ISLAMABAD: The Senate’s Standing Committee on Law and Justice on Wednesday passed “The constitutional (Amendment) Bill, 2016”
seeking to give national status to Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto and Balochi, as national languages along with Urdu.
Senator Javed Abbasi chaired
the body meeting.
The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2016 moved by Senators Sassui Palijo and Mukhtiar Dhamrah with certain amendments after
seeking input from different stakeholders including intellectual and writers of different languages. The amendment was proposed in clause (1) of Article 251 of
the constitution to declare Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto and Balochi, as national languages along with Urdu.
According to
the bill, in
the constitution of Pakistan for article 251,
the following shall be substituted namely: “251 national languages 1)
the national languages of Pakistan are Urdu and
the languages of federating units, namely, Balochi, Pashto, Punjabi and Sindhi, 2)
the official language of Pakistan shall be English until arrangements are made for Urdu to come at par with it, 3)
the federal government shall establish a fund for
the development and promotion of national languages and 4) provincial government may be law prescribe measure for
the teaching and promotion of any language in addition to
the national languages”.
According to statement of objects and reasons since Balochi, Pashto, Punjabi and Sindhi languages of federating units, had not been given th
ere due status in
the constitution of Pakistan and a number of movements were going on in
the country demanding grant of national status to these languages, therefore it had become imperative to given those languages
the status of national languages of Pakistan.
Senator Karim Khawaja also moved a similar bill
seeking national status to Balochi, Balti, Brohvi, Punjabi, Pashto, Shina, Sindhi and Seraiki. However, he withdrew his bill following
the request of
the committee.
The committee observed that in
the first phase four languages including Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto and Balochi would be given national status and later other languages would be given
the same status.
The body also took into consideration
the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2017 introduced by Senator Azam Swati
seeking amendment in Article 255 of
the Constitution.
Members were of
the view that there was
a dire need to take relevant stakeholders onboard and initiate a consultative process for
seeking
the view point of those who would be affected. Further discussion on
the Bill was deferred for
seeking opinion from
the quarters concerned.
The committee also discussed
the Public Petition submitted by Rukhsana Qambar pertaining to representation regarding taking over of
the areas study centre for Africa, North and South America, Islamabad by Quaid-e-Azam University. The Committee was informed about
the legal status of
the area centres by
the Ministry concerned. Miss. Rukhsana Qamber gave her point of view on
the matter. Members of
the Committee also put forward their recommendations in this regard.
Senators Aitzaz Ahsan, Saleem Zia, Muzafar Hussain, Nehal Hashmi, Saifullah Magsi, Saeed Ghani, Zah
ida Khan, Farooq Naek, Azam Swati, Sassui Palijo, Mukhtiar Dhamrah, Karim Khawaja, Azam Musakhel, Taj Afridi, Ahmad Hassan and Rehman Malik attended
the meeting.