QUETTA: Established as a sub-campus of the University of Balochistan in 2009 and elevated to the status of a varsity in 2012, the University of Loralai has added another feather to its cap by introducing Pashto language department.

A ceremony was organized on the campus, which is the third general university in the province and the first one in Zhob division, on Saturday.

The event was attended by Loralai deputy commissioner Asadullah Khan Kakar, Prof Dr Nasibullah Seemab, Dr Mohammad Sadiq Zarak, Dr Nasibullah Langove, Pashto writers, poets and educationists.

The University of Loralai had started its academic activities initially with the departments of Management Sciences, Computer Science and Commerce. Later in 2014, it started offering admissions to Education department. In recent years, the university also established departments of sociology, social work and English language.

Speaking at the Pashto department’s inauguration ceremony, the university officials said that a large number of students wanted to take admission in the Pashto literature. Keeping their interest in view, the department was established, they said, adding that it would also help promoting the language.

According to them, Pashto is a member of the southeastern Iranian branch of Indo-Iranian languages spoken in Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan.

The exact number of Pashto speakers is not known, but it is estimated that their number ranges between 45 million and 55 million across the world. In Pakistan, around 33m people speak Pashto.

The name Pashto is believed to be derived from the reconstructed proto-Iranian form parsawa (Persian language). In Pakistan and Afghanistan, they are called Pakhtun, Pashtun, Pathan or Afghan.

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2019