How can Pakistan be a sovereign nation if languages of its own soil are not considered national languages?

if a pashto speaker or punjabi speaker or any other is a national then why there is hesitation in declaring his language as national language. what is harm there to do so. our reps are there in the legisleture to bring us some representation in the national hall. increasing salaries and pensions are related to very few people; making laws like these entertain all.

We are still going thru the tussle between english and urdu. Let us not open another pandora box. Our regional languages do not have the vitaltity and sophistication of modern languages, sorry to say.

How many of the national languages will one is asked or expected to practise then if tomorrow we see 7/8 languages been declared as national languages? wouldn't it become pretty hard for the masses to communicate,excercise it officially or use for other national purposes?

The irony is Sindhi is one of the national language of India.

Good point....Urdu is not a pakistani language nor is Arabic and Persian so vehemently claimed as identity of pakistan....Heck even the persian/arabic script which is being used is not pakistani.......No doubt Bengalis realised where pakistan is headed and got separated...and see where they stand today from being the most poorest nation in the world to one with lowest crime against minorities, peace, High growth rate of economy, burgeoning Pharma sector with the rise of IT et al.........And pakistan is still stuck at - “This bill is anti-Pakistan and we will not allow anyone to go for the passage of this bill, which is contrary to the vision of the founding father, Quaid-e-Azam, who declared Urdu as the national language” Where Pakistan is headed - we all know.....repeat of 1971 is in the making in Blochistan and Pakhtoonkwah !!

This is a sensitive subject, and obviously all the ramifications cannot be covered in such a short blog piece. As one who did his entire schooling and college in Calcutta, I can say for sure, that the Bengali on both sides of the border is extremely attached to, and proud of his language. This year being the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, for the first time joint celebrations are being conducted by both Bangladesh and India. No doubt the Quaid had the intention of only forging a common identity, and certainly not in thrusting a language on a people. The Indian currency note has several languages on it, including Urdu and Bengali. The currency note in Singapore has Chinese, English and Tamil on it, even though Tamil is spoken by a minority in Singapore. Maybe we could draw inspiration from Europe, where several languages are spoken across the countries, but have managed to have Euro as the common currency, that is stronger than the Dollar. Your write-up has the key words for our future " each group getting the most out of a federation ". Way to go !

The best example here in India is the anti hindi agitation which happened in 1968 in Tamilnadu. Because of the language agitation Congress had to loose power inspite of having tall leaders like Rajaji, Indiragandhi, Kamaraj, bhaktavatsalam. It makes sense to declare the major languages in Pakistan as official languages. India is surviving due to Unity in Diversity.

In continuation of my earlier post, the Congress party has not won a single election after that. Dravidian parties like DMK and AIADMK have got a firm foot hold in Tamilnadu state and Congress is able to win a few seats only when it is aligning with one of the dravidian party.

The Pakistani motto seems to be "repeat the mistakes till the country dies".

Well I really think that all local Languages which Includes Pashto, Sindhi, Punjabi,Seraiki, Balochi, Balti and smaller languages should be make a part of curriculum along with Urdu and it should be tought as well in the respective areas. Now it is the time to think otherwise and rather than treating Pakistan as a Unit why not we try to live in Multi Culture and Multi Ehtnic Culture as in this manner Pakistan will be more stronger and more culturally diverse and it will bring more harmony.

Jinnah is often misquoted out of context,as he never said that urdu will be the official language.What he said was that urdu will be the lingua frank a and as far as language of bengal he said that the provincial assembly of bengal can decide the language of the province as can the assemblies of all provinces,this is a totally different thing which is often quoted and propagated. The claim of bengalis to introduce bengali as the national language beside urdu is a s unjust as the claim of urdu,which is spoken by less than 5 percent pakistanis.Bengalis should have asked for the recognition of all major languages as national languages,instead of pushing for their language alon.And by the way punjabi is spoken by not only 60 percent people but is understood by a large number residing in every corner of the country,so its also langy franka.

Pakistan is a great cultural success story. Note how Pakistani artistes are welcomed in India and by the Indian/Pakistani diaspora throughout the world. Why should Pakistanis have to choose between Urdu and Panjabi or Sindhi. They manage to excel in all languages simultaneously. My Pakistanis brothers take heart from your success in this field and we thank Pakistani artistes for bringing people together through music and poetry. Just apply the same attitude to other issues and Pakistan will become great.

