HYDERABAD: Sindh Minister for Culture Sardar Ali Shah has urged the federal government to grant national language status to Sindhi on the pattern of India which has declared around 22 mother tongues as national languages.

“Sindhi is a rich language which possesses a vibrant and massive literature. Sindhi language is being taught as a compulsory subject in all public and private schools and its credit goes to the present government,” he said.

The minister was speaking as chief guest at a seminar titled ‘Sindhi language is facing problems in modern era’ which was held to mark International Mother Language Day at Dr N.A. Baloch Hall in Sindhi Language Authority (SLA) here on Friday night. The programme was moderated by Naseer Mirza.

Noted linguist Dr Fehmida Hussain said that efforts were being made for a long time to get Sindhi declared as a national language. A bill on the subject had been passed by Sindh Assembly and presented in Senate as well but in vain, she said.

She called for evolving better strategy for fighting for this right and getting all mother tongues of the country including Sindhi, Pashto, Balochi and Punjabi declared national languages.

SLA secretary Shabnam Gul said that the authority was playing an important role in promoting Sindhi and teaching it with modern techniques. Training workshops were being organised in this regard, she said.

Dr Altaf Jokhio, Dr Makhmoor Bukhari and Dr Mazhar Ali Dotio presented papers and Ghulam Ali Alana, Dr Aftab Abro, Dr Fayyaz Latif, Asim Nathan Shah, Saher Gul Bhatti and others received awards for contributing to the promotion of the language.

The gathering passed a number of resolutions to protect mother languages and give them the status they deserved in the country.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2020