans. Realizing, however, that the statement that your Prime Minister made on the language controversy, on return from Karachi, left no room for agitation, in so far as it conceded the right of the people of this province to choose Bengali as their official language if they so wished, these persons changed their tactics. They started demanding that Bengali should be the State language of the Pakistan Center and since they could not overlook the obvious claims of Urdu as the official language of a Muslim State, they proceeded to demand that both Bengali and Urdu should be State languages of Pakistan. Make no mistake about it. There can be only one State language, if the component parts of this State are to march forward in unison, and that language in my opinion can only be Urdu. I have spoken at some length on this subject so as to warn you of the kind of tactics adopted by the enemies of Pakistan and certain opportunist politicians to try to disrupt this State or to discredit the Government."

  9. Jinnah’s categorical assertion in favor of Urdu was instantly protested by some of the students attending the convocation ceremony. Jinnah delivered a similar speech at Curzon Hall of the University of Dhaka on 24th March. At both meetings, Jinnah was interrupted by the large segments of the audience. He later held a meeting with committee of action and tried to persuade them of the necessity of having one national language but students were not convinced and Jinnah overruled the contract that was signed by Khawaja Nazimuddin with the student leaders. Before departure from Dhaka on 28th March, Jinnah delivered a speech on radio reasserting his "Urdu-only" policy. However student rallies and protests erupted immediately after Jinnah’s week long visit.
    The language movement received wider support throughout East Pakistan after Jinnah’s categorical assertions in favor of imposing Urdu as the only state language of Pakistan. The controversy temporarily cooled down after the visit but the issue remained unresolved. It seemed that Quaido believed that the demand for Bengali as State language was nothing more than a conspiracy of disgruntled leaders of the Muslim League, the Hindus, the communists and anti-Pakistan elements .
    Jinnah's efforts in order to establish the hegemony of Urdu were not new as during a session of the All India Muslim League at Lucknow, a proposal was tabled for making Urdu as official language of the Muslim League in 1937 but it was strongly opposed by the Bengali delegates. Quaido intervened and final version of resolution carried that wherever the Urdu language was the language of area, its unhampered use and development should be upheld, and where it is not the predominance language, adequate arrangements should be made for teaching it as an optional subject.
    Having gone through the above self-explanatory original texts now if one asserts that "Jinnah did not declare that urdu will be sole national language yet he said urdu will be langua franka. there is a hell of difference between langua franka and sole national language"

    However the then 5 nations (Bangalis, Sindhis, Pathans, Balochs & Punjabis) of this federation even did have a right to challenge the status of Urdu as lingua franca. Because it was not the language of any of them nor Urdu could have been proved as more Islamic than the indigenous nations' languages. As far as the arguments in favour of Urdu as lingua franca is concerned; why English, Arabic or majority's language had not been given the said status, which would have been more fruitful than any Urdu.
    In fact Jinnah enhanced and protected "Sir" Syed Ahmed Khan's legacy, about whom still in the text books it is written that "Sir' syed Ahmed Khan was the staunch supporter of Hindu-Muslim unity, but turned biggest opponent of it as soon as the Hindi-Urdu conflict emerged". I hope this statement doesn't need any further elaboration.
    Sindhis pretty earlier and Pathans recently made their languages including some other languages integral part of their curricula. Balochs have chosen to seek emancipation in order to secure their national identity due to the majority's (Punjabis) ignorance even towards own language and culture not to speak of political and financial rights and other neighboring nations' rights. I wonder how long Jinnah and Urdu would be given the holy status and defended out-rightly. By doing so still Punjabis mock & underestimate the wisdom of Bangalis, Sindhis, Pathans and Balochs and have been reaping the crop of extreme impudence and stigmatizing nature's gifted Punjabi identity. How long Punjabis would live in a state of denial and carry on debating for the sake of debate vis-a-vis set principles in terms of ownership of own language lest they be given an ultimatum to quit the land of five rivers within 48 hours?

    • 110% agreed with bspp, if pakistan was so called isalmic country and made for musllims or islam as the mullahs raised slogans, they why not arabic been made national language, and if it was made a secular state why jinnah who was him self an english speaker and knew gujrati and english, why didn't he enforced english as national national, or instead he could have made a mixed language by mixing words or every language of pakistan, it was design of britishers and, the urdu speaking beurucracy, and Jinnah was a kind of hijacked by them, as all muslim leagers majority of them were from UP, accept some, so a Urdustan is tried to be made, instead of Pakistan in accordance with 1940 resolution according to which states of pakistan were to be created and cultural historical and political rights of every nation weere to be safeguarded fully,

      when pakistan was about to becoem a seperate country in 1945 or 46, Sher E Bengal Molvi Fazal ul Haq who, was also bengali nationalist, many times asked, Jinnah and confronted him how will our state of pakistan be, will it be fedral or based on states, Jinnah always used to say it shall be fedral,

      in 1940 resolution the bengali leaders of IML, added clause states of Pakistan, and molvi fazal ul haq delivered the resolution, after knowing about molvi fazal ul haq's inclineness towards bengali nation, Jinnah threww him out of muslim leage and same was done by, GM SYED of Sindh………….

      later on, the resolution remained same, after Jinnah's death, in 1957 the Urdu Speaking Beurucracy, changed word STATES of Pakistan to word STATE, and Khwaja Nazimudin the sitting president of that time tried to stop that but he couldn't as the prime ministers at that time were civil beurucrates…………

    • It is surprising we Jinnah and his statment enjoy holy status amongst us. Many of his actions were unjustified like dismissal of Dr Khan Govt, forced annexation of Kalat, etc. Even why we blindly follow teachings of Allama Iqbal. Are we heirs of Baghdad, or was Lahore ever part of Arab Imperilism.

