Call to set up Punjabi university

LAHORE

World Punjabi Conference Chairman Fakhar Zaman has reiterated his demand to establish the first ever Punjabi University in Lahore. He said that despite various seminars, conferences and peaceful demonstrations of the young Punjabi writers, the Punjab government has not moved in the direction of declaring Punjabi as a medium of instruction at the primary level, making radical changes in Punjabi textbooks and curricula.

Fakhar Zaman, who presided over the closing session of Sufi poet Shah Hussain's conference organised by PILAC, said that the funds were being wasted on development projects.

He said the Punjabi politicians, bureaucracy and the elite were the greatest enemies of Punjabi language and culture. The “burger society” is unfortunately ignorant of their culture, Sufi heritage, heroic traditions and the literature of Punjabi language which according to UNESCO is the 10th biggest language of the world.

Talking about Shah Hussain, Fakhar said that his poetry was like glowing amber and was not a big flame like Bulleh Shah’s for example. His use of symbolism of “Charkha” encompasses the different shades of human life. His Kafis are full of pathos which affects the reader to the verge of extreme feeling of human tragedies. He said that his love for Madhu Lal was a symbol of secular mind, who does not believe in hating the one belonging to some other faith. He added that we have to reinterpret the Sufi poets in the light of changing social, cultural, religious and socio-logical perspectives. He said that the myths attached to Sufi poets, which have been created by the mullahism, have to be studied in the right context and the cobwebs have to be removed. He concluded by repeating WPC demand that the subject of Sufism should be part of the curriculum from intermediate class to master level.