GUJRAT-Linguists, scholars and experts this ‘mother day’ focused their gaze on CPEC and painted a rosy picture of the country’s much mega economic project by building a scenario in which linguistic skills hold the key to everything.
The celebrations marking the International Mother Tongue Day here at Hafiz Hayat Campus of the University of Gujrat (UoG) on Wednesday included an intellectual debate at the CeLTS in addition to a cake-cutting ceremony, a poster exhibition and a walk organised by students and faculty of English Department. The speakers stressed that knowledge of various national and foreign languages can play with regard to CPEC.
Registrar Dr Tahir Aqil led the walk. The participants held banners and placards with various slogans, calling for the promotion of regional languages. “Our showing deference for mother tongues spoken in different parts of the world is out of our fascination and affinity for the development of human culture and civilization,” Dr Tahir Aqil said, adding that all the regional languages spoken in Pakistan are held in great esteem.”
Chairperson English department Dr Behzad Anwar and senior faculty member Dr Riyaz Ahmad Mangreo were in the hosts’ chairs.
In his address, Dr Behzad Anwar called upon the youth they should not shy away from owning and fostering their mother language. The poster exhibition threw ample light on the literary and civilisational importance of Punjabi, Urdu, Pashto, English, Arabic, and Greek.
At the CeLTS ceremony, Director Media Sheikh Abdul Rashid gave a scholarly view of how promoting regional languages and multilingual skills in an can be advantageous in today’s fast paced world. “Our mother tongue brings our personality to the fore. The expression of most subtle human feelings is not possible in any language other than one’s native language. One cannot claim to be a linguist without being good at their own mother tongue,” Sheikh Rashid said.
He expressed hope that the ongoing CPEC project will open new vistas of progress and prosperity for the country. In this regard, multilingual skills will go a long way in tapping the maximum benefits towards attaining the long-cherished goal of sustainable economic development. “None of the world languages should be considered superior or inferior to any other language. Those who treat their mother tongue with abject worthlessness actually put themselves and their culture in self-abasing humiliation,” Sheikh Rashid said in his address.
CeLTS chairperson Dr Ghulam Ali said, “Mother tongue is what qualifies different peoples of the world more than anything else - brings their personality and other traits to the fore.” He expressed hope that CPEC project has all the potential to achieve cultural and linguistic harmony. Chief Librarian Syed Kazim Ali discussed the importance of mother tongue and regional languages as a rich source of folk culture and literary heritage.
Dr Shahzad Sarfraz focused the role of technology in preserving the history and development of regional languages. Senior Editor Abidur Rehman Rana opined, “This very linguistic diversity possesses the ultimate solution to all human woes.
They will finally learn how to build a just and peaceful society by an amalgamation of different social values.” A cake was also cut on the occasion.