- Govinda Neupane
The major languages in Pakistan include Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi, Balooch and Pashto. Also, several local languages are in existence in the northern areas such as Hunza, Gilgit and Skardu and federally administered areas such as Waziristan and Dir. It is quite strange that Pakistan's official language is English, national language is Urdu and major languages spoken are Punjabi, Sindhi, Balooch and Pashto. But, there is no war cry over any specific language.
In Bangladesh, a large majority speaks Bengali whereas English is the second most understood language. In the past there was dispute over the language and that was resolved through separation from Pakistan.
Sri Lanka has been in a situation of civil war since 1983. The Sinhalese and Tamils are still fighting against each other. The war started over the issue of language and culture. The dominant Singhalese majority treated their fellow Tamil citizens as second class declaring that only Sinhalese would be official language. Thousands of precious lives have been lost but the war is still on, though it is in a state of serious set back after the death of Prabhakaran.
The tiny islands state of Maldives has Dhivehi as the official language. The language is a good mix of Sinhalese, Arabic and Hindi. Also, these languages are present in the island nation though in limited areas and population.
Afghanistan has Dari and Pashto, both the official languages. Beside, there are tribal dialects. One good thing is that though Afghanistan is continuously at war but not on the issue of language.
In Bhutan, Nepali is the language of majority. But Dzongkha is the language of the state. The minority Druk nationality has been bulldozing both Sharchop and Nepali nationalities by using the violent means. The state terrorism has been unleashed for years and more than a hundred thousand refugees have been staying in Nepal for over a decade.
India is a museum of languages and cultures. By incorporating in the 8th schedule of its constitution, it has provided official recognition to 21 languages other than the national language, which is Hindi. The other official languages are Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Kannad, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. Similarly, English enjoys almost the status of associate national language.
Nepal also is diverse in terms of languages and cultures. More than 100 languages are still in existence. The Khas rulers imposed their Khasakura as the language of the state. The Khasakura is now known as Nepali which also was known as Gorkhabhasa in between. The state not only declared Nepali as one and only language as the medium of teaching/learning in the formal education system but also made it compulsory in all sphere of official works. Therefore, it has become the prominent language, though even today it is the mother tongue of less than 50% people.
Some times ago, there were ugly scenes of tire burning, stone pelting and arsons in several parts of the country as the Vice President had taken oath of office in Hindi. The Bhutanese Druk government thrown out a large number of Nepali speaking people on so-called issue of nationalism manifested in the form of culture, language and dress. If we go by the logic of the tire burning people in Kathmandu, the Druk government was right as Nepali is a national language of a neighboring country. India recognized Nepali, a national language of a neighboring country as one of its official languages. By going through the mentality of the tire burning crowd of Kathmandu valley and outside, India did wrong. But, this crowd was happy that India had recognized Nepali and the same crowd was unhappy that Bhutan had discriminated against Nepali language. More over, the crowd had expressed sympathy about mother tongue. In Nepal, though a small number, a little less than 1% has stated through census that Hindi is their mother tongue. The Vice President had and has the right to determine his mother tongue - Hindi, Maithili or Nepali or any other language. May be, the mother of the Vice President had been speaking in Hindi when he just had started to pronounce words. Now, many mothers in Newar families in Kathmandu speak in Nepali from day one with their infants. The mother tongue of these infant is Newari or Nepali? Hence, which is his or her mother tongue is the sole right of the person concerned to decide. But, the Vice President was compelled to take oath of office in Nepali, though amending the interim constitution. In Nepal, the pseudo-democracy has hundreds of limitations. Even the representatives of the bourgeoisie class are not free to exercise their rights.
May 15, 2010
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