Use Urdu for official business, court says

Islamabad: Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered that constitutionally-declared national language Urdu should be used in official business at all government departments in the country.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Jawwad S Khawaja issued the order in a judgement on petitions seeking adoption of Urdu as the official language.

Calling for an immediate implementation of Article 251 of the Constitution of the country, the Supreme Court issued guidelines for making Urdu the official language.

According to Article 251, the national language of Pakistan is Urdu and arrangements shall be made for its use for official and other purposes.

Subject to clause (1) of the article, English language may be used for official purposes until arrangements are made for its replacement by Urdu.

Passed in 1973, the Constitution of Pakistan under Article 251 specifies, “Without prejudice to the status of the national language, a provincial assembly may by law prescribe measures for the teaching, promotion and use of a provincial language in addition to the national language.”

On September 6, the Ministry of Education and Professional Training and the Higher Education Commission (HEC) instructed all public and private sector universities to use Urdu as official language.

They were also directed to translate their respective Acts, Statutes and websites into Urdu from English.

Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal has reportedly said that switching from English to Urdu does not mean that the prior would be abandoned entirely and would still be taught in schools along with Urdu.

According to him all official business will be bilingual.

Many parents in the country reportedly feel the change would be a drawback for their children.

Iqbal has argued that the move will allow Pakistan to become more democratic as it will “help provide greater participation to people who don’t know English; hence, making the government more inclusive.”

Though several languages are spoken in Pakistan, English takes the lead among the elite and government ministries.

But Urdu has been a lingua franca or bridge language between speakers whose native languages are different.