HYDERABAD: Activists of civil society organisations held demonstrations in Hyderabad and Larkana, demanding implementation of Sindhi Language Bill, 1972, which gave Sindhi status of official language in the province.

The demonstrators led by writers, social and rights activists Mukhtiar Abbasi, Dr Ashothama Lohana, Jami Chandio, Noor Mohammad Bajeer, Mustafa Baloch, Zubaida Junejo and others highlighted the importance of Sindhi at the demonstration outside the Hyderabad press club.

They stressed the need for implementation of the language bill and said that they did not want to spread hatred, they just sought an end to discrimination by declaring Sindhi as official language.

They said that Urdu was lingua franca throughout the country while all regional languages were national languages spoken in their areas like Sindhi in Sindh, Punjabi in Punjab, Pashto in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochi in Balochistan.

They said that English should remain official language on national level but Sindhi must be made official language at the provincial level.

They announced forming a committee to convince administrations of private schools to teach Sindhi and said they would stage a protest sit-in in April outside Sindh Assembly, calling for implementation if the language bill. Sindhi was an official language in Sindh even under British rule, they said.

LARKANA: Members of Sindhi Adabi Sangat held a demonstration outside Jinnahbagh, calling for declaration of Sindhi as official language of the province.

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2018