Islamabad:Languages are source of communication, and it is integral part of the society. There are 76 languages exist in Pakistan, and they must be called Pakistani languages rather than regional languages.
Article 251 of the constitution gives the right to provinces to adopt their own language as provincial language and it was also stated by the Quaid-i-Azam that National Language of the country would be Urdu, but state will take measures to promote other languages of the country. It was stated by the Director General National Language Promotion Department (NLPD) Prof. Dr. Rauf Parekh, in a one-day conference on “Significance of Mother Tongue in a Multilingual Society” held at National University of Modern Languages (NUML) on Monday.
The conference was organized by the Urdu department of NUML. NUML Director General Brig Syed Nadir Ali, keynote speaker writer/novelist Hafeez Khan, Dean, Pro Rector Academics Prof. Dr. Safeer Awan, dean faculty of languages Prof. Dr. Jamil Asghar Jami, HoDs, faculty members and large number of students attended the ceremony.
DG NLPD said that there are around 7,000 languages exist in the world and half of them will die in next 100 years. It is our duty to safe our Pakistani languages as few are almost died and they have few speakers left. He stressed the need of promoting languages in the country and said that his department will leave no stone unturned in this regard.
Keynote speaker Hafeez Khan in his address the need of the importance of mother tongue and narrate his argument in convincing manners. NUML director general in his address thanked the honourable guests and shared his own experiences of vanishing of languages in the society. He was of the view that there must be no shame in speaking own language specially with children and this is the only way to keep alive any mother tongue.
