KARACHI, Jan 5: Visiting scholar Dr Khaliq Anjum has expressed great admiration for the work done by the Urdu Lughat Board, says a press release. It says: "Two good things happened to Urdu after partition.

One was the Urdu encyclopaedia compiled by the Punjab University and the other was Urdu Lughat which is being compiled on historical principles and which is nearing completion.

These thoughts where expressed by famous Urdu critic Dr Khaliq Anjum, who has come from India, during a visit to the office of the Urdu Lughat Board." The press release says Dr Anjum examined the cards prepared by the Urdu Lughat Board and admitted that the Lughat being prepared is modelled on the Greater Oxford Dictionary.

He expressed gratitude for the government of Pakistan for running the project unbroken continuity. "Urdu Lughat Board president Dr Farman Fatehpuri explained to the visiting scholar the entire process of lexicography.

Dr Fatehpuri also told him that after German and English, Urdu would be the third language in the world to have such a comprehensive dictionary prepared on historical principles. Earlier, Urdu Lughat Board Chief Editor Dr Rauf Parekh spoke about the literary contribution and achievements of the visiting scholar," it says.