ISLAMABAD: A three-day ‘Pakistan Mother Languages Literature Festival’ concluded here on Sunday as it has become one of the important elements of Islamabad’s cultural and literary scene for the last eight years.
Indus Cultural Forum, a volunteer organisation comprising literary and cultural enthusiasts arranged the festival in collaboration with Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA), said a news release.
The festival was supported by the National Heritage and Culture Division of Federal Government, Culture Departments of Governments of Sindh and Balochistan provinces, Friedrich Nauman Foundation (FNF), Forum for Language Initiatives, Idar Brae Taleem-o-Taraqi (IBT), Sindhi Language Authority, ECO Science Foundation, Society for Alternative Media and Research.
Speaking at the concluding ceremony, Indus Cultural Forum Chairman Dr Manzoor Hussain Soomro said that the eight-year journey of the festival on a voluntary basis and with limited resources is a testimony that with hard work, enthusiasm, and dedication, we can do a lot to promote and protect Pakistan’s true diverse face.
He called for greater collaboration between the government and other institutions to sustain such initiatives.
ICF General Secretary Ashfaq Hussain Chandio said that the festival is a great source of bringing people from all language communities together.
He said the exchanges of ideas and creative works between writers, artists, poets, and activists during these three days are further cultivated across the year and these three days become the source of years-long bonding and collaborations between them.
Senior member of ICF, Munawar Hassan said linguistic diversity is the greatest strength of the country, which should be a cause to bring people together and not divide them.
Director General PNCA, Muhammad Ayub Jamali in his remarks said that institutions like PNCA were open to collaboration with civil society organizations. It is part of the mandate of the PNCA to promote the linguistic, artistic, and cultural diversity of the country.
Earlier in the day, the speakers called for an education policy that centered around the cognitive abilities of children to learn effectively in their mother language at the primary level and gradually move to other languages. Zubair Torwali, Aftab Ahmed, Ameer Haider, Inamullah Shaikh, Shahid Rahman, and others called for revisiting current education policies and practices to pave the way for learning in the mother language.
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