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Why only one national language?
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Apparently, ‘images’ of religion and Urdu are produced and reproduced in order to maintain internal unity
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Zubair Torwali </a>
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<span class="date_print" itemprop="datePublished">July 28, 2015</span>
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<p>As per media reports, the cabinet division has issued a letter
to federal departments directing them to use Urdu in their public and
official correspondence. The directive also states that the president,
prime minister and his cabinet ministers have to make speeches in Urdu
in Pakistan and abroad. The media also reported this move as making Urdu
the official language of Pakistan and consequently fulfilling the
obligation made by the 1973 Constitution wherein it is suggested that
English would be replaced by Urdu within 15 years. On May 14 this year,
the federal cabinet decided that Urdu would be the official language as
per Article 251 of the Constitution.</p><br>
<p>One must feel jubilant at the new initiative by the PML-N government
as Urdu has now, to a great extent, become the lingua franca of
Pakistani society despite the fact that it is the first language (mother
language) of not more than seven percent Pakistanis. Urdu immersion
programmes have been in our educational policies for decades. It is used
dominantly in our mass media; the emergence of private television
channels during the past decade has popularised Urdu besides the massive
production of books, booklets and pamphlets — mostly on religion and
poetry — each year. Given the ‘vibrant’ Urdu television channels in
Pakistan, Urdu has become an effective means of access to consumers in
Pakistan.</p><br>
<p>This ‘shift’ to Urdu was, however, not a direct outcome of any
policy. It was based on commercial and religious pragmatism, as a
majority of Pakistanis could not learn English despite being taught in
schools from early childhood. What the federal government decided
regarding Urdu is plausible. Yet, at the same time, the government’s
bias is evident from its behaviour towards the so-called provincial and
‘minority languages’.</p><br>
<p>There are believed to be 70 living languages in the country, not
including English and Urdu. The National Assembly’s standing committee
on law and justice rejected a bill seeking national status for regional
languages in July last year. The bill, presented by the ruling party
lawmaker, Ms Marvi Memon, got only one vote in favour out of five in the
said committee. Another bill demanding national status for 14 Pakistani
languages is still lying somewhere in the drawers of the National
Assembly.</p><br>
<p>Pakistanis are linguistically compound bilinguals, referring to
speakers who have learnt their native language and then another language
later in life. With ‘another language’ later in life, Pakistanis are
usually immersed in a second language completely. Eventually, they
abandon their native language, as it is not taught in schools. This is
more common among the elite but the ordinary majority of Pakistanis
languishes as it cannot become fully proficient in the native language
nor can it learn the second language, whether it is Urdu or English.</p><br>
<p>On the educational, social and cultural utility of local and
indigenous languages, the Pakistani state’s mindset seems ambivalent.
This ambivalence about local language education is found among local
community members in Pakistan as well, which, in its essence, is the
impact of the non-acceptance of linguistic diversity on the part of the
state of Pakistan. In Pakistan, parents and communities as well as
policy makers are often more confident about the importance of English
and to a great extent of Urdu as well, and of the culture associated
with these languages than they are of the mother tongue and home
culture.</p><br>
<p>Since religion and the Urdu language have been given a pivotal role
in the political ideology of Pakistan, it becomes almost impossible for
other expressions of pluralism or multiculturalism to survive within the
typical Pakistani mindset. Apparently, ‘images’ of religion and Urdu
are produced and reproduced in order to maintain internal unity. The
recent official recognition of Urdu is seen by many as a gesture to
appease an ethnic political party that was recently in the dock. But
contrarily this practice is counterproductive in terms of national
cohesion and internal security. On the one end it has directly given
rise to extreme political religiosity whereas on the other it has
fostered a sense of deprivation and marginalisation within the
federating units. In Pakistan, what the power wielders have been doing
on every front, whether against extremism, terrorism or separatism, is
largely ideological indoctrination so that internal conflicts remain
concealed or dormant. No permanent solution to these conflicts is
sought.</p><br>
<p>Very often in Pakistan the argument against the inclusion of the
mother tongue in education is given on the pretext that this paradigm
has no empirical research behind it. They ignore the fact that in the
world’s research, confirming the educational and cultural effectiveness
of mother tongue instruction certainly exists. These decision makers are
not convinced other than about the pedagogical aspects of mother tongue
instruction. It is not the pedagogical factors of mother tongue
education that impede its national level adoption. Political and social
aspects come powerfully into play when language-in-education issues come
under consideration. The working of national language policy is
significantly influenced by these political attitudes towards using
local language and culture for educational purposes and nation building.</p><br>
<p>Pakistan is still in search of national cohesion. And for national
unity a certain kind of ‘discourse’ is needed. In Pakistan, this
discourse changes its shape with the passage of time but never its
essence. It exclusively revolves around religion and the existence of an
essential enemy.</p><br>
<p>An elite, which has successfully abandoned its language and culture,
wields power in Pakistan. Since this power is naturally not static and
changes its centre, ruptures can be seen in the national fabric in the
shape of separatism or extremism. In our context, the elite never allows
this power to slip away from them, and hence they try to replace ethnic
conflicts with religious ones because they think religion is more
centripetal. In order to build a nation, the state must accommodate all
languages, cultures, religions and sects irrespective of their size and
numbers.</p><br>
<p>Along with making Urdu the official language, the government needs to
give national status to regional and minority languages. It must enact
measures for the promotion and safeguarding of these languages by
including them in education and in the media.</p><br>
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<p><strong>The writer is based in Swat where he heads IBT, an
independent civil society organisation on education and development. He
can be reached at <a href="mailto:ztorwali@gmail.com">ztorwali@gmail.com</a></strong></p> <a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/opinion/28-Jul-2015/why-only-one-national-language">http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/opinion/28-Jul-2015/why-only-one-national-language</a><br></div><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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