Committee to seek report on implementation of Urdu as official language
ISLAMABAD: Cabinet Ministerial Committee on Implementation of Urdu Language in Government Departments on Tuesday decided to seek report of implementation of Urdu as official language from all the ministries, departments and provincial governments, in line with the directives of the prime minister.
The decision was taken during the meeting held at National History and Literary Heritage (NH&LH) division chaired by Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training, Engineer Balighur Rehman.
The meeting was also attended by Federal Minister for Religious Affairs, Sardar Muhammad Yousaf, Minister for Housing and Works, Muhammad Akram Khan Durrani and Advisor to Prime Minister on NH&LH, Irfan Siddiqui.
The committee decided to formulate comprehensive recommendations for implementing Urdu as official language at federal and provincial level and present these before Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.
The committee also recommended inclusion of Urdu as compulsory subject in all competitive examinations including Federal Public Service Commission’s exams while command over Urdu language will be compulsory for inductions on permanent jobs.
The committee decided to brief Prime Minister, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi about the so far implementation status of the decision to implement Urdu as official language taken on July 6, 2015.
The committee directed all the government, semi government institutions including parliament, judiciary and Pakistan Army to gradually adopt Urdu as their official language and compile an implementation report in this regard.
Chairman of the committee, Balighur Rehman and members appreciated the contribution of Committee on Implementation of Urdu Language and directed to further expedite efforts for promoting our national language.
The committee recommended that all the informative and literary boards, invitations and name plates should be written in Urdu and measures should be taken for capacity building of government officials to execute this task.
The committee was briefed that around 28 books are available online for providing guidance related to official noting, drafting and correspondence while 90 percent websites of government institutions have been converted into Urdu.
Speaking on the occasion, Engineer Balighur Rehman said implementing Urdu as official language was the national responsibility and important for boosting national development.
During the meeting, Sardar Yousaf said majority of the citizens could comprehend Urdu and national development was not possible without giving priority to Urdu language which was our identity.
Akram Khan Durrani appreciated the work of the committee and said we had to accelerate implementation efforts to adopt Urdu language at national level with a renewed spirit.
Meanwhile, Advisor to Prime Minister, Irfan Siddiqui said implementation of Urdu as official language was a constitutional and national responsibility and further delay in this regard would not be tolerated.
National Language Promotion Department (NLPD) Chairman and Director General NLD, Dr Rashid Hameed briefed the committee about short term and long term plans and targets so far achieved by the committee.