The entire policy of handling languages was flawed. While Urdu was named as the national language, regional languages like Punjabi, Sindhi, Bengali, Pushto, Balochi, Saraiki, etc were ignored. Islam and Urdu as the binding glue did not work.

Urdu is the 'national' language and English is the 'official' language of Pakistan. Perhaps you are not happy with the treatment Arabs give you in their countries and so you would rather be one of them.

I am already a living example of your suggestion Kris , I never faced any obstacles in perusing my ambitions because of what language I spoke as mother tongue or 2nd or 3rd or 4th and I am a very proud Pakistani by birth

Urdu is not the mother tongue of vast majority of population. It has wrongly been imposed as a national language at the cost of native languages. If we have promoted each ones mother tongue equally, we had not lost the Bengal. Imposing alien language over others mother tongues/ national languages will certainly bring this national confusion. Please respect other native languages also. All languages are full of love, peace and empathy, not only the Urdu / Hindi.

Sarcasm intended

English leadership over other regional languages is because of its political supremacy over the world. Urdu is language of sub-continent. it is not a true Pakistani language. Punjabis and Pathans have long been using this language leaving behind their own mother tongue in texts. One who do not love his own language is not one''s true land lover.Urdu is Indian language in a true sense. We Pakistanis should adopt over own languages. The present state of using English in everyday life shows little respect of our own country and our real Pakistani culture. Bangladesh left Pakistan because of no respect of their own language. Urdu is Arabic-Persian form of Hindi language rooted in India not Pakistan. Please do not refer Urdu language as Pakistani. This misconception should be eliminated. Using urdu in our country has brought near Hindu-Indian culture in our daily life. This is ruining our Own Pakistani identity. If urdu were not a adopted as a national language of Pakistan we could have made our own identity different from India. This was basis of creation of Pakistan.

what is this obcession with Arabic? we are not Arabs Khan Z!

Fully agreed with you Kris , I know how to read and write Reekhta ( i.e Urdu ) But URDU is Not and has Never been my mother tongue nor it will be for my future generayions ( My late mother Never spoke !) I am a product of Govt based Urdu medium school and yet I have also learnt , understood and got good competence in English writing and reading . Due to my occupational hazards , Urdu has never been my 1st language of communication either and I mostly used to converse in my home surroundings Not in Urdu but in my mother tongue YET I am a Proud Pakistani by birth

No it is not our second language It is our third language, after the local mother tongues and English. But why did YOU publish this letter in English. Is it your first language?

How many people out of 180 million Pakistani call Urdu as their mother tongue? Urdu may by your mother tongue but I am sure it is not mine. Please count Punjabi, Sindhi, Pushtu, Balochi, etc as mother tongues of Pakistani population, Urdu will be consdered a mother tougue of a few and hence Urdu is not our mother tongue. We may speak and understand Urdu as a second language but I am sure it is not the first or the mother tongue children learn speaking in majority of Pakistani homes.

Dear Sir, In fact, the student is right. I am intrigued to know that Pakistan adopted URDU as a national language even though none of the provinces speak that language. What's more? Pakistan lost half of the country because of this language problem. Your analogy that China or Germany speaking their language doesn't apply here. By promoting Urdu, in reality other local languages and hence culture or literature is sidelined. In India, govt tried to impose Hindi (at least it is the language of many states) on southern states but was resisted. My suggestion is that let students learn in their mother tongue (provincial language) and learn Urdu as a second language. What is wrong in that? Adopt English as the link language!

Try watching Urdu news on any given channel and see how many English words you can spot that the newscaster could easily have substituted with Urdu. It should be renamed 'Urd-Lish'. Fact is, in a culture of VIPs, English is one way to earn you some respect in a country teeming with poor, illiterate people. In anycase, Pakistani society is based on 3 classes: Madrassah (poor), Urdu-medium and English-medium(Upper middle class and elites). Why would anyone want to excel in Urdu under these circumstances?

language was a mode of expression...but now it has become mode of prejudice...

Urdu is not our mother tongue. Every province has their own mother tongue Secondly, English works best as a second language as most of the literature worldwide is written in English and all the official work is conducted in English. I am sorry to say but Urdu can be very conveniently disposed off

Get a reality and history check. Migration is when you go to an existing country, not when you create one. Those who came from British India were not migrating to an existing country, they were creating one! Pakistan did not exist prior to partition. So, the 8% are no different than the 92%. Everyone is an equal citizen of Pakistan.

