The Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice on Wednesday passed 'The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2016,' seeking to give status of national language to Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto and Balochi languages along with Urdu.
The committee which met with Senator Muhammad Javed Abbasi in the chair approved 'The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2016,' moved by Senators Sassui Palijo and Mukhtiar Ahmad Dhamrah with certain amendments after seeking input from stakeholders including intellectual and writers of different languages.
The amendment was proposed in clause (1) of Article 251 of the Constitution to declare Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto and Balochi as national languages along with Urdu. According to the bill, in the article 251 of the Constitution of Pakistan, the following shall be substituted namely:- "251 national languages 1) the national languages of Pakistan are Urdu and the languages of federating units, namely, Balochi, Pashto, Punjabi and Sindhi, 2) the official language of Pakistan shall be English until arrangements are made for Urdu to come at par with it, 3) the federal government shall establish a fund for development and promotion of national languages and 4) the provincial government may prescribe measures for teaching and promotion of any language in addition to national languages."
According to the statement of objects and reasons, Sindhi, Balochi, Pashto, Punjabi and Sindhi languages of federating units have not been given their due status in the Constitution of Pakistan and a number of movements are going on in the country in this regard, which are demanding grant of national status to these languages, therefore, it has become imperative to give those languages the status of national languages of Pakistan.
Senator Karim Ahmed Khawaja also moved a similar kind of bill, seeking to give national status to major languages of the country including Balochi, Balti, Brahvi, Punjabi, Pashto, Shina, Sindhi and Saraiki. However, he withdrew his bill following the request of the committee. The committee observed that in the first phase four languages including Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto and Balochi will be given the national status and later other languages will be given the same status.
The parliamentary body also took into consideration 'the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2017,' introduced by Senator Muhammad Azam Khan Swati, seeking amendment in Article 255 of the Constitution. The members of the committee were of the view that there is a dire need to take relevant stakeholders on board and initiate a consultative process to seek the viewpoint of those who would be affected. Further discussion on the bill was deferred to seek opinion from the quarters concerned.
Senators Saleem Zia, Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah, Nihal Hashmi, Nawabzada Saifullah Magsi, Saeed Ghani, Zahida Khan, Farooq H Naek, Muhammad Azam Khan Swati, Sassui Palijo, Mukhtiar Ahmad Dhamrah, Karim Ahmad Khawaja, Sardar Muhammad Azam Khan Musakhel, Taj Muhammad Afridi, Ahmad Hassan, Rehman A Malik and Atizaz Ahsan attended the meeting.
Comments
Comments are closed.