On September 8, 2015, the honourable Supreme Court of Pakistan in its judgment on the constitutional petitions Nos. 112/2012 and 56/2003 ordered that "the provisions of Article 251 shall be implemented with full force and without unnecessary delay by the Federal and Provincial Governments." The learned three-member bench presided over by the then Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Jawwad S Khawja, further gave certain guidelines for the speedy implementation of the changeover to Urdu.

While the rigour with which this judgement is going to be applied and its effect remains to be seen, the re-ignition of the Urdu vs English controversy in Pakistan after seemingly dying out in the Musharraf era raises a number of issues.

First, the replacement of English by Urdu somehow assumes that English is a ‘foreign’ language. English might be the second, third or fourth language of people in Pakistan but it is by no means ‘foreign.’ If English is foreign just because the British began to use it in the area which is now Pakistan beginning in the 1840s, then Urdu is also foreign as it is also an 1840s import in the area. If English is foreign because it was brought by the British, then Urdu is equally foreign because the same British also brought Urdu into these areas. English has been in this area for over a hundred and fifty years and still calling it ‘foreign’ is simply absurd.

Secondly, English has not only indigenised in Pakistan, it has permeated our lingua franca not just in the urban but also the rural areas. I need not recall how many South Asian words are normal in the English language now -- from thug, to verandah, bungalow, chutney, shawl, and even shampoo.

British rule in India had a deep impact on British society and culture and our languages also rubbed on theirs (we even brought tea to the British, something which is now considered typically British!). In a similar way, English has permeated the everyday language of all speakers in Pakistan. For example, one would hardly ever find a shop noted in Urdu as ‘Dukaan’, which is its actual translation. Everyone knows it, but when it is put up on a signboard it is always ‘Shaap’ from the English ‘shop.’ Similarly, the Urdu word for ‘road’ is ‘shahrah,’ yet most street signs simply say ‘road’ transliterated in Urdu. The same goes for ‘store,’ ‘building,’ ‘cup’ etc which are simply transliterated into Urdu without thought. English numbers are also now widely used in Urdu publications, and in fact, even the Supreme Court judgement in the said case uses English numerals throughout! Further, words like ‘reports’ and ‘information’ are simply transliterated in Urdu in the judgement even though there are equivalent words present in the Urdu language. The cross pollination is now at such a stage in Pakistan that even in the most rural and illiterate of settings English words are not alien.

Thirdly, the actual state of Urdu is such in the country that a complete changeover to the language is neither possible nor feasible. Urdu is only spoken by less than 10 per cent of the population as a first language, and in the rest of the country it is the main colloquial language. This means that the vocabulary and comprehension of proper Urdu for a common man is limited. The person on the street is unable to understand official or as we call it ‘daftari’ Urdu as much as he or she cannot comprehend difficult English words.

The issue of the translation of ‘Office Circular’ into the idiomatically correct yet colloquially amusing ‘Gashti Murasila’ is a case in point. Likewise, Court Urdu is as difficult and impossible to comprehend for a common man as is Court English -- so in terms of the common person the changeover will further confuse matters for them.

Fourthly, despite government attempts the Urdu language still lacks the nomenclature and literature to make a switch possible. The government set up the National Language Authority over three decades ago, yet sufficient terms have yet to be created in the Urdu language to make a change from English. And even if the new terms are created, would they not be as alien to the people of the country as the English ones? In fact, the English ones -- just because they have existed for hundreds of years, might be more familiar and understandable. Also, would such a ‘creation’ of literature for Urdu not be artificial and against the organic development of the language itself?

Fifthly, the much touted ‘linguistic divide’ among the rich and the poor is not what it used to be before and is fast shrinking -- a sign of how things can positively develop. Where in the 1960s only a handful of elite or missionary schools were English medium, now almost every school -- from the elite to the middle class and working class, and the rural ones are, teaching in English. The everyday vocabulary, as noted above, of an average Pakistani already contains a lot of English words and the teaching of English in almost all schools is fast ensuring that almost all the literate population of the country has at least some understanding of the language. The stark economic and class divide is no more and its shrinkage in the last two decades shows how it will continue to lessen.

So what should be done?

Pakistan should quite simply declare all its regional languages -- Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto, and Balochi -- as official in addition to both Urdu and English. Doing so will actually empower the people to converse in and work with a language of their choice rather than be forced to choose between languages they are marginally proficient in.

Read also: Urdu: it’s official

The decision to become an officially multi-lingual country will, in fact, strengthen rather than weaken the federation. India has made several of its regional languages -- Punjabi and Urdu included, as official, and it still keeps together a country. As a matter of fact, Sindhi is an official language in India (owing to the substantial number of Sindhi speakers in India), despite the fact that Sindh is wholly in Pakistan!

Further, by lessening the emphasis on making Urdu what it should not be, if more impetus were given to literature in Urdu and other regional languages it would go a long way in preserving the cultural plurality of the state, ensuring the continued development of the languages.

Finally, Pakistan is only now remerging on the international map and the English language ability of Pakistanis is a great asset abroad. With English as the undisputed international language, Pakistanis due to their past, have had an edge over people from other countries where English has been taught at a later stage or not at all. More often than not, the English language skills of Pakistanis make them more marketable as doctors and engineers, and in business and industry.

Thwarting this development will certainly adversely impact the growth of Pakistan and its people. The world has become a multi-lingual environment and therefore we should stop yearning for a controlled monolingual dream of the past and look towards a more diverse, vibrant and international future with our multi-layered and multi-faceted history.