Urdu (/???rdu?/; Urdu: (Urdu: ??????), IPA: [??rd?u] ( listen)) is a register of Hindi-Urdu in South Asia. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an official language of five states. Based on the Khariboli dialect of Delhi, Urdu developed under the influence of Persian, Arabic, and Turkic languages over the course of almost 900 years.[4] It began to take shape in the region of Uttar Pradesh in the Indian subcontinent during the Delhi Sultanate (1206?1527), and continued to develop under the Mughal Empire (1526?1858). Urdu is mutually intelligible with Standard Hindi spoken in India. Both languages share the same Indo-Aryan base and are so similar in phonology and grammar that they appear to be one language.[5] The combined population of Hindi and Urdu speakers is the fourth largest in the world.[6] Urdu means "(military) camp" in the Hindustani language, from Turkish ordu meaning "army"; and Urdu language was the language of the camp when Nader Shah of Persia (Iran) invaded India. Nader Shah set up his camp in what is now modern day Pakistan, and from here the Khariboli speaking Indians and the Persian speaking Iranians (Persians) mingled together and a third language, Urdu was born. It is bridge between the two branches of Indo-Iranian language. Today Urdu has adapted a lot of Arabic and Persian words because of many migrants from Iran and the Middle East adapted this language. It is also very welcoming to other international languages; it has adopted certain vocabulary from English.

politics of differences is very catastrophic, instead we must respect constitution and keep our vested interest aside and talk about similarity

URDU is the third language after English,Sindhi/Punjabi,Pushto/Sarayeki then come Urdu.

Urdu has nothing to do with me (am a sindhi from pakistan) ....... my pride is sindhi and it is one of the richest language in the world ....... urdu is a third language ...which me as a sindhi in sindh don't need urdu urdu is a Indian language ,,which originated in awadh(Uttar pradesh) region....

@kris simple scenario. Consider one day without Urdu in Pakistan and Pakistan simply doesn't exist (I hope you are not a member of BLA) and that half Population we lost still many of them understand and speak Urdu. Now who forces them to do so.

Dont know about Islam and Urdu. But Urdu and Pakistan did worked. Remove Urdu and we are totally strangers to each other.

Seriously?

I love the way you expressed your feeling about Urdu. It is OUR "sheereen" "language in the subcontinent regardless from which tribe or region we are. Just listen to the Urdu songs in the Indian movies.

I think we should create a sense of perspective here. The Urdu language whilst beautiful and having rich poetry and literature is not the mother tongue of a majority of Pakistan. It has been systematically imposed through educational policy and curriculum. A majority of Pakistani's learnt Urdu because it became a necessity of life in the 60s, 70s and 80s and a common mode of communication of people from different sub-cultures, ethnicity and races who came together under then banner of Pakistan. But as the world has changed and become globalized English has taken over and Urdu is slowly outgrowing its usefulness and common use especially within the educated middle and upper classes. Hence, alot of people who were born in the 90s and 00s have no affinity to it. Even if they do it is with a form of Urdu written in English. This is happening to many other languages including Hindi. But saying this we need to preserve the Urdu language as it is a rich and beautiful language. We can learn from the Dutch, French and Germans in this respect who are slowly adopting or going through the same change in lingual terms albeit slower than us to ensure Urdu remains an important part of Pakistani culture.

Islam has noting to do with Urdu. It is a chosen language created overy time by a group of people, both Muslims and Hindus, and adopted and loved by many other communities in the subcontinent. In fact, there is more un-Islamic literature (Indian movies and songs) in Urdu than the religious ones.

I think we might be getting annoyed with each other for no reason. Urdu is a "lingua franca" of Pakistan because everyone finds it convenient to communicate with the other in this language. Pakistan has a number of nations who are perfectly entitled to speak in their own tongue, which is why I have proposed that Children must learn another Pakistani language as well. I also noted an angry reader here commenting that Urdu is the language of the immigrants. Is it really true that Locals do NOT accept those of us who left India to migrate to a "new land" that was created for the muslims of the sub-continent and we are consequently not welcome after 66 years here?

The fallacy here is in believing that Urdu is the mother tongue of all of Pakistan's citizens. This in fact is not true as Urdu is the mother tongue of a minority. Mother tongue does play an important part in the learning process. However, the writer should be aware that the mother tongues of the Pakistani majority are Punjabi, Sindhi, Balauchi and Pashto, with some Seraiki, Katchi, Gujrati, Brauhi, Hindko, etc. thrown in . Urdu in most cases is the second or third language.

If you search languages in Pakistan you well forget ginty

am sure you are/will be teaching your kids in their mother tongue?

You are an open minded and honest person, Sikhs eldesr are higlhy urdu literate people in India.