India's 3-language formula - Hindi, English, regional language - is the answer to the linguist conundrum of a multicultural federal state. Irony is that Urdu is not the language of any of the constituent units of Pakistan. The country has moved long away from QA's thoughts; moving away from his language formulation will be a +ve move.

We don't have a national language here in India. It's only Official Language! for official communication...Hindi, English and a few regional languages. This system is working fine here.

I do not remember exactly but one of Indian scholar said in his private talk when he visited the Pakistan few years back that alteast Pakistan has one language i.e. Urdu, which can be unterstood through out the Paksitan your people can communicate easily with each other. If a program is aired all Pakistani can understand it courtesy to Urdu otherwise you can understand how difficult it would have been in such a country lie Pakistan whose literacy rate is very low to communicate with each other. Imagine Punjab assembly without Urdu one member was delivering his speach in Punjabi other in Sarieki one in Potohari and some one in Raisati ? in Sindh assembly one member is speaking in Sindhi other in Urdu and the third one in Pashtu. In Baluchistan one is speaking in Balochi other in Barahwi the other in Pashtu and so on let Pakistan alone we have other grave problems to resolve first

Why not go for English which does not represent any of the regions, but the world at large.

In continuation of my previous comment Pakistan has four (now five) provinces and none of the Province has one language as compare to provinces or states in other countries. A child can learn his/her mother language from his home then why we put extra burden on it our childrens if they want to grow first have to learn Urdu being national language and then English being the international language there in no way to avoid these languages if you want ot grow further in your life. As regards regional lanaguage in Sindh all Sindhi speaking childrens are getting education from lower class to upper classes but unfortunately they cannot compete on national level they are far behind from Punjabi students becasue Punjabi students can settle any where in Pakistan due to their communication skills in Urdu.

Jinnah's utterance in Dacca on 21 Mar 1948 that Urdu shall be the state language of Pakistan turned to be wrecking ball of a united Pakistan The Quaid perhaps did not realize. The situation in India is somewhat different. During the Raj, the South Indians, especially Tamilians, excelled in English and hence, took a major share of the coveted jobs such ICS officers. The North Indians felt jealous and after Independence wanted to get rid of English under the slogan "Angrazi Hatau" and dump Hindi on the Tamilians who rebelled and wanted to secede. Realizing this, Indira Gandhi backed off. English is the language of science, politics, and finance. "English is my mother tongue though my mother spoke no word of it", observed Kushwant Singh.

Diversity is not disintegrating rather its a strength.If you are declaring only one language out of many as the only language means you are insulting other languages and the speaking people.

In the land of Punjabi,Sindhi & Pashto , Urdu was declared national Lingo.What a Joke.It is like Tamil being declared as langauge of Lucknow.

Dear Moin, Urdu is the only major language which can be understood around the world is purely a Pakistani language and according to renowed historian Hafiz Mahmud Sherani, the Urdu language originated in the first contact of the Muslims and Hindus after the conquest and incorporation of the Punjab and Sind In the Empire of Mahmud of Ghazni

This is another hot issue. Surprisingly, why Marvi Memon initiated that bill. I thought she was loyal to Pakistan. With Pakistan being marred with ethnic divisions, such bills only aggravate the problems and further alienate Pakistanis from each other. Having so many "national languages" is antithetical to the concept. The purpose of a National language is to UNITE people. Urdu is the perfect choice because it was part of Indian social fabric and have united Muslims speaking different mother tongues. So why not Urdu in Pakistan. In a multi-ethnic country like Pakistan and India, you do need ONE language that all the people in that country can speak to communicate with each other. People, in this day and age, SHOULD BE sensible enough to understand this simple fact. This in no way jeaopardise the regional languages. It is unfortunate that these so called sons of the land stand up for their mother languages but SURPRISINGLY show NO RESISTENCE against English language. Everyone in India and Pakistan flock to learn this language and have their children go to English Medium Schools. I don't understand why English doesn't challenge them??? But it when we talk of Urdu or HIndi being a national language, then all hell break loose. It is a pity. The solution is teaching people the practicality of things and asking them to be sober about it. One can speak mother language at home or at the state level or have courses in college and Universities where one can learn that language. At the national level, there should be only one language. I like the solution in Pakistan. We speak Urdu when we go out of our provinces and within province we speak our regional language. I am a native Urdu speaker but if I was raised in Punjab or Bengal, I will learn Punjabi or Bengali along with Urdu. I am not against preserving our culture and beautiful languages but please for God's sake, be sensible about it. Let's not create more divisions within Pakistan

