Mother tongue

E-Paper | June 16, 2026

THE Mother Language Day was celebrated across the world on Feb 21. Sindhi is considered the most ancient language of the subcontinent. It is deeply rooted in the soil of the Indus Civilisation and Moenjodaro, its capital city, the 5,000-year-old, well-planned urban metropolis of the ancient world. It is accredited as the third greatest civilization of the world.

Sindhi is not only rich in modern literature and poetry but also in classical poetry, Sufi poetry, folklore, folk literature, folk tales, romantic tales, and love stories.

Sindhi has its own script and it had remained the official language of Sindh right from colonial times. Since long, the people of Sindh are demanding that Sindhi must be given its rightful place and the status of one of the national languages of Pakistan with Punjabi, Balochi, Siraiki and Pashto.

Urdu will remain the Lingua Franca, as well as national language of Pakistan, and such decree would not endanger Urdu. As Pakistan is a multi-cultural and multi-lingual country, the five major cultures and main five languages be given the status of national languages.

While strengthening the main cultures and major languages of the country, it will reduce ethnic tensions, ethnocentric trends, and ethnic violence. The diversity of culture will bring unity and cohesion among the people of Pakistan.

Thus the anxiety, chaos, and ethnic aloofness prevailing among the common people would be reduced and subsequently love, peace, harmony, and national unity would be strengthened in the country.

Prof Lal Bakhsh Jiskani

Hyderabad

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Mohammad Ali Khan

Mar 06, 2014 07:39am

I agree with you.We should respect and be proud all the languages and cultures of our country.We should be free to learn and speak in any language.

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Jalbani Baloch

Mar 06, 2014 12:56pm

Prof. you are very much right that Sindhi was enjoying an important place and position in the colonial era, but it has suffered a lot in a country, which it created with its own struggle. We Sindhis love our land more than our lives and collectively call it as our mother. Our love for Sindh and Sindhi culture is immeasurable, and even the great poet of time Taajul Bewas candidly admitted that how it is difficult for him to express his unbounded love for Sindh in his few lines: He says Oh my mother Sindh, upon your splendour, There is so much, I wonder what to write How a pen and I could suffice, There is so much, I wonder what to write.

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jen

Mar 06, 2014 01:06pm

Why not Arabic be the national language of Pakistan?!!! If an entire country is capable of embracing the culture, thinking, religion from another country, why not its language? Pakistan should seriously consider making arabic as a compulsory language for the entire pakistan and should prohibit local languages such as punjabi, sindhi, pashto, urdu so that true unity can be achieved.

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Yemeen Zuberi

Mar 06, 2014 10:05pm

I fully agree with Prof. Jaskani that in the four provinces the local languages must be taught as compulsory subjects at school level. I will also state that there must be a standard for schools so that they can prepare students who can speak a language with mixing English into it. Promotion of local languages will give Urdu more equivalents, that it usually borrow from English. As far as Arabic is concerned, if introduced it will play the same role that English is playing right now. We do not need any foreign language!! Our languages including Urdu have same construction of sentences; that's why we have Urdu in corollary of all Indo-Pak languages.

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M aslam

Mar 06, 2014 11:36pm

You are right. All peoples should be allowed to learn, speak and write in their mother language. However unfortunately, super people, imposed super language all over Pakistan. Although these super people are in minority, but since at the time of partition, they grab the key post, they make the system in such a way that all regional languages are forgotten. At this time, people can talk in their mother tongue but could not read or write. If you watch stage dramas produced in the city of super people in super language, you can clearly notice the hatred they are spreading for other languages but no one notice. But they should know that unless they give justice to all languages, the time is very near when they get the same reward as they are reaping in Bangla Desh.

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Shah

Mar 07, 2014 12:23am

I fail to see how keeping Urdu as the sole national unifying language is hurting the development and creation of litterature in Sindhi or any other Pakistani language. While Urdu is not my mother tongue I will always vote for it to be the sole unifying langue of Pakistan. But this does not mean any discrimination of the beautiful languages of Sindh, Pashto, Balochi, Punjabi, Hindo etc.

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