By Shafqat Tanveer Mirza

Despite some half-hearted steps to promote the Punjabi language by Punjab's Chief Ministers like Mr. Hanif Ramay or Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, Punjabi continues to remain alien in its birthplace. It is neither the language of colleges nor the court.
The language issue in the Punjab is taking a new turn. On one side, the Punjab Chief Minister has established an autonomous institute for the promotion of language, art and culture but what is the objective behind the promotion of language is not clear. For instance, the province has basically an agrarian economy and all the agrarian knowledge, particularly terminology, is found in Punjabi and its dialects. But all the government publications, magazines, books, and pamphlets are in Urdu. That means the Government is not going to develop Punjabi language to be adopted as the official language of all those departments related to agriculture. These departments and organisations are the Agriculture and Irrigation departments, Agriculture University, Barani University, Water Management, Livestock Department, Forest Department, Fishery Section, University of Animal Husbandry, etc.

The question arises as to why is the language being developed when it is not going to be the official language of the province. All the development plans of education are focused on promotion of English or education through English and the colonial pattern of education, symbolised by the Aitchison College, is being promoted by the establishment. And the Punjab Governor has recently declared that the branches of the Aitchison would be opened in some of the major cities of the province.
There is another aspect to this issue which refers to Pakistan Movement or the Nazria-i-Pakistan. The major contribution to educational institutions in the Punjab was made by the Islamia College, Railway Road, and the Women's Islamia College, founded by Fatima Begum. There are no two opinions about these two Punjabi Colleges, but they were ignored after the creation of a new country and the superior status was given to all those colleges which were established as the nursery for the ruling classes and they were the Government College Lahore, and the Lahore College for Women. Both of them have been given the status of a university, while the colleges associated with the Freedom Movement have not only been ignored, they have been downgraded viz a viz the so-called merit policy. They stand fourth or fifth position in the provincial capital, being run by the so-called Quaid-i-Azam Muslim League. The Quaid had never visited the Government College or FCC or the Lahore College for Women. He was never invited by these establishments even after the country was freed. This has happened in the city where the Tehrik-i-Nazria-i-Pakistan has occupied a spacious place under the nose of the Governor, the Chief Minister and the Speaker of the Punjab Assembly. Even this organisation is silent on this issue. And the reason could be that even this Nazria is under the total control of sitting governments, irrespective of who remains in power i.e. the PPPP, Nawaz or Musharraf. The icons of the Freedom Movement or the Pakistan Movement are being gradually eliminated.

The most depressing attitude is of those people who, as students of both the Islamia Colleges, have not raised even their smallest finger. Some of them include Ahmad Saeed Kirmani, a former Minister and Ambassador. Prof. Rafique Ahmad, former Vice Chancellor of the Punjab University, Mr. Sartaj Aziz, former Finance Minister. They stand witness to the contemptuous treatment meted out to their alma mater and they did not utter a single word of protest. Among the controlling personalities are Mr. Majeed Nizami and Dr. Javed Iqbal. But where do they stand? No where. Because the Nazria is funded by the Government, rather pampered by the establishment, to be politically exploited at some proper juncture.

Now the Punjabi is a language of the rural population of Punjab. Only feudals and not the rural people matter in the framework of state power and the top feudals, during the Raj, were educated at the Aitchison. For them English was the language of their masters and now it is their language which should dominate all the languages of this country as they rule the masses with the help of the present-day colonialists, the generals, the bureaucrats, and the big businessmen coming up after partition. So one wonders how the Punjab Institute of Language, Art and Culture, will promote the language of the people which could not wither away during the last eight centuries when for the first time Baba Farid Shakarganj expressed his views and teachings in this language. And that is the reason that newly-established NGO, Punjab Lok Sujag, started the Punjab Lok Boli Mela last year from an area which is spiritually ruled by the Chishti Saint, Baba Fariduddin Shakarganj. Depalpur, its last-time venue, produced Mian Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo who, as Chief Minister of the Punjab, did his best to introduce English at the primary level because huge foreign funds were available for the teaching of English. All types of foreign funds are always warmly welcomed by our rulers - may be in the form of loans, grants, aid or subsidy.

The Punjab Lok Sujag is an NGO working on language interwoven with culture. Its second partner is Punjab Lok Rahs - both based in Lahore. This year they went closer to Wasaywala. The venue was Haveli Lakha where five-day mela attracted writers, intellectuals, signers, storytellers, dancers, puppeteers, stage-artists, and poets from all parts of the Punjab. A Press report on the conclusion of this five-day mela says: "The carnival was jointly organised by the Punjab Lok Sujag and the Punjab Lok Rahs at Haveli Lakha Stadium, in collaboration with a number of educational institutions and community groups. Students of 100 schools and colleges of Okara, Pakpattan, Sahiwal, Kasur and Bahawalnagar presented tableaus, skits and rendered folk songs during the festival which began on January 25. A puppet show was presented by the National College of Arts, Dachi Dachi Production of Islamabad, Lok Putli Tamasha, Dakhni Bharat Putli and Baba Bashir.

Baba Gurcharan directed Samaj for the Chandigarah School of Drama. S. N. Sewak presented Madari and Suqrat for Ludhiana Kalamanch and Media Artists of Ludhiana staged Jooth. The other dramas and skits were presented by Girls College, Hujra Shah Muqeem, Girls College, Kasur, and Haveli Lakha College, Girls College, Chunian, FC College, Lahore, University College of Education, Lahore, and the UET, Lahore. Huma Safdar presented the drama Alfo Pairni Di Var, written by Najm Husain Syed at Kinnaird College, Lahore.

The Sujag was supported by many of the Government Departments, University of Sargodha, University of Engineering and Technology Lahore including the Punjab Institute of Language, Arts and Culture. That is how this cultural mela came to an end two weeks before the 15-day urs ceremonies of Baba Farid, the founding father of Punjabi poetry.