KARACHI: Mr Kewal Singh, the Indian High Commissioner in Pakistan, flew into Karachi yesterday with a message for the President, from the Indian Premier, and said he was resuming his duties “in the spirit of total implementation of the Tashkent Declaration”.

Mr Kewal Singh will leave this afternoon for Rawalpindi by PIA to deliver to President Ayub Khan a personal message of the Indian Acting Prime Minister Gulzari Lal Nanda.

Heads of Diplomatic Missions of India and Pakis­tan who were withdrawn by both the countries after hostilities broke out between them last Sep­tember, have now resumed duties according to the Tashkent Declaration. Pakistan’s High Commis­­sioner, Mr Arshad, is already at his post in New Delhi.

Mr Kewal Singh ... [said] in an airport interview that the Tashkent conference had opened a “new chapter of good neighbourly relations between the Government and people of India and Pakistan”. Mr Kewal Singh said he will work for good understanding and friendly relations between the two countries.

[Meanwhile, as reported by agencies from Dacca,] the University of Dacca proposes to introduce Bengali as medium of instruction in the first year of the graduate class from the academic session of 1968-69, the Vice-Chancellor, Dr Usman Ghani, disclosed here today [Jan 17].

The Vice-Chancellor said that before its introduction, the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education should adopt Bengali as medium of instruction from 1966 otherwise it would be delayed by one year. Dr Ghani said that the Board should have no difficulty in adopting Bengali as medium of instruction at Intermediate level as a number of books in Bengali were already available.

In Karachi and Lahore, Dr Ghani pointed out, Urdu had been introduced at the highest level. The Vice-Chancellor said that while making preparations for the switch-over to Bengali they did not undermine the importance of English. “We attach great importance to English and this change-over does not mean that English would be exiled.”

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2016

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