LAHORE: A Punjabi university is the need of the hour and this has been repeatedly demanded by the World Punjabi Congress (WPC) that has also sought making Punjabi a compulsory language from the primary level.

These demands were made under the Lahore Declaration at a daylong National Conference on Punjab, Punjabi and Punjabi Language and Culture at the Punjab Institute of Language, Art and Culture (Pilac) on Friday.

The conference, which was organised by the WPC, was attended by a large number of writers, scholars, intellectuals and artists from Lahore and all over Punjab.

The WPC put forth many demands under the Lahore Declaration. They said there was a dire need for establishing the first Punjabi university in Lahore. The Punjab government had not shown any cooperation, which was deplorable. The conference, therefore, demanded establishment of a Punjabi university here.

Under the Lahore Declaration, a 14-point agenda was approved. It said the Punjab as well as federal governments had always shown regrettable negligence for the promotion of Punjabi language and culture. Despite the efforts of WPC for recognition of Punjabi language at primary level, the Punjab government had not taken any steps. The conference delegates demanded Punjabi language be made a compulsory subject at primary level.

The declaration further stated that over 10,000 M.A. in Punjabi degree holders were unemployed and had suffered for years at the hands of anti-Punjabi bureaucracy and the criminal neglect of the Punjab government.

The gathering condemned various TV channels for ignoring Punjabi language and showing Punjabi culture in a derogatory way. They claimed Punjabi newspapers and journals were denied proper advertisement quota by the federal and provincial information departments. Financial assistance to Punjabi literary bodies was negligible and needed to be increased at least 10 times.

A mafia of non-Punjabi writers or retrogressive Punjabi writers was preparing textbooks at college level. At university level, the curricula needed to be changed radically because it denied the true essence of Punjabi heritage, culture and contemporary writings, which were essentially forward-looking.

The participants suggested that a high-level committee at Punjab and university level should look into the outdated syllabi and suggest radical changes commensurate with the sensibility of progressive Punjabi writings. The WPC should be consulted in changing the curricula at different levels.

All languages in Pakistan should be declared national languages. Punjabi films were on a decline and proper steps should be taken by the federal government to give financial support and other concessions to the film industry.

They keynote address was delivered by WPC Chairman Fakhar Zaman. Other speakers included Dr. Mujahid Kamran, Abdullah Husain, Dr. Mehdi Hasan, Prof Qamar Abbas, Syed Afzal Haider, Dr. Safdar Shah, former ambassador Tauheed Ahmed, Husain Naqi, Tariq Khurshid, Bahar Begum, Nasreen Anjum, Qazi Javed, IA Rehman, Dr Akhtar Shumar, Karamat Bukhari, Nazir Qaiser, Parveen Malik, Dr Naheed Shahid, Dr Navid Shehzad, Humair Hashmi and Shujat Hashmi.

Renowned writer Abdullah Husain said he was proud of belonging to Punjab and that his mother tongue was Punjabi. He said all his Urdu writings reflected the sensibility and culture of Punjab. He said in order to popularise Punjabi language there was a great need to make it simple so it would be understood in all cities and among all classes.

Published in Dawn February 7th , 2015

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