Why Pakistan is changing its official language from English to Urdu
The switch in Pakistan鈥檚 official language from English to Urdu, a popular language in the Indian subcontinent, has legal and cultural roots.
The Pakistani Constitution, passed in 1973, includes a clause that specified the by 1988.
More than two and a half decades after the deadline, Pakistan is finally ready to make the change. 聽
Ahsan Iqbal, Pakistan's Minister of Planning, National Reforms, and Development told Time, 鈥淯rdu will be a and all official business will be bilingual.鈥� The country will not abandon English, which will still be taught alongside Urdu in schools, he said.
So what will change with Urdu as the national language?
A range of government documents 鈥� including聽聽鈥� will be published in the language, Al Jazeera English reports.
The Tribune, a Pakistani newspaper, notes the President and Prime Minister will only聽, even on foreign trips.
The Tribune also reports the government will change signs and names of public places to reflect Urdu translations.
However, critics are wary these latest developments may undermine Pakistan鈥檚 regional languages.
The CIA Factbook finds but only 8 percent speak Urdu. Sindhi, Saraiki and Pashto are all more popular than Urdu.
Asif Ezdi, a former member of the Pakistan Foreign Service, wrote in a blog post about the importance of federal initiatives to , which 鈥渕ust go hand in hand with the promotion of Urdu.鈥�
Mr. Iqbal maintains the changes will help make Pakistan more democratic since it will 鈥渉elp provide greater participation to people who don鈥檛 know English, hence making the government more inclusive,鈥� Time reported.
In an interview with the United Nations Development Fund, Iqbal spoke about how such accessibility is relevant in education.
鈥淐hildren thinking in Urdu may face if their classroom learning is restricted to just English. A poor command over expression translates into poorly and insufficiently expressed thoughts 鈥� early stage learning and conceptualization require free expression in both languages, and a free internalization of knowledge.鈥�
Osama Sajid, an undergraduate student in Pakistan, wrote that most high school students in Pakistan were 鈥渦nable to read even the 鈥� and most chose to take Urdu, a compulsory subject, as a second language.
鈥淭he unfortunate dilemma is that we find it 鈥榗ool鈥� or trendy to dissociate ourselves from it,鈥� Sajid said. 鈥淯nless we start to take some pride in our national language, and derive a sense of belonging and unity from it, we will always be a confused nation on the brink of success, but never really there.鈥�
