KARACHI, July 14: Speakers at a function on Monday urged the non-Sindhi speaking people to learn the language so that they could fully understand the rich literature, poetry, history and heritage of Sindh province.

The function was held to mark the inauguration of the Sindhi Language Teaching Classes, organized jointly by the Sindhi Language Authority (SLA) and the Sindh Culture and Tourism Department.

The speakers said that the target population, for the teaching of Sindhi language, was all the non-Sindh speaking people belonging to other provinces as well as foreigners and the children of the Sindhi-speaking parents residing in Karachi for long. About the children, they explained that they had been studying in English or other mediums due to which they could not read/write Sindhi.

The provincial Culture and Tourism Minister, Shabbir Ahmad Qaimkhani, observed that the gulf between the Sindhi and Urdu speaking people, and hatred between them, had been created by vested interests. “But now, the people have fully realized the situation and the gulf is vanishing fast,” he pointed out.

He said that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement had taken the initiative and invited all the people to join hands. A large number of Sindhis and other people have joined the party. Some of them have been elected to the assembly and some others have become office-bearers even in the party’s interior chapters.

He urged the people to learn Sindhi so that a better understanding between the people speaking different languages could be developed. He also spoke of the MQM’s raising of certain issues like Kalabagh dam, Thal Canal, NFC Award, etc., and fighting for the rights of Sindh.

Other speakers said that learning more languages adds knowledge and broadens sense as pluralism and diversity always enriches one’s profile.

About launching of Sindhi language classes, they said that this was a major step in the right direction which should have been taken decades back.

The speakers noted that Chief Minister Ali Mohammad Mahar had granted Rs5 million to the Sindhi Language Authority for the project. Some 18 students, including three girls, have been enrolled in the four-month course. The highly subsidized fee is Rs500 for the whole course with free course material.

The two-hour classes will be held Monday through Thursday every week at the annexy of the Hindu Gymkhana. Such classes will also be started in Islamabad and other cities soon.

A Manual of Sindh “learn Sindh through English” — originally written by Dulamal Bulchand, a librarian of the European General Library in Hyderabad in 1901 — will be used in the course. The manual has been revised by Mohammad Ibrahim Joyo recently.

Provincial Secretary Culture Gul Mohammad Umrani, Dr Mazhar-ul-Haq Siddiqui, Dr Mohammad Qasim Bughio, Jameeluddin Aali, Dr Farman Fatehpuri and Ibrahim Munshi were among those who spoke on the occasion.