Campaigning for languages
Pakistan is often seen as, and rightly so, a hard country for campaigns. Campaigns, whether on human rights, education, civil liberty, constitutional rights; on environment, culture or languages often face…
Languages on death row
Pathanay Khan was already in his mid-forties when his melodious voice crossed the walls of the Sufi shrine of Suleman Shah at Taunsa Sharif. This is where he used to…
Indigenous Indian education
India was portrayed by the colonisers as a dark and mysterious land where people were illiterate and uncultured. The positional superiority enjoyed by the British enabled them to construct a…
Saving local languages
The cabinet division recently issued a letter to other federal departments directing them to use Urdu in their public and official correspondence. The directive also states that the president, prime…
India’s ‘forest of living languages’ grows to 880
A staggering 880 languages are spoken in India, a four-year survey will show Thursday, in the first comprehensive study since the 19th century. This major increase from the 122 languages…
Modernity, tradition, survival
The region of Torwal in Swat, where now the language Torwali is spoken by about 140,000 people and which was once the entire area of today’s Bahrain tehsil in the…
Lost heritage
In Mithi recently, as Hindus in India and across the world celebrated Diwali, the town also joined in the festivities. Muslims participated alongside their Hindu fellow villagers and other residents…
Language tyranny
SINCE an education emergency was declared in Pakistan — for the second time — education has entered the public discourse with a bang. Seminars are being held frequently while the…
Linguistic maze
LANGUAGE is a cultural container, capturing a community’s ideas, behaviour, and philosophy. A disconnect with language is tantamount to detachment from one’s own culture, knowledge base, and intellectual advancement. Tragically,…
How Sindh keeps Sindhi alive
While English and Urdu enjoy dominance across Pakistan, Sindhi appears to be an exception. It is thriving in both the rural and urban areas of Sindh, with vibrant press and…