@akhtar, you need to understand the difference between a National language and a mother language. National language is one common language spoken by non-natives to communicate with each other. If all punjabis ONLY spoke punjabi and all Pathans only spoke Pushto, then how in the world Pathans and Punjabis communicate with each other? These bills are introduced to cause more problems in Pakistan. They don't serve to unite Pakistanis but divide them.

What Pakistan need is Education , once this is achieved all language issues and all the issues which we are seeing now will go away. Country will be in harmony and Quaid will rest in peace

Majority of Pakistanis speak Punjabi why should Urdu be the national language.In a democracy people should be encouraged to preserve their languages and culture

I don't see anything wrong in two languages being national languages. We have the examples of Begium and Canada, who have two languages and living happily. In India, even after Hindi being the national language, English is being used alongside Hindi. Even now, when Urdu is THE national language, it is rerely being used - officially or unofficially. Everything is being conducted in English. All official business is in English. So declare all the languages of the world as national language of Pakistan. It will make no difference.

Our regional languages have survived fine for centuries, who's to say what is sophisticated and what is not?

Exactly.

Language should be optional to acknowledge all ethnic groups as equals. Urdu should not be compulsory, it should be optional like other ethnic languages. There is justification to keep or make English compulsory at all levels of education for business, Science, global reasons. Justification to make Arabic compulsory for Muslims exists to understand Quran, authentic traditions, salah, Islamic prayers on their feet and not through translations. Many Muslims pray, recite surahs without knowing the meaning, have to rely on others to know the translations. Islam, Quran, authentic traditions is a dominant influence in the lives of Muslims, and it does not make sense to not know the meaning. Not knowing, on the feet, the meaning of verses & traditions we hear , is the reason Muslims dispute so much on what Allah says and what rasool says & what true Islam is.

This bill, if God forbid it gets passed, is only going to drive Pakistanis further apart! It goes on to show that we never thought like "Pakistanis" we always remained divided ethnically. What a shame!

I think we have more important issues to discuss on rather than discussing languages. We dont have enough written script on any of the language except Urdu & English. Let it be like that and first let the people learn English our official language for better communication with the present world. If it was an issue of making Urdu the official language i would have supported it till some extent. But my main point is to focus on development of economy & education at this particular stage which we are going through. Reducing Unemployment focus on issues like power generation rather than these minor issues of prestige. God bless Pakistan

The agitation of Marathi speaking maharashtra people against forcing Hindi on the region is another paradox in India today. Funny thing is Tamil, Bangla regions alos speak against Struggle of Maharashtirans but seek independance for their mother tongues. Recently Marathi speaking maharashtrinS in their state capital Mumbai being labled as traitors because of their love for Marathi. Indians forget the Maratha history who successfully destroyed Mugal empire..

History repeats its self for those who fail to learn from it. Jinnah was misunderstood by the Bengali nationalist who thought he was trying to promote his mother tongue. Jinnah seldom spoke Urdu. He was a Gujrati. He spoke English mostly. Jinnah made this decision based on justice and equanimity for all including the Punjabis Baluchis Kashmiris Sindhis and Pathans and Bengalis. Urdu is not the mother tongue of any nation within the Pakistani Federation. He thought the Bengalis will accept it just like the rest of the country. He completely misread the national aspirations of the Bengalis. As we know that the Muslim League which had launched its movement on All India basis used Urdu as a lingua franca for the subcontinent. Urdu was understood from Bengal to Khyber among the educated class of the Subcontinent. I wish Jinnah had not made this mistake. East Pakistan was never the same since March 21,1948, and the seeds of dissension were planted. Subsequent leaders of Pakistan also did not try to heal the wounds. Even Azam Khan the very popular Pathan Governor of East Pakistan during Ayub's rule never went to the Shaheed Minar near Dakha Medical College to lay a floral wreath on the graves of the 4 student leaders who died in the language movement. On that day every 21st March, we just watched our Bengali friends leave our company and go to the shrine of the martyrs of the language movement, the next day things would be back to normal. But every 21st March in Dhaka it felt like we did not belong together. Tamil Nadu too (just like East Pakistan), might have gone its separte ways if it too was 2000 miles from the rest of India. With Pakistan Jinnah's mistake cost us but Nehru was lucky to get away with it because of geographical reasons.

