By Prof M Qasim Bughio

The News Karachi Edition

These recommendations were very much at odds with those put forward by UNESCO in 1951: "... [F]or these reasons it is important that every effort should be made to provide education in the mother tongue... On education grounds we recommend that the use of the mother tongue be extended to as late a stage in education as possible.

Under the 'One Unit' period efforts had been made to unite the society as a nation-unification, it was thought, would be achieved through the elevation to national status of a single language and a homogenous culture. But these attempts were at the vast expense of those other cultures existing in the various provinces of Pakistan. It has been argued that language and culture share a symbolic relationship: preservation of language is integral to the preservation of culture. That is why linguistic and cultural homogeneity, instead of creating an overall united society, seems to have the reverse effect. Crocombe (1983) encapsulates this view:
"... [C]ultural uniformity is not likely to bring peace; it is much more likely to bring totalitarianism. A unitary system is easier for a privileged few to dominate. Cultural diversity is one of the world's potential sources of both sanity and fulfilment."

Many Sindhis were of this view that linguistic and cultural uniformity helped to cushion the path of "alien politicians and advertisers to penetrate other societies" (Trudgill, 1991) and thus add cement to the establishment of an elitist group. These effects were felt to be transparently evident, especially in Sindh, and particularly when it was seen how the efforts taken to introduce Urdu as a national langauge of Pakistan were oriented towards the formation of a political elite. For example, Shah (1978) writes:
"Power went to those who had still not developed affinity to its soil and its people and were in the utter seriousness and hurry to establish their sociopolitical and economic hegemony." Das Gupta (1969) also exposed what he saw as the inadequacies of the government language policies. He discerned that during the phase leading up to Pakistan's inception the leaders's distinctions between the groupings of I 'common', national' and 'official' language were lacking. Instead, as Gupta remarked, they were inclined to use these as interchangeable categories, and did not exercise the necessary caution in using them. An official language indicates an acceptable language of administration and means of communication between the governing and governed body. A broader interpretation should be given to the idea of a common language which should rank as an overall intelligible code throughout the nation-and a national language may exist side by side in a multilingual society (Switzerland, for example, has three national languages). The distinctive stamp of a national language lies in its existence as the natural speech of a key linguistic group whose individual members regard the language with deep rooted affection. These distinctions granted, it is possible to imagine a society where the official language may not be a common language just as several national languages can arise and be permitted without the need to make all these national languages official languages.

For the duration of the 'One Unit' (1955-69) and 'martial law' period (1958-70), the situation was seen to deteriorate. Urdu continued being promoted and enjoyed high status through its various outlets, presenting for all those who adopted it the chance to gain prosperity. Meanwhile Sindhis continued to campaign for their language. In 1969 the 'One Unit' period came to an end with all the provinces of Pakistan getting recognition in their own right.

A few months after this in 1970 a resolution was passed by the syndicate of the University of Sindh, making Sindhi the official language. of Sindh University, a course soon followed by the secondary and intermediate board of education in Hyderabad. Following this several other autonomous and semi-governmental departments made Sindhi their language of correspondence. In reaction to this some sects of the Urdu-speaking population indulged in mass protest and through the Urdu media continued with their campaign.

In the Constitution of 1973, Urdu was made the sole national language of Pakistan while English held official status until measures were taken to replace it by Urdu:
The national language of Pakistan is Urdu, and arrangements shall be made for its being, used for official and other purposes within fifteen years from the commencing day (Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan 1973, Article 251, clause 1).

Subject to clause (1), the English language may be used for official purposes until Urdu (Article 251, clause 2), makes arrangements for its replacement.
Additionally, the provincial assemblies were authorised to implement measures for the teaching and promotion of provincial languages besides the national language: Without prejudice to the status of the national language, a provincial assembly may, by law, prescribe measures for the teaching, promotion and use of a provincial language in addition to' the national language (Article 251, clause 3).

