HYDERABAD, June 25 Writers, educationists and intellectuals have said that there is no need for fresh legislation to make Sindhi an official language and get private schools teach it as the government only needs to implement the existing law to achieve the purpose.

They said that implementation of the existing law in letter and spirit would be enough to protect thousands of years old Sindhi.

They were speaking at a seminar on “How to promote Sindhi language” organised by the Sindh Friends Forum at the Sindhi Language Authority building here on Thursday evening.

The vice-chairman of the forum Dileep Kumar Doulatani said that several resource-rich organisations were working for protection and promotion of Sindhi but their outputs and performances were not satisfactory.

He said that the managements of private schools appeared more powerful than the government because they were openly violating the law to teach Sindhi in their schools.

The people of Sindh would have to work individually as well as collectively to ensure that Sindhi was given official status and it was taught in all educational institutions, he said.

The deputy director of Regional Directorate of Private Institutions, Ms Shahida Parveen Abro, claimed that her directorate had ensured that Sindhi was taught at private educational institutions under the 1972 Ordinance.

She praised the cooperation of literary, educational and social welfare organisations in this regard. It was the duty of parents, teachers and civil society to ensure that children received education in Sindhi, she said.

Noted writer and secretary of the Sindhi Language Authority, Taj Joyo, said that Sindhi had been recognised as a rich language for the past 5,000 years and there was a written proof to the fact that Sindhi writings had been in existence for centuries.

He dilated on the history and use of Sindhi since 1658 and said that medium of education was Sindhi during the reigns of Sammas, Mughals, Kalhoras and Talpurs.

He said that when Persian language was highly popular among the intelligentsia during Mughal rule Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai chose Sindhi to give voice to his poetic feelings and thus immortalised the importance of the language.

He said that eminent scholar Dr Gur Bakhshani had recommended in 1876 that Sindhi should be taught up to graduate level. Sindhi had received a setback under Ayoub Khan's regime but he too had to revisit his opinion after protests and decided in October 1962 that Sindhi should be taught up to matriculation level, he said.

He said that another attempt was made in 1967 to abolish Sindhi as a medium of instruction and the then vice-chancellor of Sindh University Allama I.I. Kazi resigned from his post in protest.

In 1972, the Sindh Assembly passed the language bill which led to language riots but it was later decided that both Sindhi and Urdu should be accepted as official languages of Sindh, he said and stressed the need for promotion of Sindhi through Internet.

The chairman of the forum Prof Qasim Bughio, Nizam Abbasi, Ms Nazeer Naz and Prof Roshan Panhwar also spoke at the seminar.