18 April 2005	Monday	08 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1426

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LAHORE, April 17: Former president Rafiq Tarar welcoming Pakistan-India friendship has called for basing it on principles of justice and fairness. In his presidential address at the opening session of the 12th World Punjabi Conference here on Sunday, he said justice was the basic condition for friendship and love.

Delegates from 14 countries, including Britain, Canada, Germany, Holland, India, Italy and the US, are attending the three-day moot on peace, culture, art and literature.

Referring to annihilation of Kashmiris in held Kashmir, Mr Tarar said ‘Dosti bus’ was a welcome step, but justice for Kashmiris must not be ignored while establishing ties between the two neighbouring states. He urged the participants to use their influence for pushing their respective governments towards peace.

World Punjabi Congress Chairman Fakhar Zaman said this was a culminating conference and afterwards the style of work would be changed.

Besides the steps being taken in the public sector for the promotion of Punjabi language, he said a Punjabi University would be established in Lahore, while work on a legislation for making Punjabi as a medium of instruction was going on. He hoped MPAs would support the bill introduced in the Punjab Assembly in this regard.

He said a Punjabi website was also being launched, and projects undertaken for transcribing good literary works into Punjabi. He demanded that Punjabi, Sindhi, Pushto and Balochi be declared national languages though only Urdu would remain as the official language.

Taking credit for the congress for creating a peace atmosphere between Pakistan and India, he appealed to both the governments either to do away with the present visa system or introduce a procedure in vogue between Canada and the US.

India’s Minorities Affairs Commission Chairman Sardar Tarlochan Singh said Punjabi was not confined only to the two Punjabs as its speaker could be found in every corner of the world. He called for making efforts to materialize the promises made by New Delhi and Islamabad regarding cementing ties of friendship.

He hoped that both the governments would be in a better position to settle core issues in a congenial atmosphere. He urged writers and intellectuals to awake the masses about the need

for opening up to each other. Complaining that the embassy staff was too short to handle the load of visa applications, he said he would talk to his government for solving the issue.

Afzal Ahsan Randhawa opposed using the word regional for Punjabi and other such languages, terming it a humiliation of these. Writer Mansha Yad said only writers spoke the truth.

Asad Mufti from Holland said the people who had been opposing them on the Punjabi issue earlier were now standing with them.

Dr Aalia Imam, Nadeem Parmad from Canada, and Santok Singh from Britain also spoke on the occasion.

Earlier, a video of theme song of the 12th conference written by Afzaal Shahid and sung by Shaukat Ali enthralled the audience.

In the second session, Dr Mujahid Brelvi, Santok Singh, Abdullah Husain, Hameed Akhtar, Farkhanda Lodhi, Dr Aalia Imam and Nadeem Parmad read their papers on peace and literature.

The session was presided over by Sardar Tarlochan Singh. —Staff Reporter