Urdu is the national language of Pakistan but the announcements of all ministries of the Government of Pakistan are issued in English instead of Urdu. Despite the constitution of Pakistan and court orders, Urdu has not been given the status of an official language, while English is preferred over Urdu in educational institutions.
Independent Urdu has tried to find out the reasons why Urdu has not been implemented as an official language.
Speaking to Independent Urdu, Additional Secretary of the National Assembly Shimoon Hashmi said that ‘Language and religion are two fundamental issues in the history of our constitution making. This issue has become political. It was written in the 1973 constitution that the national language will be Urdu and within 15 years it will also be the official language but from 1973 to 2023 this matter will be 50 years but no progress has been made on it because it has never been our priority. It has never been and was never the goal.’
Dr. Rauf Parekh, the former director general of the Institute for National Language Promotion, told Independent Urdu that ‘In 1979, the National Language Institute was established with the main objective of making Urdu the official language. Even after the constitution of 1973, it took six years to build this institution.
He said: ‘This body was empowered to implement Urdu as the official language, but in 2012, the powers were abolished and it was made only the National Language Promotion Agency. That is why the implementation has not been done yet because we no longer have the authority.’
People’s Party leader Faisal Karim Kundi while talking to Independent Urdu said that Urdu is our national language and there is no doubt about it that we should work for its promotion and give priority in dialogue and negotiation.
He said that ‘English is also a part of our system which cannot be ignored but I support Urdu.’
He said that there is apparently no problem in its implementation as an official language, but the prime minister can tell the final reason.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf leader Fawad Chaudhry says in this matter that ‘Urdu is not possible to be an official language, so it could not get the status of an official language.’
In a conversation with Independent Urdu, he said that this is practically not possible, after the establishment of Pakistan, our basic system has been influenced by the British rule. The institutions are all in the British era, now it is a very difficult task to translate the whole history and decisions. This attempt was made during the Zia era, but it destroyed the documentation system.
He said that ‘it can be kept as a basic language but it is very difficult to adopt it as an official language.’
Fawad Chaudhry added that ‘we should encourage Urdu speaking so that it survives as a language.’
Pakistan Muslim League-N Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed stated that “Urdu is our national language, it is the language of unification of the federation, whether it is a public school or a private school or a madrassa, Urdu is the common unit of all.” But at the same time the English language cannot be left out because it is our official language which is the medium of communication in the international community.’
He said that ‘English is our tradition, we have inherited it, it has benefited, not harmed. The official language should be English.’
What does the constitution of Pakistan say about language?
Article 251 of the Constitution is clear on this matter, according to clause number one, Urdu is the national language of Pakistan and arrangements should be made for its promotion at the official level. According to Clause No. 2, the official language shall be English, unless Urdu is completely substituted for it.
Similarly, according to clause number three, the Provincial Assembly should also take steps to promote the national language as well as the provincial languages.
The matter is also pending in the court
Cylians have also repeatedly complained in the High Courts that they do not understand the proceedings as the case is in English, which they later have to ask a lawyer for.
In January of this year, a petition for contempt of court was filed in the Supreme Court due to the non-implementation of the decision regarding making Urdu the official language. The order of the Supreme Court should be followed. Urdu language is not getting any promotion in educational institutions. We will look into this matter seriously now.’
Lawyer Kokab Iqbal filed a contempt of court petition in 2021 against former Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and former Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary Azam Khan for not introducing Urdu language at the official level.
In September 2021, a hearing was also held in this case in which the government was asked to respond, but despite the passage of years, no significant progress could be made on the matter.
The last hearing of this case has been held in September 2022, in which the National Language Promotion Institute told the court that their work for the implementation of Urdu is complete, now the government can implement it if it wants. After that, the hearing of the case was adjourned indefinitely.
The voice for Urdu language is also raised in the committees of the National Assembly
For the convenience of the media, along with the English announcements issued by the President’s House and the Prime Minister’s Office, Urdu announcements are also being issued (Rekhta).
In this month of December, there was a meeting of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Housing and Construction under the chairmanship of Ibadullah Khan, in which Assembly Member Chaudhry Abid Raza raised an objection that why they do not print the agenda of the meeting in Urdu. There are in languages.’
On this, the chairman committee said that ‘we have already instructed to send the brief in Urdu.’
The Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Housing told the committee that ‘our ministry does not have an Urdu typewriter. The things we can send in Urdu will be done in Urdu.’
On this reply, the chairman committee instructed him: ‘Make a brief in both Urdu and English.’
Apart from this, the official implementation of Urdu language was also discussed in the Senate Committee on National Heritage.