Well do you know that 29 languages are spoken in India.. you guys are worried about 4.. lol

People will always find means to communicate. But no harm in recognising the diversity of your own country.

What is harm if the other languages of the soil are given the status of National language ? What is threat to Urdu? Is not there example of neighboring India where there are many national Language including Sindhi, and the latter is not the language of the any state in the federation of India? Don't be pessimist in giving the right to other nations.

@RhyMe:India is surviving on 24 official languages. I have traveled length and breath of the country and did not face much problem. Don't worry dude, 7/8 language is too easy to manage.

The three Cricket players band from Cricket are a disgrace to my Beautiful Pakistan, they should be banned for life and thrown in Jail.. they destroyed the name of our country

Few realize that Urdu has 70 percent Sanskrit words as my Pakistani friend Asim realized. Except heavy words like Vazir e azam against Pradhan mantri of sanskrit, all simple words in Urdu like hath, pair, sir,kaan, naak, ek, do teen etc are all sanskrit. Also all verbs like chadhna, utarna, daudna etc are sanskrit originated too. All fruits, vegetables and common nowns like naam, tum, hum etc. are also sanskrit based. Pl know this

Bro.. dont worry. Everyone has inherent desire for identity. Language is one form to express it that i am a part of a nation which recognises my roots and ancestory. Giving respect to everyone's history and ancestory makes them feel good. Treat and respect them for what they are... vitality and sophistication kya yaar? Then Pakistan should shun Urdu the language born in India. The language born amidst brotherhood between Hindus and Muslim.

Great argument! I just don't understand the need to retain the term "A" 'national language' in the constitutions of the world. Why can't we get rid of (apparently meaningless) terminologies such as "national language", "official language", "language of business", "lingua franca", etc. from the constitutions of most republics and leave them for the Linguists to build their theories around them. For a layman like myself, I find it extremely difficult even to define what Urdu is : is the version spoken by a PaThaan, a Punjabi, a UPite, a Bihari, a South Indian (Hyderabadi in particular) or a Sindhi is what Urdu is or should be? They all do communicate with each other in "Urdu" (or "Hindi" in India) and yet can fight endlessly with each other on what SHOULD be the GENUINE version for communication purposes! BK

What is a "modern language", by the way? Will you try to define it? BK

If my information is correct, Indian subcontinent thrives with 1600 spoken languages! Africa comes next with ONLY 1400! :)

It is Interesting that Englsh trained Gujarati born Barrister M.A.Jinnah was rumoured to be not fluent in urdu himself and made same mistake as M.K.Ghandhi in advocating one Language formula in a multi ligual sub continent with every parent wishing their children to be proficient in English for better job oppertunities at home and abroad.Let us all stop this Language battles both in pakistan and India and give equal importance to all.I witnessed terrible language battles in India resulting in Linguistic states it is ok grant freedom from misguided Liguistic beliefs.

Hi Raj, I beg to disagree with you. People are not against Marashtrians or Marathi language. Everybody understands if Marathi is not spoken in MH then where else?? What you have to understand is by beating innocent unarmed people you will gain nothing. Why can't the Raj Thackeray start evening Marathi learning centers where people can voluntarily come and learn the language??....this way they can get more people to appreciate the language and embrace it...by violence you attain nothing but furthur alienation and hatred towards this beautiful language. (P.S BTW m a tamilian in Chennai and have lots of Maharashtrians working in my s/w company office)

Does national language means all the languages spoken in the country ? - then why only the major languages what about Brohi/potohari/isariki/and other languages ? Does it mean the language spoken and understood by majority of the people ? Well to me National language is a language which is understood by majority of the people and only URDU is the language which is understood and spoken in all the areas comprsing Pakistan. There is no disrespect for other languages spoken in pakistan in that. We need to distinguish between the mother toungue / regional languages and national language .

