SAHIWAL: Are Punjabi and Balochi not languages of constitutional federating units of Pakistan? In case the answer is in affirmative, why the recently-launched Pakistan Citizen Portal System Complaint Guideline (PCPSCG) does not have guidelines option in Punjabi and Balochi languages.

One of the sections of the portal having caption “Complaint Cell Guide” gives guidelines to citizens in four languages -- English, Urdu, Sindhi and Pashto.

This issue was highlighted at a joint meeting convened by local organisations promoting Punjabi language and culture on Saturday. The main host was Mahkain Punjabi Adbi Board (MPAB).

The meeting participants said this kind of discrimination could not be expected at such a higher level of governance. MPAB Chairman Mushtaq Adil Kathiya said Pakistan was a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural country. “Here identity and recognition of regional languages has always been undermined by the state. This is not a healthy tendency. Pakistan is a federation having more than one units,” Mushtaq added.

Masood Khalid said: “This tendency never allowed growth of healthy multilingualism in Pakistan rather state always projects and promotes unhealthy multilingualism which creates a sense of deprivation among smaller units of the federation.”

According to Alweera Rashid of Lok Sujag, linguistics and language experts believe Pakistan is home to more than 64 languages and cultures in its existing territory. “Language diversity needs to be preserved with positive approach to indigenous languages and cultures”, she said.

Imtiaz Butt of Awaz Society says people of Balochistan are already complaining of a sense of deprivation and these kinds of gestures at national level further enhance deprivation among Balochi citizens.

Amjad Saleem of Lok Sangat said the disowning of language diversity at state level should be condemned. He said this approach meant denying democratic, constitutional and fundamental human rights to citizens of Pakistan.

Mushtaq Sufi, Chairman of Pakistan Punjabi Adbi Board, while talking to Dawn by phone said this should not be done with the language of Punjab which was the biggest federating entity of this state.

Lahore-based Punjabi literary magazine Puncham’s Editor Maqsood Saqib said if this was the Citizen’s Portal the prime minister was proud of, why the language of the most populous province (Punjab) and the language of the biggest province (Balochistan) were left out of the portal. “This means Punjabi and Baloochi cannot take guidelines in their own native languages.”

At the end of meeting participants passed a unanimous resolution demanding the availability of Punjabi, Balochi and other language options in the guidelines section of the Pakistan Citizen Portal.

Published in Dawn, July 1st, 2019