PAKISTAN: Commission discouraging regional languages

22 June 2008

The Higher Education Commission, or HEC, has been accused of deliberately discouraging regional and international languages by not accepting research journals presented in Punjabi or even Persian, reports the Daily Times. Experts believe this trend could threaten the survival of the excluded languages and the cultures associated with them.

According to information on the HEC website, the commission has recognised around 10 research journals of various languages. However, local languages like Punjabi and Kashmiri, and some most significant international languages like Arabic and Persian, have not been recognised. The commission promotes and entertains researchers whose works are published in the languages HEC has listed.

Dr Saleem Mazhar, a professor of Persian at Punjab University, told Daily Times that he and his colleagues had taken the issue up with the commission many times, but no attention had been paid to their requests. He said HEC officials did not bother consulting Oriental College teachers and experts before setting policy for the selection of research journals.
Full report on the Daily Times site

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