When Pakistan was created all the key posts in the public secter were taken by the urdu speaking immigrants from India who were mostly literate. Ever since these less than 10% muhajirs have compeled the native people of Pak to speak in urdu because they could only understand urdu. Similarly when Muslim ruled India they compeled locals including Hindus to speak in persian. You will still find some old aged hindu pundits know how to read and write persian. When British came they compeled us to english. But when they left Hindi was introduced in India although in the streets of norht india all talk in urdu they seldom use sanskrit words.

It goes without saying that urdu is lingua franc a of Pakistan.It is used countrywide with pride though it is not a mother of considerable mass of pakistanis.But still there is no harm for other laguages.Punjabi is live sindhi is operative Balochi is working well Pushto is enjoing its desirable status.The need of the hour is to take equal measures for the development of all the languages

Why are we dragging up a silly bygone argument about regional languages? Why do regional languages which are only really spoken in one province have to be declared national? what will it achieve? Will it make Punjabi's understand Pashto or Sindhi or vice versa? A complete waste of time, the government has more important things on its plate at the moment. With the war next door and lack of electricity and you lot want to waste time on a languages debate. If you guys have nothing better to do; my car needs a wash!

insightful observation... i believe hindi and urdu are same languages written in different scripts.

Whatever the debate, hindi/urdu is spoken and understood by max. people from south asia (india, pakistan, bangladesh, nepal and to some extent srilanka)

Well, not quite as simple as you have put it! It all depends on which variety of Urdu you have in mind. All the verbs and verbal forms used in Urdu are derived from Hindi (or Sanskrit, to be exact), irrespective of the variety one is using. However, leaving aside the pronouns and prepositions, a large majority of nouns (over 70%) used in religious literature in Urdu are borrowed from Arabic. Similarly a large number of nouns (almost 70%) are borrowed from Persian if you are reading or talking about "literary variety" of Urdu. Words of Hindi as well as of Turkish origin also add color to the vocabulary of both these variations of Urdu language. BK

A language is a both a means of communication as well as a storehouse of ideas and concepts (eg the word distillation encapsulates the concept of purifying liquids by evaporating and then condensing them). Persian, an ancient language, was the lingua franca of Muslim India. The British colonisers developed and promoted Urdu as a replacement (Fort William College, Calcutta). Both the vocabulary and grammar of Urdu are grossly inferior to Persian. I personally believe that the creation of Urdu (and Hindi, also by the British at Fort William College), were designed to stunt the development of the Indians by replacing a superior language with intentionally inferior ones, sorely lacking in vocabulary (which are encapulated ideas like the distillation example), giving all nouns gender, making the language case sensitive etc...which are retrograde developments relative to Persian. These deficiencies are the primary reasons why Indians and Pakistanis incorporate English words and sentences in spoken Hindi and Urdu. Perhaps the way forward is to do what Ataturk did with Turkish and redesign our language from the ground up, getting rid of the Devanagari and Nasta'liq scripts for a common roman script, and explicitly incorporating scientific and technical words from English, getting rid of the case-endings...in summary to end up with a language which is comprehensive, easy to use and very powerful. Language is the basis of mental evolution and societal progress and should be designed by our finest minds. Minor considerations such as provincialism etc should be sacrificed for this greater goal.

Hard words in urdu are drawn from arabic and persian while in hindi from sanskrit and prakrit. Hindi is written in devnagri while urdu in persian script. The base of the sentences gramatically are same i.e. prakrit.

absolutely, the focus should be to resolve more important issues at hand like electricity and education for masses...

Awesome comment my dear Armagan!!! they might want to divert a bit of our attention from the real issues facing by the layman of this country... ~God save the nation

National language status has lot of advantages. I am from India and in south, few tens of crores do not understand hindi. Every central government order, name, designation, document etc and even exams for getting jobs used to happen only in Hindi. By declaring national status to some prominent languages, it gives chance for significant portion of language to be integrated into workings of National government. What good is urdu for people of sind or punjabiif they cannot understand it. I do believe that respect for multi cultural population is the only way for national integrity and prosperity. Majority should not dominate minorities in religion, language, resources or any where else.

