PESHAWAR: A senior lawyer on Friday moved the Peshawar High Court seeking directives for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to enforce Urdu as official language in all its departments.

In the petition, Khursheed Khan said the court should issue directives to the provincial government to adopt Urdu as official language in all its departments under Articles 251 and 28 of the Constitution.

Also, he sought the court’s intervention to ensure that all communications between the federal and provincial governments and official notifications are done in Urdu.

The petitioner said in light of a Supreme Court judgment, the high court should issue directives that all judicial matters, including filing of petitions of civil, criminal and constitutional nature and writing of court judgments, should happen in Urdu.

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

The petition, which is drafted in Urdu, is filed through senior lawyer Abdul Rauf Rohaila.

The respondents in the petition are the federal government through law and parliamentary affairs secretary, KP government through its chief secretary, and PHC registrar.

Last year, the Supreme Court had directed the federal and provincial governments to adopt Urdu as official language in the country. The apex court had directed all the governments to fulfil their constitutional obligations by adopting Urdu as official language.

The petitioner said there was no need for the use of English, a colonial language, in the governance of the federation and the provinces and that that language could not be understood by general public.

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

The petitioner said Article 251 of the Constitution stated that the national language of Pakistan is Urdu, and arrangements should be made for its being used for official and other purposes within 15 years from the commencing day.

He added that from time to time, the National Assembly, Senate and provincial assemblies had passed resolutions for introducing Urdu as official language.

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

He said the judicial system in the country is based on three pillars- courts, lawyers and litigants- but it was strange phenomenon that the English was used the official language in courts though litigants were mostly not aware about their own cases as they could not understand the judgments in their cases.

Published in Dawn November 26th, 2016