Following this, the Sindh Provincial Assembly, looking at Sindhi's history and modern educational importance and being a pressurised body the majority of Sindhis' demands that Sindhi be given the proper recognition it deserved, passed a bill that was strongly opposed by the Urdu-speaking population and matters soon got out of hand when agitation escalated into full-scale riots. The authorities found it increasingly difficult to quell the riots and, in an attempt to alleviate the violence, the central government called intellectuals from both sides to discuss the matter and to find some solution which would be acceptable to both groups. The issue was finally shelved and was not resoved to the satisfaction of either Sindh or Urdu speakers. (La Porte, 1975: 112)
The Sindhis were unhappy but because orders came from the elected government there was little they could do to resist, except by publicising their antagonism through the Sindhi newspapers and magazines. Sindhi classes began for non-Sindhi speaking children while the Sindhi children continued to learn Urdu with the result that almost all educated people and those from urban areas became bilingual. This education system created a friendly environment between the Sindhis and the Urdu-speaking population. A mass production of progressive Sindhi literary magazines. was begun promoting Sindh's culture and enticing its language. This promotion of Sindhi language and culture did not tally with the conservative views of some sectors of the Urdu press, which alleged that such magazines were projecting anti-social behaviour. As a consequence, in May 1975, the then government of Sindh placed a ban on eleven magazines and their past publications.
Many Sindhis believe that the medium of education in the major urban areas of Sindh during the martial law period (1977-88) and the present day has not ben given sufficient attention. The closure of Sindhi medium schools in urban areas has continued. Not much has been done to promote the Sindhi language in accord with its status as a provincial official language and the amount of radio and television coverage is not fully representative of the language considering that 60% of the population of Sindh and 23% of the population of the country speak the language as their mother tongue.

To get education as a right in their mother tongue children have arranged organizations and sizeable demonstrations, and in order to get the attention of the government authorities writers, teachers, students and educations have produced numerous booklets, leaflets, pamphlets, press statements, seminars and conferences,

An overview of the diachronic socio-linguistic situations in Sindh shows that, under different social conditions and nroms concerning the use of language in society can, in fact, undergo drastic change. We have seen the impact which the Arab conquest had on the Sindhi language. The British period in Sindh and further major implications for the organisation of the Sindhi speech communities, not least because English now entered into it.

Finally, the most recent and major social transitional event, the inception of Pakistan, is seen to have had the most fundamental impact on the linguistic behaviour of the Sindhi speech community. In considering this social change, we have seen primarily a language contact, a major topic of institutional linguistics playing an active role in linguistic situation of Sindh.

As Barbour and Stevenson (1990:222) note: "The effect on a linguistic community of a change in its ethnic/linguistic composition whether though the arrival of speakers of another language in a multilinguistic community or the departure of a substantial proportion a bilingual one is often direct and observable". Although the Sindhi speech community was primarily homogenous when its ethnic and linguistic community was shuffled about at the time of independence, the effects were no less 'direct' and 'observable'. The 1941 Census of India records about 82% of the total population of Sindh-speaking consider Sindhi as their mother tongue. Thirty-four years after the emergence of Pakistan, in 1981, the Census of Pakistan records 52% of the total population of Sindhi speaking in their households. (In this census it was decided not to ask questions about their mother tongue; cf. Census of Sindh 1981).

In a language contact situation that which migration brings we would normally assume that most social pressure would come from the host community on to the immigrants, forcing them to adopt a new linguistic situation. Such, however, was not the case in the language contact situation between Sindhi and Urdu which emerged as a result of the partition of British India. In fact, quite the reverse is the case. The Urdu speakers from India came under no pressure to learn the language of their host community since it was decided that their own language would be implemented as the sole national language. of the new country where their host communities resided. So this meant that the Sindhi speech community had to learn Urdu, a categorical imperative for them if they wished to enter into wider social relations with the community,
The table below shows the statistical significance of this situation.
Language 1941 1951 1981 1998
Sindhi 82% 73.8% 52.40% 59.7%
Urdu - 9.7% 22.64% 21%
Others 19% 16.5% 24.96% 19.3%
Languages spoken as mother tongue by the percentage of the total population in Sindh During the course of years since Urdu was adopted as the sole national language of Pakistan the extent and degree of bilingualism has increased rapidly in Sindh, with exposure to Urdu involving most sections of the speech community. Suffice it to say, today in the urban areas of Sindh, virtually every one has a command of Urdu. Linguistic usage in Sindh reflects this process. In urban areas which have had the most contact with other speech communities there is the greatest use of Urdu. In the more rural areas, which historically have had little contact with Urdu, Sindhi is the language most generally used. Here there is no such compartmentalisation or complementation in the language use which may characterise various domains in urban areas where Sindhi can be restricted to the family circle and peer groups, with Urdu being used in the public domain. However, increasing contact with Urdu in rural areas may be altering this.

We have seen that over the centuries Sindhi has absorbed words, terms and ideas from many people as a result of the social changes which have taken place Nowadays among the important changes are urbanisation and increased educational and social opportunities for segments of the population who had previously been denied such access. Also, the spread of technology and the electronic media provided in English and Urdu, in addition to increased geographical mobility, has meant that certain kinds of changes in speech communities urban and rural-and hence in patterns of socio-linguistic variation are most likely to emerge.

The writer is chairman of the Sindhi Depattment, University of Sindh, Jamshoro.