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ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court of Pakistan Monday issued notices to the federal and the Punjab governments for not implementing its judgment for adopting Urdu as an official language.
A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Acting Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial conducted hearing of the contempt petition for not adopting Urdu as an official language. Advocate Kokab Iqbal had filed the contempt petition for not complying with the SC judgment on Urdu language, while Dr. Sami, a private citizen’s petition is regarding not implementing the judgment on Punjabi language. The bench noted that the federal government has failed to implement the apex court judgment on Urdu, while the Punjab government was issued notice for not complying with the judgment on Punjabi language.
Justice Bandial said, “Without mother and national languages we shall lose our identity.” “In my opinion, like our forefathers, we all should also learn Arabic and Persian,” he added. He further said that Article 251 of the Constitution also talks about mother language along with the national language. Later, the bench deferred the hearing for one month in this matter. In September 2015, the Supreme Court had directed the federal government departments to translate their policies and rules in Urdu in three months. It said that the forms relating to all the government and semi-government institutions will be in Urdu and at key public places like courts, police stations, hospitals, parks, educational institutions and banks the information signs will be in Urdu besides the English language.