LAHORE: The former Chief Justice of West Pakistan High Court, Mr Manzur Qadir, called for bringing about a fusion of various Pakistani languages enriched by words from English which might form a medium ultimately becoming a common language of Pakistan. Speaking after installing new office-bearers of the Pakistan Federation of National Integration, Mr Manzur Qadir said “as a first step to a common language we must begin to sacrifice the purity of our particular speech at the altar of functional unity”.

He thought if English were adopted as the common language for Pakistan, “we as a nation would have the great additional advantage of communicating with a very large portion of all mankind, and benefiting directly from the store of knowledge and information that is available in it, but it hurts our national pride even to contemplate such an eventuality”.

[Meanwhile, as reported by agencies from New Delhi], the Indian Foreign Minister, Sardar Swaran Singh, told the Rajya Sabha that the Indian government was prepared to meet Pakistan “at any level” to discuss [the] border situation. He said: “we are prepared to meet Pakistan at any level — Foreign Secretaries’ level or Ministerial level”.

Published in Dawn, April 2nd, 2015

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