1947 Onwards and Sindh

1947 Onwards

The monolingual state of Sindh was over once again after a span of eleven years with the emergence of Pakistan in 1947. In the new state of Pakistan, Urdu was declared as the state language. Thus Sindh became a bilingual province with Sindhi and Urdu as the two languages of communication. With it, the focus on Sindhi, rested during 104 years of British Rule as the sole language of Sindh, was now shifted on Urdu as the national language of Pakistan and Sindhi as a regional language of the southernmost region (or province) of Pakistan. At the crucial juncture of taking final decision on the national or state language of the new state of Pakistan in the making, after the British had finally decided to quit India, there were different discussions in the air by the ruling elite and intellectuals. The Urdu speaking immigrants voiced their demands for Urdu to be implemented as the national language, arguing that Urdu had been the lingua franca during the freedom movement of India and the language of the Muslims of India (cf. Fatehpuri, 1987).

Agha Khan and others wanted Arabic as the national language of the ‘would be’ Pakistan, arguing that this was not only the language of the Holy Quran but that all Muslims were familiar with it through their religious practices. Secondly, if adopted, Arabic will help create close relationship with the oil-rich Arab world. Urdu, they said, was the language of Muslim decadence in India. “Arabic as a universal language of the Muslim World would unite; Urdu would divide and isolate”(Agha Khan, 1957).

The Bengalis forming a majority of 56% population of Pakistan desired for Bengali to become the national language. And, there were politicians and intellectuals with true perception of federalism in mind demanding that all five indigenous languages, Bengali, Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashtu and Balochi may be declared as national languages of Pakistan. The English be implemented as the official language of the state till any of the local languages is developed to replace it. Urdu world remain the lingua franca of the country. And yet some others suggested by taking the middle line that Bengali should be adopted as the national language of East Pakistan and Urdu in West Pakistan. But, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the Governor General of Pakistan announced his verdict at Dacca University in 1948 “… let me make it very clear to you that the State Language of Pakistan is going to be URDU and no other language. Any one who tries to mislead you is really the enemy of Pakistan. Without one State language, no nation can remain tied up solidly together and function” (Quoted in Callard, 1957: 182). In Sindh today, the promotion and development of Sindhi language is being carried on by various departments of the Government of Sindh. Besides, a number of private literary and cultural organizations of civil society are serving the cause of promoting language through production and publication of Sindhi literature, academic research and teaching of Sindhi language.

The Government of Sindh has established the Sindhi Language Authority (SLA) http://www.sindhila.com.pk in 1991 through a bill passed by the Sindh Legislative Assembly for promotion and development of the language. The federal government of Pakistan recognizes Sindhi as an official language of Sindh and one of the major languages of Pakistan. The Department of Culture, Government of Sindh, Sindhi Adabi Board, Sindh Text Board, and Sindh Archives run by the provincial government of Sindh are striving for an overall development of Sindhi.

The University of Sindh established in 1947 awards the advanced academic degree of Ph.D in Sindhi while its Sindhi Department is imparting advanced teaching in Sindhi language and literature. Besides, the Sindh University has established the Institute of Sindhology to promote and carry on research on Sindh including its history, culture, language and literature. The University of Karachi and the Shah Abdul Latif University in Kharpur also have Departments of Sindhi which also impart advanced teaching in Sindhi language as well as literature. They also have research Chairs such as Shah Latif Chair (KU) and Sheikh Ayaz Chair (SALU) which conduct research in their respective fields and also publish books and periodicals based on that research. The Sindhi print media having history of more than a century with regular publication of more than 50 daily newspapers is contributing a lot towards linguistic and literary development of the language. The satellite television channels of Sindhi founded in Pakistan and India introduce this classical language of South Asia to the rest of the world.