Punjabi language deserves official patronage: Fakhar

The Punjabi language deserves official patronage as accorded to Urdu, said chairman World Punjabi Congress Fakhar Zaman here on Thursday, expressing hope that President Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz will agree to attend the international Punjabi conference being held in Lahore in April. Addressing a news conference he said if the federal government was making concerted efforts for the success of Urdu conference in Islamabad in March why not the same patronage is extended to "other national languages, including Punjabi, Sindhi, Pushto and Balochi."
"The latter four are not the regional languages, as claimed by some," he added.
Fakhar Zaman took exception to entrusting the task of organising the Urdu conference to the Capital Development Authority, saying the CDA has noting to do with a language conference.
"I have come to know that a number of government institutions have been asked to extend assistance to the organisers of Urdu conference, including the Capital Development Authority--I believe the Urdu conference is a reaction to the success of the last Punjabi world moot held at Patiala," Fakhar Zaman said.
"One should hope that the declaration to be issued at the conclusion of the Urdu conference would contain an assertion that Punjabi, Sindhi, Pushto and Balochi are also national languages," he said.
"We reject the thesis that there is only one national language in Pakistan." And, if Islamabad being federal territory could be the venue for an Urdu conference why should not the authorities also host such moots for the four other national languages, he asked.
Likewise, the declaration should also state that on the pattern of Urdu University, set up recently in Islamabad, the government would set up universities for other national languages also, he proposed.
Fakhar Zaman said he would invite President Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to the Punjabi moot at Lahore "if nothing else, to establish that they are not the votaries of only one language".
The chairman of the World Punjabi Congress, who was minister during the Benazir government and also formerly chairman of Pakistan Academy of Letters, rejected the impression that the Punjabis are indifferent to the plight of people of Balochistan.
"The sympathies of the people of Punjab are with the people of Balochistan. When their rights are being usurped by the government or agencies or 'Waderas' the Punjabis are with them... We declare our fraternity and solidarity with them," he said.
BALOCHISTAN STRIFE: Fakhar Zaman said the ongoing imbroglio in Balochistan being a sensitive matter there should be all-parties conference and national dialogue to resolve it in the "framework of provincial autonomy guaranteed by the 1973 Constitution".
As for the World Punjabi Congress "we are there to provide them a platform to vent their feelings".
He opposed military solution to the ongoing strife in Balochistan, saying dialogue should be initiated to defuse tension and resolve the issues, be these about new cantonments or something else.
Rejecting the allegation, amongst others, levelled by MQM leader Altaf Hussain, that he is a supporter of so-called Greater Punjab, Fakhar Zaman said, "what is being said about him is a figment of others' imagination. "Partition is a fait accompli and it cannot be undone."
Fakhar Zaman charged the Punjabi bureaucracy of undermining support for the Punjabi language. While the Punjab chief minister promised him to find jobs for 10,000 MAs in Punjabi the bureaucrats there spared no effort to ensure his failure, he said.
Giving details of the forthcoming International Punjabi Conference Fakhar Zaman said it would be held at Al-Hamra in Lahore and will be attended by delegates from over 70 countries, including former Indian prime minister I K Gujral.