LAHORE, Feb 21: Participants in a seminar arranged by the Punjab Institute of Language, Art and Culture (PILAC) on Monday adopted a unanimous resolution, urging the provincial government to make Punjabi language a compulsory subject up to class V.

Moved by PILAC Director-General Maj Tariq Javed Afridi (retired), the resolution was supported by columnist Shafqat Tanvir Mirza, Parveen Malik, Prof Jameel Ahmad Pal, Prof Dr Mazhar Moeen, Husain Shad, Dr Roshan Singh, Mudassar Iqbal Butt, Aizaz Ahmad Azar and Dr Sughra Sadaf.

The seminar was arranged in connection with the International Mother Language Day.

Earlier, the participants highlighted the importance of mother language in the development of education in several countries. They also demanded that Punjabi language should be declared medium of instruction in the province.

strike: A large number of writers, intellectuals and activists observed a six-hour hunger strike at Charing Cross on Monday to press for an end to the discriminatory attitude against the Punjabi language.

In connection with the International Mother Language Day, the hunger strike was part of Punjabi Language Movement’s 2011 -- year of Punjabi language campaign to get Punjabi language declared medium of instruction in the province.

A delegation of Sindhi writers and intellectuals, led by former secretary-general of Sindhi Adabi Sangat Yousuf Sindhi, also joined protestors.

PLM chief Chaudhry Nazeer Kahut said due to official discrimination and its forced absence from the primary level the Punjabi language had become a seriously endangered language.