PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench on Tuesday issued notices to federal law secretary and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief secretary and sought their comments in a petition seeking orders for the provincial government to adopt Urdu as official language in all departments.

Chief Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Ikramullah Khan issued the order after preliminary hearing into the petition filed by senior lawyer Mohammad Khursheed Khan, who prayed the court to ask the provincial government to adopt Urdu as official language in all its departments in line with articles 251 and 28 of the Constitution.

He also sought the court’s orders for the government to ensure that all formal communications between the province and centre and official notifications be done in Urdu.

Abdul Rauf Rohaila, lawyer for the petitioner, said in light of a Supreme Court judgment in a similar case, the high court should issue directives that all petitions of civil, criminal and constitutional nature and other judicial matters including judgments of courts be filed in Urdu language.

He said as interim relief, the court could order that until the final disposal of the petition, English language should not be used as official language and that all judgments in the high court and subordinate courts should be written in Urdu.

He added that on the pattern of the Supreme Court, a translation branch should be set up in the high court.

The respondents in the petition, which was also drafted in Urdu, included the federal government through law and parliamentary affairs secretary, KP government through its chief secretary, and the PHC registrar.

The bench observed that it would be appropriate to issue notices to the federal and KP government and sought their comments to get their viewpoint on the issue.

In 2015, the Supreme Court had directed the federal and provincial governments to adopt Urdu as official language in the country. It had also directed all KP, centre told to explain position in Urdu adoption case governments to fulfil their constitutional obligations by adopting Urdu as official language.

Petitioner Khursheed Khan said there was no necessity for the use of English, a colonial language, in the governance of the federation and the provinces and this language could not be understood by general public.

He claimed that even majority of civil servants and public officials, who had received their education in English, were not well versed in English.

The petitioner contended that Article 251 of the Constitution stated that the national language of Pakistan was Urdu, and arrangements should be made for its being used for official and other purposes within 15 years of the enforcement of the Constitution.

He added that from time to time, the National assembly, Senate and provincial assemblies had passed resolutions on the matter.

The petitioner said Urdu was a link among all nationalities and federating units as it had been understood and spoken in all provinces.

He said the judicial system in the country was based on three pillars i.e. courts, lawyers and litigants but it was strange that English was being used as official language in courts.

The petitioner said most litigants were not aware of own cases as they didn’t understand the courts’ judgments.

He said there was a very small group of people, who could understand English, and that the same class had imposed English language on a majority of the population, which didn’t understand it.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2017