By Dr. Muhammed Afzal Shahid

weeklyindependent

An article entitled 'Panjab kee madree zubaan Urdu hay' (Urdu is the
mother tongue of Panjab) appeared as an 'idartee' essay in the 19th
February 2004 issue of daily Nawa-i-Waqt (second in a list of three
editorial essays at the link shown below.
http://www.nawaiwaqtgroup.com/urdu/daily/feb-2004/19/index.htm)

Since publication of this article, many other articles on the same
general theme have appeared both in Urdu and English press.

The source of inspiration behind all these articles is the recent
Punjabi World Conference that was held in Lahore. This one event has
opened old wounds of bitter memories of the divide of 1947 and aroused
a storm of passions on topics of common and special interests,
including Urdu, Punjabi, Two-Nation Theory, Islam, Kufr, History,
Geography, Past, Present, Future, Script for the Punjabi language,
etc. Love and hate ridden debates filled with extreme positions have
ensued with the same zeal that is the hallmark of the cultural
landscape. Unfortunately traditions of moderation and rationality have
still not found their way in our emotionally charged cultural scene.
The result is that we passionately like what we like, and intensely
hate what we hate, often without any logic or rationale. In this wave
of extremism, bending the truth, distorting the facts, and developing
irrational justifications is considered a beautiful art.

For example, the learned author of the article cited above produced
some assertions and called those assertions weak, illogical and
obscene. His very items are reproduced below with a brief reasoning to
the contrary.

1. Only Punjabi is the mother tongue of Punjabis (Panjab kay logon kee
madree zubaan sirf Punjabi hay): This assertion is not weak,
illogical, ridiculous or obscene. Who can deny the fact that a huge
majority of people living in Panjab are Punjabis and their mother
tongue is the Punjabi language. To deny this simple fact is a serious
mistake. Play of words cannot transform Punjabi language (and its so
called advanced form) into Urdu. (It would be ridiculous and only a
twisted logic to assert that since Urdu means the language of army,
and since Urdu is official language of Pakistan, Pakistan should have
a Military government). Punjabi is a distinctly different language,
completely separate from Urdu. The truth is that due to economic and
other very sound reasons, many Punjabis are forced to learn and speak
Urdu and English. This does not make any one of these two languages
mother tongue of Punjabis. (It is appropriate to point out here that
the first-ever book of grammatical rules of Sanskrit known as
'Ashtadheyayi' was written by Panini who was a Punjabi (circa 600 BC).
This does not make Sanskrit the mother tongue of Punjabis).

2. Urdu is a foreign language that was implemented in Panjab by the
British (Urdu ek baeruni zubaan hay jo Panjab men British Government
kay s'haray mrawwaj huee): This assertion is also not weak, wrong or
ridiculous. It is a historical fact that in order to protect her
political, economic and colonial interests, the British government of
the time made special arrangements and employed all means necessary to
suppress the local language (and culture); introduced and advanced
Urdu in the Western and North-Western India.

3. Nobody can excel and become an acknowledged master of a foreign,
e.g., Urdu, language (Koee shakhs ghair-zubaan yanee Urdu men ilmi
fazeelat hasil nahin ker sakta): Almighty Allah has blessed the human,
His creation of the highest order, with such capabilities that he can
excel in almost any field if he directs his faculties correctly, is
focused, is dedicated and is hard working. Linguistics is no
exception. If the assertion relates to a Punjabi excelling in Urdu to
the level of an acknowledged master, then, unfortunately, we have also
witnessed mud-slinging at personalities of the calibre of Allama
Mohammad Iqbal, whose foresight, wisdom, philosophy and knowledge is
recognised all-over the world. There is an element of ridicule in this
assertion, but it is directed elsewhere.

In the said article, the examples relating to the first-ever spoken
words of a child alleged as being 'Urdu' is simply ridiculous.

Picking an 'Urdu' sentence from the great Sufi poet of Panjab, Bulleh
Shah, also does not prove anything. Many examples of Hindi, Farsi and
Arabic sentences/verses can also be produced from the work of this
great icon of Punjabi heritage.

Let us consider another example. Take the word 'ka' out of the
Pakistani National Anthem (Qaumi Tarana written by Abu-al-Asr Hafeez
Jallandhri), the rest of the poem is Persian. The word 'ka' has
rendered the whole composition into an Urdu tarana.

One of Bulleh Shah's beautiful verse reminds us: 'ilmon bass kareen O
Yaar' (My friend, forget pride of your intellect/knowledge).
Let us also look at a different aspect of the ridiculous. Punjabi,
Urdu and Farsi, all are written in the Nastaleeq style (sometimes
Naskh is also used). However, one fails to understand what 'Shahmukhi'
script/style is and how it is different from Nastaleeq.

The fact is that even a remote linkage of Punjabi in Pakistan with
Gurmukhi will prove a serious obstacle in the way of progress of
Punjabi in Pakistan. Need of the moment is sincerity in spending
energy and resources for removing obstacles blocking progress of
Punjabi in Pakistan. Some of these hurdles are: shortcomings of the
Persian-script based additional letters and symbols to represent
Punjabi-specific sounds, lack of standard for written Punjabi in
Persian script and standard text books (covering a wide range of
subjects) for Punjabi schooling.

It is a historical fact that after a long and arduous struggle in the
face of insurmountable hurdles, and against all odds, Pakistan came
into being on the basis of Two-Nation Theory. Certainly there are
those who deny this fact. But then there are also those who are
denying even the existence of God. The sense of responsibility demands
that one does not cross the bounds of moderation, and try to avoid
force-fitted justifications.

Urdu is the national language of Pakistan. It is duty of every
Pakistani to look after this language. But that does not mean that the
regional languages do not have any place and should be ignored, as
they have been over all these decades. On the contrary, it is equally
important for all Pakistanis to encourage development of local
languages. This is a win-win scenario for all, and not the case of one
winning at the expense of the other; which unfortunately seems to be a
general perception. Hate, jealousy, and ignorance will not harm
anybody except those who fall into this unfortunate trap. By so doing
they not only hurt themselves but also their fellow citizens and
well-being of their motherland.

The Punjab language lovers also are duty-bound to safeguard national
ideological basis of Pakistan, which was the source of its creation,
unity and strength (one should never forget how East Pakistan became
Bangladesh). Living and working within the sacred frame-work of their
heritage, they should strive to advance their language, culture,
socio-economic and political objectives. It is the sense of mutual
trust and respect which will strengthen their efforts ensuring real
progress and not the politics of antagonism and collision.