[lg policy] Pakistan: Dialogue to encourage healthy cohesion among languages held

[Harold Schiffman]

Dialogue to encourage healthy cohesion among languages held


Saadia Khalid
Wednesday, February 22, 2012





With an aim to suggest initiatives for the preservation and
development of all languages and dialects of Pakistan, especially in
the context of new constitutional arrangements, an interactive
dialogue ‘Safeguarding Mother Tongues in an Era of Imperialist
Globalisation’ was organised on Tuesday.

The dialogue was organised by Rural Development Policy Institute
(RDPI) and Lok Virsa (National Institute of Folk and Traditional
Heritage), Ministry of National Heritage and Integration, Government
of Pakistan.

The objective behind organising the dialogue was to encourage the
healthy cohesion among different languages. Lok Virsa’s Executive
Director Khalid Javaid, Ahmed Saleem, Dr. Khadim Hussain, Saeed
Bhutta, Iqbal Hyder, Karim Johar, Dr. Nadeem Omar, Dr. Hummera Ishfaq
and Mazhar Arif took part in the discussion.

In his address, Lok Virsa Executive Director (ED) Khalid Javaid
stressed the need for preservation of all indigenous languages spoken
in the country. He took special mention of the languages of northern
part of Pakistan, in particular Kalasha language spoken by Kalash
minority group living in Kafiristan.

“Lok Virsa encourages research in regional languages, folk literature,
cultural history, arts, crafts and other aspects of folklore. The
verbal legends and songs, the folk romances and tales, children games
and rhymes, beliefs and rituals, traditional festivals and
celebrations, the sayings of sages and the time old customs, which
expresses the true genius of the people of Pakistan are the subject of
Lok Virsa’s mandate,” he added.

Ministry of National Heritage and Integration, Federal Secretary,
Faridullah Khan, on the occasion, assured the participants of every
possible assistance from his ministry for the revival and preservation
of the endangered languages. Languages, with their complex
implications for identity, communication, social integration,
education and development are of strategic importance for the people.
Yet, due to imperialist globalisation, they are increasingly becoming
endangered or disappearing altogether. When languages fade so does the
world’s rich tapestry of cultural diversity as being alarmed by
Unesco.

According to Unesco half of the 6,000 or so languages spoken in the
world are endangered, and with them an irreplaceable dimension of our
knowledge and understanding of human thought. The process whereby
languages are disappearing is an unbridled one and not a new
phenomenon. However, the past 30 years or so have seen a dramatic
increase in the disappearance rate of languages.

The causes of this phenomenon are multiple and complex. People tend to
abandon their native tongues either because they belong to small
groups immersed in different or unfriendly cultural and linguistic
environments, or because they come into contact with an invasive or
economically stronger culture.

Safeguarding and defending their indigenous language is a people’s
fundamental right. In this context, the International Mother Language
Day is celebrated on 21 February every year in order to promote
linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=94019&Cat=6

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