ISLAMABAD: To give due honour to the national language and give a national touch to his official engagements, Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed that all functions, meetings and other programmes to be arranged for him be held in the Urdu language.

A notification issued by the Prime Minister Office (PMO) on June 3 with the signature of Principal Secretary to the PM Azam Khan says: “The prime minister has been pleased to desire that henceforth all the programmes events/ceremonies, arranged for the prime minister, shall be conducted in the national (Urdu) language.

“Further necessary action to implement the above directions of the prime minister shall be taken by all concerned accordingly.”

A source in the PMO told Dawn that the prime minister was committed to promoting and giving due respect to the national language; therefore he wanted all his programmes and events to be conducted in the national language.

In September 2015, the Supreme Court of Pakistan had directed the federal and provincial governments to adopt Urdu as official language in the country.

Published in Dawn, June 6th, 2021