By Aziz-Ud-Din Ahmad

Date:21-04-05

Source: The Nation

All the basic mathematical skill that I possess and can still put to use was acquired at the vernacular primary school where practically every subject was taught in Punjabi. It was a pleasure to go through the rhythmic chanting of multiplication tables in the morning. It was much later that I was to realise as a teacher that the mother tongue was the most effective medium of instruction as far as learning at the earlier stage was concerned.

A prejudice against Punjabi prevailed after partition for quite sometime, partly due to the dominance of the Urdu speaking bureaucracy as well as a belief that proficiency in Urdu was the key to success in getting government jobs. There were also unfounded fears and suspicions about the intentions of those who supported the Punjabi cause. Despite the fact that Punjabi has a good corpus of mystic poetry and Islamic literature, Pucci Roti being the most popular, Punjabi was somehow or other declared to be a language of non-Muslims.

The cause of Punjabi language therefore continued to suffer. The losses were manifold, The younger generation was cut off from a vigorous literary tradition and a tolerant and humanist culture. Students, particularly those in urban areas, were discouraged from speaking the language at home, school or workplace. Many lost touch with their superb cultural heritage. The full potential of Punjabi creativity failed to be realised in literary, journalistic or academic fields. Compared to Sindh, where a robust Sindhi press exists side by side with literary and scholarly works and translations from other languages, Punjab treated its mother tongue badly.

The struggle launched by a handful of intellectuals and writers to give Punjabi its rightful place has been long and hard. It took years of persuasion before the language was finally introduced as a subject in colleges. The conservative sections of society generally kept themselves aloof from the movement. Those fighting for its cause were discouraged and maligned for years. They had to be untiring to get whatever recognition Punjabi has finally got. Much more however remains to be done. The language is still not the medium of instruction at the primary level, there is no worthwhile daily newspaper in Punjabi after Sajjan ceased publication, and there is no Punjabi university.

It was a happy surprise to find former President Rafique Tarar delivering the keynote address at the 12th World Punjabi Conference, and District Nazim Mian Amir Mahmud presiding over its inaugural session. This was an indication that the movement to give the language its rightful position, confined in its earlier days to the leftists alone, has become all-inclusive. The conference drew speakers from across the political and ideological lines.

The movement has finally come of age. Those challenging the status quo are liable to take their iconoclasm to the extreme leading to unbalanced positions. This has happened in the case of supporters of every neglected language. It is common in such cases to maintain that it is superior to other languages. Attempts are also made to purify it by replacing common words borrowed from other languages. This happened for instance with Persian during the resurgence of Irani nationalism when many writers tried to replace the Arabic words with vocabulary borrowed from old Persian. The supporters of Punjabi have overcome this tendency. It was a pleasure to note that there was no trend to use only “shudh” language shorn of Persian and Arabic vocabulary.

There were also no claims regarding Punjabi being a special language. Many speakers underlined the fact that all languages spoken in the country needed encouragement and support. The organisers had also invited speakers from other provinces. Another sign of maturity was the attitude to Urdu. `There was a consensus that Urdu was the national and state language as well as the lingua franca whose importance could not be reduced. A number of notable Urdu writers and journalists spoke at the conference to support Punjabi’s cause.

Still another sign of maturity was the attitude towards the borders. It was recognised that while there is a need for closer contacts and exchanges between Punjabis living on both sides of the border, the movement for Punjabi language was not aimed at creating a bigger Punjab as some belonging to smaller provinces suspect, or doing away with national borders. Despite linguistic and cultural affinities between the people of the two Punjabs, India and Pakistan were destined to remain two separate countries.

Among the ideas floated at the conference was the establishment of a Punjabi university. Keeping in view the deterioration of scholastic standards in the existing universities, the organisers have conceived a highly ambitious plan. Punjab has the largest middle class in the country and if it can be convinced of the importance of the enterprise, raising funds should not be difficult. But can it be?

So far it has shown little inclination to support the cause of their mother tongue. This explains the absence of a vernacular press in Punjab. While the Punjabi intelligentsia is by and large awake to the cause, thanks to the efforts of a large number of pioneers from Najam Hussain Syed, Afzal Khan, Shafqat Tanvir Mirza to the indefatigable Fakhr Zaman, the Punjabi business class has yet to overcome the Philistinism that has so far characterised it.