It should be noted that the agendas of the National Assembly and Senate Committees, which are released on the website, are all in English.
However, for the convenience of the media, along with the English announcements issued by the President’s House and the Prime Minister’s Office, Urdu announcements are also being issued.
Urdu announcements are shared with the media on WhatsApp while only English announcements are published on the official website.
The decision of the Supreme Court to make Urdu the official language
On September 8, 2015, the Supreme Court gave a historic order to introduce the national language Urdu as the official language, which has not yet been implemented.
The then Chief Justice Jawad S. Khawaja gave a decision regarding the Urdu language.
Justice Jawad S Khawaja wrote in his detailed judgment that ‘the orders of Article 251 should be implemented without delay.’
The 12-page judgment further read:
. To create uniformity in the script of the national language, the federal and provincial governments should create mutual coordination.
. Federal and provincial laws should be translated within three months.
. Without undue delay the supervisory and coordinating bodies shall implement Article 251 and ensure implementation of this Article in all concerned bodies.
. Government bodies should follow the above recommendations regarding the use of national language in competitive examinations at the federal level.
It was also stated in the court decision that ‘these court decisions, which are related to public interest, which explain the principles of law under Article 189, must be translated into Urdu and the government departments in court cases should give their answers as much as possible. Present in Urdu so that citizens can be able to enforce their legal rights.’
It was further stated: ‘After the promulgation of this judgment, if any government agency or official continues to violate the provisions of Article 251, any citizen who suffers loss or damage as a result of such violation shall be prosecuted. will get the right.’
Justice Jawad S. Khawaja is fair as well as literary. During his time, judicial remarks and judgments were delivered in Urdu only in the court room. Rather, the duties of his judicial assistant included that every decision of the bench should be issued in Urdu. Justice Jawad S Khawaja remained Chief Justice for only 24 days and retired. After his retirement, the process of issuing Urdu judgments in the Supreme Court lasted for some time during the tenure of Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali and then disappeared.
How much work has been done for the promotion of Urdu language?
Dr. Aqeel Jafri who is the former director of Pakistan Dictionary Board told Independent Urdu that he has compiled 22 volumes of Urdu dictionary. It has been published in two volumes. Also, his organization has made this entire dictionary online.
It has also created an application where a separate page is opened for each word. This app is available on the Urdu Dictionary website and can be downloaded from there. “It has also been recorded so that word of mouth can be verified,” he said. For the media, a booklet called Sahih Pronunsi Sahar Amla has also been published so that the language can be corrected.
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He said that ‘in 2019, Pakistan Dictionary Board has been merged into the organization for the promotion of national language, since then this organization has become inactive.’
Dr. Rauf, the recently retired head of National Language Promotion Institute, said that not only in books and posts but also the work of online translation of Urdu according to the modern age has started, which will be completed in one and a half years. The national language has been created as a digital laboratory where automatic translations will be done with the help of artificial intelligence. If there is a picture with something written in another language, scanning it will translate it into Urdu.
Dr. Rauf said that ‘Urdu samples of government websites are also being prepared. The website of the Ministry of Information is available in Urdu. More work is going on to preserve the language.
How can Urdu language be preserved?
Being the national language, Urdu is the medium of communication in the country. But due to increasing contact with the developed world, the trend of international language English is increasing, while the Urdu speakers are disappearing in the new generation.
In schools too, more emphasis is placed on speaking English. This is the reason why school children are less proficient in Urdu and more proficient in English.
On this matter, the Additional Secretary of the National Assembly Shimoon Hashmi said in a conversation with Independent Urdu that the language was common when it was easy and when it is common it will be so easy. Language is like a new shoe, the more you wear it, the easier it gets.’
In the same way, the preservation of language can be like this, keeping it simple, not making difficult words part of it and keeping it fluent so that it becomes a part of present life.
Dr. Rauf, former Director General of National Language Promotion Institute, said: “The institute started working very quickly and till today all the technical language, words and official letters of all the ministries which were in English have been translated into Urdu. . All urdu samples are ready.
We have done the Urdu translations of millions of pages of laws and regulations. Now it is time for the order from the government.’
Dr. Rauf further said that in November of this year, the Senate Committee on National Heritage was called and inquired about the delay in adopting Urdu as an official language. is.’
He said that five cases related to the implementation of Urdu are also ongoing in the Supreme Court including the High Court.
Former director of Pakistan Dictionary Board Dr. Aqeel Jafri said that if you want to preserve the language, get rid of Roman Urdu. If the language is to be saved, the Urdu script will have to be adopted. As much as you write in Urdu instead of Roman, you will read Urdu and the language will survive.’
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2024-08-30 21:22:29