27 Pakistani languages on brink of extinction: Unesco

Around 27 languages spoken in Northern Areas, Kashmir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and surrounding border areas of Pakistan are facing extinction, said a Unesco report. The report revealed that language is the source of communication, education and progress and their extinction discontinue the transfer of social values to the coming generation and eventually the language are declared as dead languages.
In Pakistan, Punjabi has the highest number of speakers, which are 48 percent of the total population. However, Sindhi language is spoken by 12 percent, Pashto and Urdu 8 percent, Balochi 3 percent, Hindko 2 percent and Barohi 1 percent. The most common languages spoken across the world include Chinese, Spanish, English, Hindi, Bangali, Punjabi and Urdu.
According to a research, Punjabi is ranked 11th and Urdu at 19th position among the most popular languages in the world. A total 6,912 languages are spoken in the world while 516 have been declared dead languages. However, 36 percent language are endangered to die soon due to globaliation, the research added. Talking to APP, Deputy Secretary National Language Authority (NLA) Rashid Hameed said that NLA is solely dealing with promotion of Urdu language while some language authorities are operating at provincial level to preserve the languages which are in danger of becoming extinct.
Some local language authorities acquire funding from the government and must work for the preservation of the less spoken languages, he said. While Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) is giving equal importance to all languages as these are the identity of a nation. Chairman PAL Fakhar Zaman said that all the languages spoken in Pakistan are the national languages of Pakistan and Urdu besides being a national language is the official and Lingua of Franca of the country.
"All the languages of the country are Pakistani languages and we should strive to make the mother languages as part of curriculum on the primary level," he said. The book consisting of the selection of prose and poetry written in every language from 1947 to 2008 are being published separately by the PAL. These languages include Urdu, English, Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto, Balochi, Brahvi, Seraiki, Hindko, Sheena, Balti, Khawar and Kashmiri.