25th February is celebrated as the day of National Language day in Pakistan. The National language of Pakistan is Urdu and it was given the status of Pakistan’s National Language on 25th of February,1948 after so much struggle and tussle.
Now the question is: What was the official language declared in 1956 constitution?
Official Language of Pakistan
In the constitution of 1956 , Urdu and Bengali were recognised as the official language of Pakistan. On 29 February 1956, and article 214(1) of the constitution of Pakistan was reworded to, “The state language of Pakistan shall be Urdu and Bengali.”
In the constitution of 1973, Urdu was recognised as the sole Official Language of Pakistan — although Urdu and English were also granted official recognition. That is why, English and Urdu are recognized as official languages of Pakistan.
Language – Explanation
“Language is the art of expressing our ideas by mceans of words”
Man is the Lord of creation.He has a power to express his feelings and ideas and to convey them he uses the medium of language. The national language of a country is a constitutional necessity.The constitution upholds and supports it.
Languages Spoken in Pakistan
There are between 70 to 80 languages spoken in Pakistan. Urdu is the national language and one of the two official languages. English is the other official language. The 1998 Census lists the most spoken primary languages as: Punjabi, Pashto, Sindhi, Saraiki, Urdu and Balochi.
Majority of Pakistanis (almost 60%) speak any of the major dialects of Punjabi (Seraiki, Punjabi, Hindko, Potowhari) as their first language or the mother tongue, although the Pakistan official language is Urdu used by around 8% of the Pakistanis as their mother tongue. Another 12% speak Sindhi and 12% speak Pashto as their mother tongue.10% use balochi and other miscellaneous languages.
Urdu — Our National Language
Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. If you are looking for the question: urdu was declared national language of Pakistan in? It was declared as Pakistan’s National language on 19 March, 1948. It is the National language and lingua franca of Pakistan. Only 7% to 8% Pakistanis speak Urdu as their mother language but it is the key language in knowledge,media and business transactions.
Part of Cultural Heritage
Urdu is a part of cultural heritage, political cementing force and eraser of narrow mindedness and destroyer of parochial feelings. It is the binding force for the youths, the future hopes of the country.
Language Legacy
The ominous language conflict reared its head even before the country emerged.The distinguished Bengali poet, Farrukh Ahmed wrote in an article entitled “Pakistan:State Language and literature” published in 1944 issue of the prestigious Bengali monthly magazine Saogat (Calcutta),
“Even though it is generally admitted that the state language of Pakistan — at least East Pakistan — will be Bengali, some so-called educated persons of East Pakistanhave expressed the unwise, shameful opinion that if Bengali becomes the state language it will be destructive to Islamic culture. I am surprised at the ugly, defeatist mentality underlying thies viewpoint.”
It shows that seeds of discontent were sowed when the country existed only in embryonic form.
Datta, a Congress Leader, claimed on February 25, 1948 that out of 69 million people, 44 million speak Bengali in the country. He proposed an amendment that Bengali, along with English and Urdu, should be accepted as a language of the Assembly. The then prime minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, flippantly replied,
“Pakistan has been created because of the demand of a hundred million Muslims in the subcontinent and the language of a hundred million Muslims is Urdu.Pakistan is a Muslim state and its lingua franca is the language of the Muslim Nation and that language can be urdu and no other language.”
Quaid-e-Azam declared National Language
Quaid-e-Azam stressed on making Urdu Language, Pakistan’s National Language. The most asked question is: in which year Jinnah declared Urdu as the national language of Pakistan? On March 19, 1948 Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah declared Urdu as state language of Pakistan.
He said,
“I want to make it clear to you that Urdu will be the national language of Pakistan and there will be no other language except Urdu and Urdu.”
In his speech at Dhaka he said,
“Let me make it clear to you today that Urdu is the national language of Pakistan and there is no other language. If anyone misleads you about this, then he is the enemy of Pakistan.”
National Language Day
With the blessing of Allah, at last on February 25, 1948 Urdu was approved as Pakistan’s National Language. Now, each year we should celebrate this day as Pakistan’s National Language Day, Urdu as a national language of Pakistan, as we were gifted with this remarkable blessing.