Its not 21 March, its 21 February..which is now the international mother language day....

Very well said... and I totally agree. But I wonder, other regional languages having a status of national lingo would prove something. Yet, we are communicating with each other and I myself writing a reply of this blog in ENGLISH.... MIND YOUR LANGUAGE :)

Hindi is the 'Official' language of India..not National.There is a more than subtle difference. All States are free to make any other language as 'Official' for use within the state. Interesting read.. .http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_language#India

Urdu is a fine language but its origin is much later than the Ghaznavi raids. Persian was the language of the mughals unto the last ones of the dynasty, maturing only under the last one, Bahadur Shah Zafar. In its 'Hindustani' version it might well have been the common language of India and Pakistan.

I hope you do not mean to say that Hindi and Urdu was "created" by the British. I do not know Persian but I am completely satisfied with Hindi Grammer. How can one say that Sanskrit based vocabulary be infirior?

Very well said.

Along with geographical reasons, Tamil Nadu was for some time in trouble because linguistic pride coincided with caste-reform movements, so there was anger on two counts. But the decision not to impose Hindi did wonders. Tamil Nadu governs itself in Tamil, as does each state in its own language. English certainly helps. And politics, corruptions, rivalries took over, it became like any other state, caught up in the chaos of Indian-style democracy.

You should of course obey Quaid-e-Azam's thought about national language of Pakistan provided you obey other thoughts of his...for example: equal rights to all, irrespective of their religion in Pakistan...If u can't follow those good thoughts then u do not have any right to give too much of emphasis on these silly thoughts....

This is a bad idea since it will divide our country and open yet another Pandora’s box for our country. Pakistan has numerous problems as it is. We should try to solve our existing problems instead of creating more problems and divisions within our nation. I pray to God to save Pakistan from divisive politics and issues.

With what authority do you say our "regional" languages dont have vitality and sophistication??Just to give you simple example of Sindhi Language.Its rich language with all the ingredients of moden language,it has script,literature and even online presence.There are dozens of Sindhi news papers and they are widely circulated and popular in masses.Hundreds of Literary books get published in a month.Till intermediate Sindhi is taught in schools.There are around 10 Sindhi Tv channels.Furthermore,when Pakistan is for all of us,then why people feel hesitant to accept the reality of the day that there is diversity of languages,culture and traditions.We may have common faith,otherwise there are diverse aspects,which may not oppose eachother but they atleast require to be respected and acknowledged.I hope that we may learn from Fall of Decca.Peace

Democratic federal systems always respect the culture,tradition and history of their people.It's fact that we all Pakistani,united by faith but we are culturally, linguistically,historically and traditionally different people.This diversity is beauty of our nation.When we all learn to accept this multi-ethnic and multi lingual composition of Pakistan and we all value this diversity with broadmindedness and equality,we make more stronger Pakistan.Lets respect diversity and support the cause of accepting Sindhi,Siraiki,Pushto,Balochi and Punjabi as National Languages of Pakistan.

Hi All,I have simple question which always troubles me "During Pre-partition era of Gaura Sahab rule,Sindh was conquered land by British Umpire,but they allow Sindhis to learn their languages,they respected Sindhi culture,even they helped to refine Sindhi Alphabet.Sindhi was language of business,official works and Judicial system but I could not UNDERSTAND this dilemma that After FREEDOM,gaura left and we are supposed to be part of Federation but our language is not national, and our Sindhi language is not taught any more in capital of Sindh "Karachi"??What a irony of freedom ?

Excellent article. I was there to see Jinnah and hear his speeches in Dhaka on March 21, 1948, unfortunately it is no longer Jinnah's Pakistan. It is a lawless Pakistan torn apart by Pakistanis themselves and it is just a matter of time Pakistan will be history, divided into many pockets based on ethnic origin and languages, unless Allah performs a miracle.

well said!!

Languages don't make great nations, great minds do. Great minds comes with education.

