Government Urged to Introduce Urdu as Pakistan’s Official Language

Pakistan’s federal government had requested its department heads to carry out a cabinet decision whereby Urdu could be gradually introduced as the official language in government ministries. Based on the memorandum, they were also requested to find ways so that Urdu could replace English as the nation’s official language. At the moment, English shares official language status with Urdu.

The Pakistani Cabinet decided on May 14, 2015 to have Urdu as the official language based on Article 251 of their Constitution. It states that Urdu is the national language of Pakistan and arrangements for its use in official and other purposes will be done within 15 years from its commencing date. In the meantime, English may still be used for official purposes and that a provincial assembly is allowed to authorize the use of a provincial language aside from the national language in educational institutions.

Currently all government department heads have been informed that Urdu will be used when preparing working papers for cabinet meetings. All the proceedings and minutes will be conducted and recorded in Urdu. Likewise they were told to get suggestions and recommendations from the Higher Education Commission and the provincial authorities for the use of Urdu as the language of instruction.

The request for the implementation of the use of Urdu in Pakistan is all-encompassing. They were told that all orders and notes on official files should now be written in Urdu rather than English. All correspondence among departments should also be done in Urdu and all government policies will have to be translated in the national language.

All the tests for basic pay scales 1 to 16, which are administered by the National Testing Service, would now be conducted in Urdu. Other departments, such as the Election Commission, Wapda, the Office of the Auditor General, the Accountant General of Pakistan Revenue, the income tax department and the passport office were given three months to comply with the new memorandum. Even utility bills will have to be printed in Urdu. The country’s information secretary will head the task force to monitor and review the progress of Urdu’s implementation monthly.

However, the circular also stated that competitive examinations such as those given by the Central Superior Services and international correspondence will still be conducted in English.

While this nationwide implementation of Urdu as the national language looks good on paper, in reality, it is not. One government official said during an interview that the government employees need to go through comprehensive training since they do not even have a dictionary that contains the correct Urdu words to replace English words. Even the National Language Authority that was established to promote Urdu in 1979 had been dormant.

Likewise, the government official said that it will take time for the entire record of the government to be translated into the national language. Logistically speaking, the translation cost alone would be staggering.

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