HYDERABAD: Sindhi writers and intellectuals paid tribute to renowned Sindhi translator and author Ibrahim Joyo for promoting Sindhi language.

They said Mr Joyo translated many books into Sindhi and played an important role in spreading knowledge among locals. They also stressed that children should be educated in Sindhi at elementary level.

Speaking at a programme held at Dr N.A. Baloch Hall of the Sindhi Language Authority (SLA) on Saturday night to mark the Inter­national Mother Lang­uage Day, they said that all people would have to go forward for development of mother tongue or regional languages.

Presiding over the programme, Dr Ghulam Ali Alana said it was necessary to educate children in their mother tongue at the basic level for promotion of education. But it was unfortunate that Sindhi language was facing injustice which was affecting mentality of children, he added.

He said the federal government must play its role in giving every regional language the status of national language.

Sindhi Computing founder Majid Bhurgari said there was space for work in this field. He said the trend of e-books and e-libraries was on the rise and newspapers were being published online. He said that if more work on Sindhi computing was done, it would help the Sindhi language survive and flourish in this modern age.

Intellectual Zulfiqar Halepoto presented a paper on the services rendered by Ibrahim Joyo and highlighted his works. He said his translations gave new vistas to Sindhi readers to comprehend literature of other languages.

Fayyaz Buriro and Anis Kaka launched the Sindhi computing and Sindhi training applications from the Institute of Computing at the Sindhi Language Authority.Simultaneously, the Sindhi Language Authority also launched two books titled Qutub, Boli Aeen Taleem and Taleem jo masihai kirdar attributed to Joyo.

The other prominent figures present at the programme included Prof Saleem Memon, Anjuman-i-Taraqqi-Pasand Musa­nnifeen president Muslim Shameem, SLA chairperson Dr Fehmida Hussain and Jami Chandio.

Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2015

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