Sheereen is Farsi not Urdu my friend. The word for Sheereen is Mitha/Mithi in Hindi. Farsi is actually a Sheereen language and Urdu is a derivative of Farsi/Arabic/Hindi.

Urdu is not only the national language of Pakistan but the sweet language of the sub continent. No other language is as 'sheereen ' as it is . You cannot honestly translate 'sheereen'?in any other language. Keep it up dear.

We may like it or not, but English enjoys special status in our country. Issue is further complicated as national language is mother tongue of only 8 percent of our population. People speak Urdu for convenience though they love their mother tongue even more. No easy solution to this dilemma.

If your concerned about Urdu, you should be writting in Urdu. Is your constitution written in Urdu? I dont really care mush about Urdu because this is a borrowed language which is it is called "Lashkar". We as a Muslims should have an arabic as an official langauge. The founding fathers Jinnah and co made a seriuos mistake by declaring this "urdu" as an official language. This move divided the nation. We need to rewrite our constitution that will be written in Arabic not Urdu.

Urdu is not the mother tongue of the indigenous people of Pakistan. It is the first language of the people from Northern & Central India. In my opinion, it should be removed as the national language of Pakistan.

Some of us are products of missionary schools where Urdu Easy was required to pass the exam even at the Intermediate Science stage (FSc). Urdu is not necessarily the mother tongue of all Pakistanis though it is the official language and one must not forget that imposition of anything will be opposed by many concerned as history bears out in former East Pakistan. Personally I wish my grasp of written Urdu was much better than what it is.

Urdu is not the mother tongue of vast majority of population. It has wrongly been imposed as a national language at the cost of native languages. If we have promoted each ones mother tongue equally, we had not lost the Bengal. Imposing alien language over others mother tongues/ national languages will certainly bring this national confusion. Please respect other native languages also. All languages are full of love, peace and empathy, not only the Urdu / Hindi.

Urdu is a borrowed language which most Pakistanis speak and understand. And you are proposing to borrow Arabic language that very few could understand. what a unthoughtful suggestion. More people know and understand English so why not borrow that.

You are not an Arab and Arabic is not a Muslim Language. Languages dont' have religions. Do some reading

Urdu is not everyones mother tongue in Pakistan. So why so much of grief.

At the time of independence there were 5 provinces each with their own language; Sindhi, Punjabi, Pushtu, Baluchi and Bengali. There was no real need for a Urdu language. But in order to better communicate with people of other provinces, Urdu soon emerged as language that connected people of other provinces. Urdu also happened to be much more advanced than other languages in a literary sense. Because all Provinces had a language of their own, Urdu was neglected and no efforts were made to promote it and nurture it as a unifying force for the country. Many shunned Urdu because Urdu was perceived to be a language brought by migrants from India and being forced upon them.

Use of cliches like 'our own language' and attempting to appeal to people's sense of insecurity and nationalism will not help. As I see it, standard of English and knowledge of English is very poor in Pakistan. It is perfectly okay to get our education in English medium but speak Urdu. For whatever reason, the nation has not been able to decide on medium of studies. In my personal opinion, Pakistanis are already isloated from the world and are lagging further behind by the day. Any steps to reduce English language in Pakistan will further enhance our isolation and therefore national competency (if any) will suffer further. It is sad that someone did not know how to write 66 in Urdu. This is like not knowing what we are taught rather than being a justification to impose some backward agenda in the name of nationalism.

Islam did not require that ALL muslims for all times should adopt Arabic as their langugage? Where you got this idea from. Come on...During Umra, I noticed Muslims from all over the globe reciting prayers in their native languages. Remember, Islam is a global religions for ALL humans, ALL languages and ALL races.

Well Sir , The mother tongue is What your mother first wisper into your ear when you are born or taking into the scientific evidence , what you hear while getting develop into a human being , under the 3 darkness-es in your mother's womb ! , so why you are surprised of that student did not know the Urdu as a language ! depending upon where born , Bengali , Baluchi , Sindhi , Pushto or Punjabi could have been one of the mother tongue your student knew then why you insisted upon Urdu as the mother tongue , when it was told to you I do not read or write Urdu ? perhaps you would have been polite enough to seek the further knowledge , what mother tongue your student learnt and appreciate it too , why to take an offence if the person sitting across you did not meet your expectations !

Make Arabic your first language.

why are you writing this letter in english language? It is OK for people like yourself to learn English language but not for the poor.

Shocking and sad.Pakistanis in Pakistan do not speak Urdu at all these days , but prefer to converse in tooti phooti English! Why? We should be proud of our beautiful language.

