[lg policy] Pakistan: Why only one national language?

Tue Jul 28 15:25:31 UTC 2015

 Why only one national language?
Apparently, ‘images’ of religion and Urdu are produced and reproduced in
order to maintain internal unity
  [image: Zubair Torwali]
<http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/Columnist/zubair-torwali>

   -  Zubair Torwali <http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/Columnist/zubair-torwali>
   - July 28, 2015

 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.

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.

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’.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

*The writer is based in Swat where he heads IBT, an independent civil
society organisation on education and development. He can be reached at
ztorwali at gmail.com <ztorwali at gmail.com>*
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/opinion/28-Jul-2015/why-only-one-national-language

-- 
**************************************
N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its
members
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)

For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to
https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/
listinfo/lgpolicy-list
*******************************************
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lgpolicy-list/attachments/20150728/84b6cfcf/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
_______________________________________________
This message came to you by way of the lgpolicy-list mailing list
lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu
To manage your subscription unsubscribe, or arrange digest format: https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/lgpolicy-list