In India, we have 15-17 language declared as National Languages. Urdu is one of them. language is a emotional issue, some extant, more powerful than religion. Respect the regional language and the cultural ethos of the people of the region. In fact Urdu is not a Pakistani language and do not spoken by any region of Pakistan. with land Jinnah thought he need a language to bind whole of Pakistan with one language, it is not to be.

Vedic Sanskrit and Avestan (ancient Persian) very very closely related languages having the same origin. Sanskrit disappeared from India as it was withheld from the masses by Brahmins and replaced by various Prakrits whereas Avestan lost its influence to modern Persian. Languages will keep on evolving as long as the speakers and institutions are open to the changes. English keeps evolving by absorbing new words. From linguistic point of view Hindi and Urdu do not qualify to be two different languages because the grammatical base and core words are the same even though they have different words and different scripts.

Marvi Memon has made a very useful move.This bill should be made a tool for making possible the learning OF all major local languages + URDU,in our schools up tp matric level.We should declare English as the national language, so that we can compete with the challanges of this century.

100% agreed to Raghhunathan. Raj Thackeroy had a good motive, but he selected the worst path to reach his motive.

Multicultural and pluralistic societies are necessary to promote healthy relationship between people. Pakistan has a multicultural society, but people are not pluralistic in nature. Due to the prevalent feudalistic values, people are not open and possess conservative views for others.

In order for great minds to communicate they need to speak the same language, and we need a common language to educate with so that what is taught throughout the country is consistent and not corrupted through poor interpretation/translation. You make a good point though.

Urdu is a beautiful and melodious language which originated in the streets of India. It has elements of Hindi,Sanskrit and Persian. But then language is a very emotive issue in a multi cultural and multi lingual countries in SE Asia.

Hindi is not the National Language of India, in fact India has no national language. The Constitution lists a group of language which is what are recognized, or you can say official, languages of India. Hindi in Devanagari script is the Official Language of the Government of India. As you rightly pointed out, English is widely used by the government, but it is 'officially' sought to be replaced by Hindi. The state governments have different official languages and Union Government can't impose its choice on them. An Indian MP may speak in any of the recognized languages inside the Parliament, the Union Government's (i.e. a minister's) reply can only be in Hindi or English. Spoken Hindi (or Urdu) is understood by the majority of Indians. You can communicate in Hindi universally in the Heartland, to a large extent in other urban areas and to a lesser extent in the rural areas away from the Heartland. In the past there had been efforts by some and a perception and opposition by some others of Hindi getting imposed on the non Hindi speakers. Muted debates still happen now and then about Hindi be made the national language, but by and large, it is well understood by all that forceful imposition of Hindi on all is not possible in the diverse culture of India. The debate more often now is on the dominant position that English enjoys and its impact on other languages as well as the lack of economic opportunities that people with no knowledge of English face in modern India.

Very well said… and I totally agree. But I wonder, other regional languages having a status of national lingo would prove something.

Interesting move by the Pakistani Parliament..I guess there is some hope yet, to reviving the true nature, cultural identity of Pakistan that comprises of Sindh, Punjab, NWF, Baluchistan and a part of Gujrat (forgive me if I had left other states out) . If you truly want avert 1971, the most sensible path is to revive your indigenous rich SOUTH ASIAN heritage. Today's Pakistan is clouded with worst humanitarian crisis possible, yet it sought its answer from an alien culture, that has no bearing to its soil, native tongue and to the ordinary people. Recognizing indigenous language make a country stronger, not weaker !! Jinnah was an advocate for Muslims in former British India, not the Islamic extremist as many quark politician would like to portray him..read history first. Language movement is no restricted to Bangladesh alone, Spain is going thorough similar issue in Catalonia, whose inhabitants wants to part away from the dominant main land Spain, as they remember bitterly how it was illigal to speak in catalan for more than 40 years during Franco's rule. 21st February has rightly been declared International mother day, I guess the U.N has more sense then many political entity.

Dear Xeno: Language is not created by a govt. Languages evolve in the masses. You cannot force a language to be as you wish rather it is spontaniously. It evolves in the streets and market places by communication. Liturature and poetry comes later when the people start expressing in the local languages.

One must take into account the massive backfire in Ethiopia when they nationalized their regional languages. Its is a similar case.