HYDERABAD, Dec 11: Spea-kers at a conference which concluded here on Sunday called for declaring all languages spoken in the country national languages and said the languages should not be considered only regional. They vowed to make Sindhi a national language of the country.

PPP MNA Mujeeb Pirzado, World Punjabi Congress chief Fakhar Zaman, Mazhar Jamil, Muslim Shamim of the Anjuman-i-Taraqqi Pasand Musanafeen, former Sindhi Language Authority chairman Dr Qasim Bughio, Sindhi Adabi Sangat general secretary Taj Joyo, Dr Sarmad Abbasi and Jamhori Watan Party general secretary Rauf Sassoli spoke on the “language issue in Pakistan”.

Balochistan National Party leader Dr Abdul Hayee Baloch, PPP MPA Sassui Palijo, Jeay Sindh Mahaz leader Abdul Khaliq Junejo, Dr Dodo Mahri and Sindh National Front’s Dr Ayub Shar spoke on “future of Pakistan as a viable state - democracy or autonomy.”

MNA Pirzado said languages spoken in the Indus valley were national languages and in today’s world boundaries or control lines had become irrelevant.

He said the civil and military bureaucracy was a bone of contention vis-à-vis languages, otherwise Seraikis, Sindhis, Punjabis, Pakhtuns or Urdu-speaking people had no differences.

Mr Pirzado claimed that two million illegal immigrants were living in Karachi which was a conspiracy to convert Sindhis into a minority. He said that these immigrants obtained NICs to become eligible voters.

“There is no contradiction in languages but languages need to be integrated for which a national debate should be launched to decide it once and for all. There are more than four languages in the country for which national language status should be sought,” said Mr Zaman.

Advocating national integration to break what he called the 57 years old cobweb of divide, he said Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah had announced in Dhaka that Urdu would be the official language of Pakistan but then prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan declared it not only the official but also the national language in the constituent assembly to sow the seed of hatred, culminating in dismemberment of the country.

Mr Zaman said the WPC was planning to hold Sufi conferences to bring languages closer to each other. He maintained that languages could not be developed unless literary and cultural institutions got rid of bureaucracy. “Cultural and linguistic integration is linked with national integration,” he said. He added that the WPC was establishing the first Punjabi university in the private sector where other subjects and languages would also be taught.

Mr Joyo demanded formation of a language commission and making education a provincial subject.

Mr Shamim and Mr Jamil supported national language status for all mother tongues and linked the language issue with democracy. “The Quaid-i-Azam envisioned a secular and democratic Pakistan and he had made it clear in his Aug 11, 1947, address to the constituent assembly but the speech had been censored by the establishment,” they said. They described the speech as manifesto of the country.

They said it was up to federal and provincial governments to promote languages.

Dr Bughio proposed a tri-lingual formula for students and education planning and making it a part of national planning on long-term basis.