From the very beginning, we are studying that Urdu is the National language of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Urdu is a mixture of many languages including Turkish and Arabic, and “URDU” itself is a word of the Turkish language. It is a very rich language and I am proud that it is considered our national language.
However, there is a problem in the subcontinent, that this region had been a colony under British Control, for approximately 100 years. This colonization had a very bad impact on the social and cultural values of the subcontinent. There are different languages in different regions of the subcontinent such as – Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi, Hindi, Bengali, Pashto, Balochi, Arabic, Marathi, etc. But after the British invasion, English became the official language and was considered an elite language in the region and still is being considered. English was and is a symbol of imperialism and status symbol. And eventually the downfall of society began with language discrimination.
The aforementioned events are just an overview of the whole scenario. Now we come to the present-day situation. In Pakistan, there are classes made. There is an elite class, then the upper middle class, then the lower middle class, then lower class, which has created a gap in the society hence leading to disunity in the Nation. The first and important thing we must do to end disunity in the Nation is to stop judging people by their wealth, because it is Allah Almighty’s Authority to whom He gives wealth and to whom He does not, who are we to judge. However, what we can do is that we can try to help humankind, that is what Allah judges. So coming back to the topic of languages. Here in Pakistan, we have an elite class education system, which is mostly foreign education which includes GCE O/A Levels, Edexcel, OCR, IGCSE, etc. Whereas in the local system of Matriculation and F.Sc there is either English medium or Urdu medium, and the elite system is obviously English medium. And then it gets lower while going down.
The ones who study in English medium and speak English think the ones who speak Urdu are low class, and for Punjabi, they even think worst as well as for the other languages. Whereas the ones who speak other languages instead of English feel alienated. This gap must be ended at all costs and if not then this disunity in the Nation will continue.
I, myself have studied in an English medium school with O/A Levels, and have come across many people in the last 14 years and their languages. Almost each and every person thought and still do think that speaking Urdu is for low-class people and a person like me would feel very bad. Feeling bad about your own National language is, I must say ” A SHAME”. I used to speak good Urdu but some people praised me while the others criticized me. So, here I must mention that the Turks feel proud to speak Turkish, the Arabs feel proud to speak Arabic, the Chinese feel proud to speak the Chinese language, the Germans feel proud to speak the German language, the Spanish feel proud to speak the Spanish language, etc. Each and every Nation feel proud to speak their national languages, and that is why they are considered in the First World countries, the Developed countries. We, as a Nation, must also unite and respect our National Language: Urdu. I again say, we must also learn English as it is a global language, but not at the cost of our national language. We all must unite against the incidents such as the Cannoli Cafe incident.
Urdu is a very language, with so much literary work, and we must respect the language and the ones who have contributed to the promotion of the Urdu language, and should pay tribute to our great poets and writers, Allama Iqbal, Saadat Hassan Minto, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Ahmed Faraz, Habib Jaalib, Mustansar Hussain Tarar, Parveen Shakir, Amjad Islam Amjad, Muzaffar Warsi, Fahmida Riaz, Qayyum Nazar, Hafeez Jalandhari, and many more.
We must also support, respect and promote our local languages such as Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto, Balochi, Siraiki, Hindko, etc. and please respect, promote, and love your culture and language, its a blessing, listen to Pakistani songs, and the foreign English music must be discouraged and instead Pakistani music industry and entertainment industry and export to the world, and not import it.
I hope you understand my point and what I am trying to say, and you will love, respect and support your own National language instead of promoting foreign language and culture, but yes do learn English to communicate with the world but not at the cost of your National language.
Thank you.
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PAKISTAN ZINDABAD
PAKISTAN PAINDABAD
URDU LANGUAGE ZINDABADâ–˛