  10. People who are not proud of the language they speak …face the treat of becoming extinct….thats the only future they have….

  11. 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

  12. A few months ago, parliamentarians from Sindh forwarded a bill calling for giving the satus of national language to Punjabi, Sindhi, Pushto and Balochi, to a parliamentary committee. Amazingly, the members from Punjab, alongwith Urdu members, came out to be the most vocal opponents of the bill. So, the bill was rejected and couldn't even be prensented in the parliament for voting.

  13. A few months ago, parliamentarians from Sindh forwarded a bill calling for giving the satus of national language to Punjabi, Sindhi, Pushto and Balochi, to a parliamentary committee. Amazingly, the members from Punjab, alongwith Urdu members, came out to be the most vocal opponents of the bill. So, the bill was rejected and couldn't even be prensented in the parliament for voting

  14. I have always maintained Punjab has been on the cross road of many , from Aryans to Khushan , to Persians, to Greeks , to Mongols , to Mughal and then to the British , some have stayed here , some have moved on , …. influence of some still lingers on …even if they have left …. Sanskrit , then Persian and then the British Influence has moulded many a things… … briefly … after the very strong Persian influence , …it were the British , who adopted …what I call conscious De-Punjabization policies , …. Mr Aamir Riaz sahib has eloquently explained it …. and Tirlog jee has adequately said ..what it is …… the author is also talking about it …. the Product of these de-punjbazation polcies is Allama Iqbal ….a Punjabi who has nothing to show in his mother tongue as his contribution , and ….then Faiz , Ahmed Nadeem Qasimi …etc..etc… are the other examples…. things deteriorated further post 47 , when from Colonization , Punjab and other Ethnicites entered an ERA …which I call Cultural Colonization …… Bengal was the first to resist ….and ended up as a seperate country in 71 , then it were the Sindhis ……who managed to wrestle away their due right …under a Sindhi Leadership of Bhutto ….. Punjab …its left stranded…. because … it has no leader of its own…. it follows …. Ayubs, Khans, Bhuttos , and Shareefs….. all non-punjabis …. so unless it produces its own leadership from within ……..who is well aware of its own punjabiyat ….nothing will change … …… Period.

  15. SAANJO PROPAGATION ACTIVITIES

    • Held formal launching ceremony of the script in Lahore on December 3, 2005.

    •Circulated copies of souvenir among the Saanjo Lovers.

    •Prepared and delivered ‘Guide to Saanjo Script’ to Saanjo Lovers in February 2007.

    •Prepared program for the propagation of Saanjo.

    •Introduced computer application of the Saanjo Script.

    •Sent Saanjo Greeting Cards on festivals.

    •Sent greeting cards on Saanjo Script Launching Anniversaries.

    •Distributed enrolment forms for Saanjo Learning Program.

    •Held First and Second Saanjo Learning Programs from March to June 2008.

    •Awarded Certificates to the participants of Saanjo Learning Program.

    •Held Second Saanjo Learning Program from July to August 2008

    •Planned more Saanjo Learning Programs.

    •Making of Saanjo Web Site Done.

    •Distributed New Year Greeting Cards.
    Learning material has been up-loaded on the link http://www.fmlahore.com/saanjo/
    EJAZ MAHMOOD
    FOUNDER OF SAANJO SCRIPT

    ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

    I am indeed grateful to Mr. Nadeem Asgher who has encouraged me at each and every step in the course of formulating the script and has contributed a lot in preparing the Guide. He has, also, helped me in finalizing the names of alphabets. Similarly, my dear friend Ahmed Ali helped me in naming the second letter in its present form.
    My special thanks to such renowned and respectable personalities in the Punjabi social circles as Mr. Gulzar Ahmed, Baba Najmi, Mr. Akhter Hussain and Mr. Muzaffer for gracing the launching ceremony of the script with their appearance. Their presence, appreciation, and encouragement had motivated me a lot in my further endeavours regarding ‘S^aanjo’.
    It would be unfair if I don’t mention here a host of other friends, well-wishers and near–and-dear ones, all of whom have been extending to me their perpetual moral support. I owe you a lot, Mr, Yousaf Ali, Mr Maqbool, Mr Qaiser Saleem, Shaukat, Zafer, Sardar Sami, Naeem Tahir, Zaafran, SherMuhammad, Aijaz, Nasir and Adeel!!Yours Ejaz

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