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Urdu is the national language of Pakistan and an official language of State of UP in India. It unites all

people and all communities, regardless of their mother tongues. It has been influenced and enriched

by Dravidian, Turkish, Farsi, Arabic, Portuguese and English. It is a very expressive language. In poetry

and songs, it can convey emotions using simple and gentle words. It can also be used for exact and

rational reasoning. Urdu means "(military) camp" in the Hindustani language, from Turkish ordu

meaning "army"; and Urdu language was the language of the camp when Nader Shah of Persia (Iran)

invaded India. Nader Shah set up his camp in what is now modern day Pakistan, and from here the

Khariboli speaking Indians and the Persian speaking Iranians (Persians) mingled together and a third

language, Urdu was born. It is bridge between the two branches of Indo-Iranian language. Today Urdu

has adapted a lot of Arabic and Persian words because of many migrants from Iran and the Middle

East adapted this language. It is also very welcoming to other international languages; it has adopted

certain vocabulary from English.

National language is supposed to unite a country but in Pakistan, the imposition of Urdu as national

language has caused division and resentment between the two wings of the country. It is widelyrecognized that historic Bengali language movement in all its phases was, one of the most defining

moments of Pakistans history that led to the foundation of the language-based nationalism, which

ultimately resulted in the emergence of todays independent Bangladesh. Two Nation Theory was the

binding force between two parts where nothing was common in culture, except the religion and

Muslim identity that was shared by the bulk of population in two wings. The oppressed people of East

Bengal had joined Pakistan movement with the hope of achieving a better standard of living

consequent upon the establishment of an independent state.

Pakistan was overwhelmed with significant inter-regional rivalries from the very beginning and the

imposition of Urdu enhanced differences and people of East Pakistan became the language-activists

and language-martyrs. This movement led them to think about the liberation from the subjugation of

West Pakistan and laid down the foundation of separate homeland. Bengali was adopted as a national

language in 1954 after inflicting a lot of damage. The worst on the governments part was to degrade

and destroy the local languages and cultures in the name of national language. No doubt, language

alone neither separates nor integrates a nation but lasting legacies of the Bengali language movement

and the language victims have transcended the test of time.

In fact, the imposition of Urdu without much consideration was resented among many people of

Pakistan and it was the biggest mistake to choose it as the national language of Pakistan with long-term negative consequences. Ignoring this issue with falsehoods and illusions brought the worst

result. The language issue was one of the major causes for the loss of East Pakistan. There were

language riots in Sindh during 1970s and it was argued that learning of Urdu is simply for social and

economic communicational necessities under Urdu-dominated system of the country. Urdu has no

basis in Pakistan prior to 1947 when it was declared as national language. The British colonialists

applied this instrument to keep Indian Muslims away from the Muslim culture of Afghanistan, Iran or

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Central Asia. Persian was the language of the Muslim rulers and the Britishs recommendation of Urdu

as the Court Vernacular was a conspiracy against Persian, which was official language of the Muslim

rule and was the source of the union among the Muslim tribes of the adjoining areas.

The need of time is to give proper status and respect to all languages of Pakistan with a respect for

Urdu and people should be given freedom to learn or speak it. Promotion of native languages isessential in their respective regions and it is the best solution to the problem. All native languages of

Pakistan should be given liberty to flourish and this will ensure the preservation of our languages,

culture, unity and pride by ensuring respect among the various ethnic and distinctive groups of

Pakistani nationhood. Ethnicity has already divided the country. India got freedom at the same time

and is an independent single nation state for nearly six decades having a dozen of developed

languages and their own literature in separate regions that make the one Indian Union. Switzerland is

a multi-lingual country and has a successful multi-linguistic system. There are other similar examples.

If Pakistani leaders would have managed the conflicts without suppressing the public demand, the

breakup of the country could have been averted.

We need to introduce local languages through our educational system and younger generation should

be taught at primary levels. For example, Sindhis do not know Balochi and vice versa. However, it

would take time but a positive change can be brought by applying this strategy. The hatred among

different ethnic groups such as Urdu-speaking, Punjabis, Pathans, Balochis and Sindhis can be

eliminated. Only language that stays forever is the language that masses adopt with their free will. In

the countries like UK, USA or Canada, people speak and learn English without even going to school.

Thus, knowing English in these countries does not make anyone elite. However, if language issue was

not generated, India would have never got the opportunity to highlight other grievances and they

would never come to the surface and there was nothing inevitable about the breakup of Pakistan. If it

had not occurred, Pakistan would have been the worlds largest Muslim democracy today and may be

a big economic power of Asia.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

http://www.theurdulanguage.com/History.htm

http://www.friendskorner.com/forum/f39/urdu-pakistans-national-language-short-introduction-13046/

http://pu.edu.pk/images/journal/csas/PDF/Mussarat%20Jabeen%207.pdf

http://www.theurdulanguage.com/History.htmhttp://www.theurdulanguage.com/History.htmhttp://www.friendskorner.com/forum/f39/urdu-pakistans-national-language-short-introduction-13046/http://www.friendskorner.com/forum/f39/urdu-pakistans-national-language-short-introduction-13046/http://pu.edu.pk/images/journal/csas/PDF/Mussarat%20Jabeen%207.pdfhttp://pu.edu.pk/images/journal/csas/PDF/Mussarat%20Jabeen%207.pdfhttp://pu.edu.pk/images/journal/csas/PDF/Mussarat%20Jabeen%207.pdfhttp://www.friendskorner.com/forum/f39/urdu-pakistans-national-language-short-introduction-13046/http://www.theurdulanguage.com/History.htm