He said he would speak to the prime minister to order the mention of the Gujri language in Nadra and census forms.

“The Gujri language is spoken in Hazara division and other parts of the province as well as the country, so the federal government will work for its development like other regional languages,” he said.

The prime minister’s aide urged native speakers of Gujri to educate their children, especially girls, for their community’s development.

He said the children had the right to more and more learning opportunities in their mother languages.

Also in the day, the All Pakistan Istehkam-i-Pakistan Gujjar Convention was held in Haripur with the speakers calling for the inclusion of Gujri language in population census form.

They also demanded the early shifting of the remains of Gujjar leader late Chaudhry Rehmat Ali, who coined the word ‘Pakistan’, from Britain to the country for burial.

The speakers included aide to the prime minister Sardar Shahjehan Yusuf, lawmakers Chaudhry Jaffar Iqbal and Sardar Mohammad Yususf, and Gujjar elders.

The participants included representatives of the community from across the province, Punjab, Islamabad, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan.

They said members of their community had rendered great sacrifices for the country, so the absence of their language from census, Nadra and other key forms was unfair.

They said the voice of Gujjars for their rights would be raise in parliament.

The speakers also demanded the teaching of Gujri language in schools, special quota for the community in FC jobs and resumption of the Gujri news bulletin on the state-run television.Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2022