Acting Chief Justice of Pakistan (ACJP) Umar Ata Bandial has remarked that “we will lose our identity without our mother and national language.” He gave these remarks while presiding over a three-member bench of SC during the hearing of contempt of court plea in the case of enforcement of national language Urdu. Justice Bandial stated added, “In my opinion, we should also learn Persian and Arabic, just like our ancestors.”
The Supreme Court said that the federal government had failed to make Urdu the official language.
The court also sought reply from the provincial government for not adopting Punjabi language in the province.
The lawyer Kokab Iqbal has filed contempt of court petition for not adopting Urdu language. Citizen Dr Sami has filed contempt of court plea against Punjab government for not enforcing Punjabi language.
The court while issuing notice to federal and Punjab governments have adjourned the hearing of the case for one month.
Earlier in June, Prime Minister Imran Khan directed for all official engagements to be held in Urdu, with an aim to give due respect to the national language and promote the same, according to a recent notification.
“The prime minister has been pleased to desire that henceforth all the programmes events/ceremonies, arranged for the prime minister, shall be conducted in the national (Urdu) language,” read a communique issued by the Prime Minister’s Office.
It added that: “Further necessary action to implement the above directions of the prime minister shall be taken by all concerned accordingly.”
Furthermore, the PM was quoted as saying that he was “committed to promoting and giving due respect to the national language.”
