KARACHI, Jan 22: Speakers at a literary function held on Sunday evening called upon Baloch writers and poets to promote the Balochi language. Highlighting the importance of language, they said it was an extremely important element in sustaining a national liberation movement and in the survival of a nation.

The speakers pointed out that in the national liberation movements of Vietnam, Eygpt, Bangladesh, India, Palestine, and elsewhere in the world, writers and poets had played a key role in awakening the people.

The function which was largely attended by Balochi writers, poets and other literary figures was organised by Karachi based Baloch Unity Conference (BUC) and Professor Saba Dashtiari, a prominent Baloch literary figure and an educationist from Balochistan was the key speaker.

Professor Dashtiari traced the history of Balochi language, saying it was one of the world’s primitive languages with its existence traced to 4000 years ago.

Tracing the Baloch people’s national struggle from 1927 to 2007, the professor said it was regrettable the Baloch people could not build political institutions. This was the reason the history of the Baloch national struggle was based on personalities who had played a decisive role in shaping our political culture, he argued.

According to Dashtiari, this caused fragmentation and friction in the nationalist camps and instead of thinking in terms of one-nation, we are representing the views of different groups and ideologies

He urged the Baloch writers and poets to work against factionalism and mere slogans and dedicate themselves to national salvation by creating national awarness.

Earlier, Mr Akhram Baloch and Elahi Bakhsh explained the Baloch Unity Conference objectives. They renewed the pledge to work for Baloch people and expressed solidarity with their national struggle.

In the evening, prominent Baloch poets Abid Askani, Zafar Karim Baloch, Fateh Naskandi, Dost Mohammad Dostal, Ishaq Kamosh recited their verses which enthralled the audience.