Tahir Kamran from Government College University, Lahore, in his presentation Imagined Unity as Binary Opposition to Regional Diversity: A Study of Punjab History as a Silenced Space in Pakistani Epistemic Milieu spoke about Punjab unity and the influence of the colonial powers, trends and patterns, and governance issues. Year 1947 provided the continuity to colonialism not the departure. The colonial powers had introduced Urdu at the expense of Punjabi.
The paper focused on the exclusion of Punjab's history in the national discourse. Kamran was of the view that Urdu language was developed by appropriating Lahore and at expense of Punjabis and Sufism. So Lahore's distinct culture, Punjabi heritage, and Punjab's own history needs be retrieved from the mists of the forgotten past.
Ms. Razia Sultana, from the Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, in her presentation Evaluation of Issues and Prospects of Adjustment of Pakhtun in the Power Structure of Pakistan was of the view that the Pukhtun National Movement flourished in colonial and post-colonial times in what is now NWFP and Balochistan. Politically and militarily Pukhtuns have maintained their dominance. Though their alliances extended to groups based in South and South East of Afghanistan, after 1947 they reached out to other political groups within what is now Pakistan as their ethnic strength became divided between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
With the passage of time Pukhtuns have accommodated themselves in the power structure of Pakistan and now possess the second largest power bloc after Punjabis. But Pukhtun politics nowadays is neither issue based nor ideological. She also suggested that there is a dire need to investigate tangible solutions to the long pending issues regarding Pukhtun nationalism.
Tariq Rehman, National Distinguished Professor of Linguistics and South Asian Studies in his presentation Language Policy, Language Death and Vitality in Pakistan , highlighted some issues of Pakistan's language policy. He looked at the 1973 constitution, where Urdu was declared the national language. National languages prosper at the expense of others (provincial languages). When languages wither away so do the particular identity, peculiarities, and culture of associated groups.
Having a language policy that is people friendly has lead in some cases towards market power as has happened in India and Africa which are multilingual countries, as well as in bilingual countries like Canada and Spain. English still enjoys its position as a dominant language with one language dying every fortnight as sadly market forces rule where languages are concerned. The burden of learning of different languages remains high. Those who don't have the money cannot learn languages so it is essential that we at least preserve our provincial languages as in investing finances, publishing in these languages and preserving the dialects and scripts.
Syed Jaffar Ahmed from Karachi University, in his presentation The Birth of Pakistan and the Rebirth of Regionalism examined the growth of regionalism in South Asia under British rule and its influence over Muslim sectarianism after the creation of Pakistan. He was of the view that the treatment of regionalism was a general weakness of historiography in post independence Pakistan. Its emergence is regarded as responding to political developments and circumstances post 1947. It is only after understanding the genesis of regionalism, the different stages of social development in regions that now form Pakistan can one rectify administrative errors.
Dr. Mubarak Ali chaired the session. The discussant Harris Khalique critically analyzed the presentations and was of the view that when it comes to people rights if its feasible one should go for smaller states. He questioned how the nation state and national languages are defined and wondered why one cannot have more than one national language that is for instance give Gujrati, Punjabi, Hindko, Seraiki, the same status and recognition.
In the discussion session participants felt that rather than bemoaning the status of languages one should blame our political policies. One cannot blame communities for not being powerful enough to preserve their languages, as elites pressurize policy makers and market forces. Therefore the sensitization of elite groups is required to conserve or promote any native language.
Reported by Mehnaz Ajmal Paracha
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