Children in Europe are taught to speak four European languages which includes their own mother tongue. The worst people in the world are the English who refuse to speak any other language except their own. I believe that Pakistanis must excel in their own language plus another Pakistani language like Balochi, Pashto, Punjabi or Sindhi because this will "connect" them to Pakistanis from other parts of the country and finally English because it is the international business language unlike French (widely spoken) German or Spanish. Our kids already excel in the sciences but lack in administration, negotiation or management skills which must also be taught in schools/universities and later on taken up at the place of work as an on-going development programme paid for by the employers.

There are plenty to speak Arabic. Given a chance, there is no harm in learning and speaking Arabic. Speaking language is a special skill and honourable. The way you have posted your advice does not show any respect for Arabic or Arabic or Arabic speaking people. You seems to be angry with non-English speakers.

If it is the language of 8 percent, then how come most of the channels are in Urdu. This is a seriously flawed analogy.

Pakistan lost half the country because some West Pakistanis of those days considered our East Pakistan brothers inferior. Then Auyb Khan's marital law was imposition of one man's non-representative rule on East Pakistanis of the day. Finally, military action and role played by India resulted in separation of East Pakistan from the West. Personally, I think if all the above factors were not there, the linguistic thing alone would not have resulted in break up of Pakistan.

"Does mother tongue play no role in the country?" Since when is Urdu our mother tongue? Urdu is the mother of only 8 percent Pakistanis, that too migrated from India.

People always speak a language out of convenience. So let the time pass. One or the other language will be more common than others. Be it Urdu, Hindi or Panjabi -- or English. But the author's real point is - Let us speak pure Urdu or English or Panjabi. Mixing them together, the purity and pleasure of speaking is lost.

when you create a class difference on the basis what you speak, people will try to mimic the super language - though its not true! Urdu being a national language of Pakistan played a great role. If you look at India, they only speak local language and to speak to people from other parts of India, they have to rely on English as they dont like or cant speak in one language.

The author is very right in his point about learning and speaking proper Urdu. Speaking Urdu does not make any one poor or rich or literate or illiterate. It simply adds to the beauty of the speach. Would you speak English with Urdu letters mixed up i it? Even the Mexicans and Puerto Ricans in the US do not mix Englsih while speaking Spanish. They take real pride in speaking pure and fun loving Spanish to speak their heart out. That's why the US is un-officially forced to adopt Spanish as a second language after English. A real nation always lives by its belief, culture, heritage and a language. That's why Germany is Germany and Iran is Iran. Pakistan is roiled in a speriority complex by trying to unncessarily speak English and follwing Weestern trends like they are part of its own culture. This complex is also part of a national divide in the country and leads to no prosperity.

No. Urdu is out third language. First language is Arabic, second language, we don?t what it is, and the third language is Urdu.

And how do you think she will achieve this if she wants it to be printed in an English newspaper? And, how do you suppose that the 180 million of your country will grasp working knowledge of Arabic which is one of the most complex languages in the world?

In every country the language of the majority is national language. America had almost equal proportion of English and German speakers. In congress German lost by one vote and English became national language. In Pakistan the language of majority is maligned and considered language of lowly people ignoring the great tradition of punjabi poetry and literature, and the fact that it is over 10,000 years old. But punjabis in Pakistan have not been aware of this truth. In Indian Punjab, our mother tongue is medium of instruction and official business of Government is conducted in Punjabi. People speak Hindustani (mix of Hindu Urdu ) and not Hindi, and English as second laguage. Idian punjab is the most properous province of india.Before partition all punjabi's took great pride in their language. My ancestral origin is Peshawar, I have never been to Peshawar or Pakistan but to this day we speak peshori at home with the same accent, even though we live in USA.

Urdu was imposed on people of Pakistan after partition as Urdu considered as muslim language. This was one of the reason Bangladesh was separated from Pakistan. I think language should not be linked with religion. language depend on the region/land you belong to. There are millions of hindus in India who doesn't speak Hindi and million of muslims in India who do not speak hindi or urdu but other Indian regional langauage like bengali, tamil, telegu, Malayalam etc.

i think urdu has been the best link language of Pakistan .whether you like it or not,it connects people with different local languages & cultures.number 2,3. who cares?English is international language of education ,no denying there. Urdu is my mother tongue,& i advocate everybody should nurture the mother tongue to some extent .what surprize me is that :Urdu s greatest poets of 20th century were not so called " native speakers"(Iqbal,Faiz,Faraz)?Any thoughts:

send ur kids to urdu medium