Urdu to be National language for Pakistan.
ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet and Establishment has called for introducing modern ways and means for the promotion of national language in the country.
The committee which informally met in the Parliament House here on Saturday morning with Senator Mrs. Tanveer Khalid in the chair has called for introducing modern ways and means for the promotion of national language in the country.
This observation was made by the Committee while having a briefing on the functions and performance of National Language Authority (NLA).
The Committee was informed that NLA was established in 1979 with a view to promote Urdu as a national language and since then the authority has been making strenuous efforts for promotion of Urdu by developing dictionaries, translation of official documents & text books and publication of various other important material.
It was further informed that Urdu code plate has been developed for computer to facilitate use of Urdu in e-mail and internet and that the UNICODE membership has been obtained. Regarding new projects, the NLA officials told the Committee that Center of Excellence for Urdu informatics, localization of Microsoft office 2003 and Windows XP, production of scientific and technical reading material in Urdu are being considered to give a boost to the national language.
To facilitate adoption of Urdu as national language, it was told that recommendations were submitted as back as 1981 but the same could not be implemented properly. However, the present government, considering the importance of Urdu, constituted a committee of distinguished scholars in January 2005. The Committee has formulated its recommendations and sent to the Government for consideration.
The Committee appreciated the work done by NLA for furtherance of urdu as national language as it was the language of Pakistan Movement and observed that adoption of Urdu in true sense would strengthen the federation. The meeting was attended, besides the Chairperson of the Committee, Senator Mrs. Tanveer Khalid by Senator Mouhim Khan Baloch. Secretary, Cabinet, Mr. Ijaz Rahim and senior officers of National Language Authority were also present.