NAUSHAHRO FEROZE, Jan 10 Sindhi Adabi Sangat's secretary-general Yousuf Sindhi has demanded implementation of the language bill adopted by the Sindh Assembly in 1972 and giving Sindhi the status of national language.

He said that the bill had been moved by Syed Qaim Ali Shah and now it was his duty as the chief minister of the province to ensure its enforcement.

Mr Yousuf was speaking at “Sindhi language conference” organised by the local chapter of the SAS at the press club here on Sunday.

He said that Sindhi had been given the status of national language on August 29, 1857, in pre-partition India but it and other regional languages were ignored after Pakistan came into being, particularly following the martial law of 1958.

He said that 22 languages, including Sindhi, had been declared national languages in India but in Pakistan, Sindhi, Punjabi, Balochi, Pushto and Seraiki had been denied the status.

Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party chairman Dr Qadir Magsi called upon the government to declare the five languages as national languages and Urdu the lingua franca.

He said that there were about 100 million Sindhis in the world and no one could deny its importance.

He said that conspiracies were being hatched to divide the Sindhis on ethnic basis. He said that the Sindhis were denied admission to educational institutions and employment in Karachi. This would not be tolerated, he warned.

Professor Mohammad Laiq Zardari said that the Bengalis demanded the national status for Bangla after the creation of Pakistan but their genuine demand was not accepted.

He said that the Sindhi people had raised the demand for making Sindhi a national language in 1962, 1969 and 1973.

Qazi Javed said that Sindhi writers and poets had failed to bring about revolutionary changes in the society and depict the miserable condition of the Sindhi people and their language.

He accused Sindhi intellectuals of not doing enough to protect their language.

Dr Zulfiqar Siyal, Nawaz Khan Zounr, Mohammad Hashim Khoso also spoke on the occasion.

Participants of the conference signed banners and registers, demanding national status for Sindhi language and pledged to launch a campaign on the issue.

The conference approved several resolutions, demanding that the 18th constitutional amendment must declare the five major languages of the country as national languages.

It also demanded establishment of a Sindhi university on the pattern of Federal Urdu University.

It demanded that Sindhi language be used on currency notes, national identity cards and signboards.