Chief Justice Lahore High Court Khawaja Muhammad Sharif dismissed for not pursuing a petition seeking direction to the government to make Urdu as official language of the country. Chief Justice on September 21 had called the attorney general of Pakistan and the advocate general Punjab for assistance but during the hearing on Tuesday, the petitioner and his counsel did not appear before the court.
A local citizen Sana Ullah had moved the petition who submitted that father of the nation Quaid-e-Azam during his address to students in Dhaka in 1948 had announced to make Urdu as official language of Pakistan but even after more than 62 years it was not done. He said so far the English is made the official language of the country, which was not the desire of the founding father.
He submitted that the subsequent governments were under obligation to fulfil the desire of the Quaid but our Constitution has also laid down a provision of Urdu as official language within a specific period of time and that time had already passed but nothing was done.
He said that only those nations progress, which prefer their mother language as official medium of communication. Petitioner said vast majority in the country could only read and write Urdu and it would be easy for communication and make people understanding things. He, therefore, requested the court to issue directions to immediately act upon the desire of Quaid-e-Azam and also command of the Constitution.