PESHAWAR, Feb 21: Speakers at a seminar have demanded of the government to declare Pushto as medium of instruction and as official language in judiciary and government institutions.

The World Pushto Congress organized the seminar here at the Peshawar Press Club on Saturday in connection with the World Mother Tongue Day.

NWFP Assembly speaker Bakht Jehan Khan, who was the chief guest on the occasion, said that it was the basic right to protect the mother tongue and 1973 Constitution recognized this right of the people. However, he said that nothing had been done so far for the promotion of regional languages spoken in the four provinces.

The provincial president of the Awami National Party (ANP), Begum Nasim Wali Khan, who presided over the meeting, said that Pakistan government always advocated the case of Kashmiri people, but on the other hand the demands of the people of the four provinces speaking different languages for their rights had always fallen on deaf ears.

"We are not against other languages spoken in the NWFP but as Pukhtoon we want our identity and Pushto should be promoted as well as the other languages spoken in the province," Ms Nasim said.

She said that the government should encourage other local languages including Hindko and Chitrali and give them due projection at all levels.

Others including Afrasiab Khattak, Ajmal Khattak, Salim Raz and Sher Zaman also spoke on the occasion.

Earlier, The World Pushto Congress demanded of the Muttahidda Majlis-i-Amal government to lift ban on the cultural activities in the Nishtar Hall as it was hindering the promotion of Pushto arts and culture.

The congress arranged a walk here in connection with the celebrations of the World Mother Tongue Day.

Ajmal Khattak, Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, Begum Mehrunnisa, Firdous Jamal, Latif Afridi and others hailing from different walks of life gathered at Soekarno Chowk in the busy Khyber Bazaar of to take part in the walk.

World Pushto Congress demanded of the NWFP government to open the Nishtar Hall for cultural activities as many Pustho artists were rendered jobless since the ban on the musical programmes and dramas in the only hall of the province which was being used by the artists for Pushto Music programmes and dramas.

The participants also demanded of the government to promote Pushto language by creating posts for the lecturers of Pushto language in every college of the province. Pushto language should be made a compulsory up to graduation level in every educational institution, it said.

The government should remove the hurdles which hinder the promotion of Pushto arts including music, poetry, dramas and other programmes in Pushto language, they demanded.