History Test 1st June

Q) The development of Pashto has been promoted more than any other Pakistani Regional
Languages between 1947 and 1988. Give reasons why you may agree or disagree with this
statement.

Ans) Regional Languages in Pakistan have been greatly promoted between 1947 and 1988.

Firstly, Pashto has been promoted and developed widely due to its involvement in education.
As in 1950 Peshawar University was setup which taught Pashto literature and the language was
also taught in academies being founded at that time which promoted Pashto. Along with this
Post Graduate classes were also held at university level in NWFP. This was an effective way to
promote the development of Pashto as it was spread through educational institutes due to
which it was widely promoted then the enrolled students learnt this language between 1947
and 1988.

Secondly, the development of Pashto is also promoted due to influence of its literature over the
regions. As an academy was setup for the promotion of Pashto literature that also prepared a
Pashto dictionary. The promotion through this dictionary became successful as it got wide
acceptance and usage. With the dictionary being used over different regions the language itself
was promoted as many people used the dictionary. And thereby due to wide acceptance of
Pashto dictionary the development of the language has been promoted.

Along with Pashto other regional languages were also promoted between 1947 and 1988, and
amongst was Balochi. It was promoted through the strong means of entertainment at that time
as Radio Karachi began broadcasting in Balochi. This was an effective way to promote the
language as radio was the most common form of entertainment at that time and with Balochi
being broadcasted on the radio it spread it to different regions and different people across the
country. Therefore the development of Balochi was also promoted through the Radio between
1947 and 1988.

Moreover, the development of Balochi was also promoted by setting up of the literary
associations such as the Balochi Literary associations that started to publish weekly and
monthly magazines in Balochi due to which the language was promoted as newspaper and
magazines were popularly used across the country and being published in Balochi enabled
them to promote the development of the language as many people read the magazines at that
time.

Furthermore, Sindhi was also promoted like other regional languages. One way through which
it was promoted was through literary organisations similar to those of Baluchi’s. As in 1948
Sindh literary Board was setup to promote the language by publishing many books and
magazines in the language which caused them to be sold over different regions and thus
promoting the language itself through different areas between 1947 and 1988.

In addition to that Sindhi’s development was also promoted through educational institutes
which proved to be a great step to promote the language. As a Sindh University at Jamshoro
was founded which gave education in Sindhi and a Sindhiology department was also setup at
that university to promote Sindhi literature. This caused many people to be attracted towards
the literature and thus the language was promoted through the literature when people got
involved in it. And thereby the development of language was promoted between 1947 and
1988.

Lastly, Punjabi was also promoted in order to develop it. As means of entertainment were
mostly used to promoted the language.. As PTV was launched in 1964 and there were many
Punjabi tales that were broadcasted on PTV such as Sassi Pannu or Heer Ranjha and as
Television was starting to be popular such shows promoted the development of the language
between 1947 and 1988.

In my justified opinion I agree with the question, that Pashto’s development has been
promoted more than any other regional language as educational institutes were built and
started to hold lessons for Pashto back then in early years and these even worked hard to
publish such books that were not only based on literature but books that would help people
understand the language better such as the Pashto dictionary. Due to educating people about
the language rather than promoting the literature more, such as done for the Sindhi or Punjabi
language Pashto was made easier for people to understand with the help of education and the
dictionary.