International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Culture (Linqua- LLC) December 2015 edition Vol.2 No.

4 ISSN 2410-6577

LANGUAGE PLANNING AND LANGUAGE

POLICY DILEMMA IN PAKISTAN

Ahdi Hassan Independent Scholar

Naeem Dilpul
Monica Gill
Syed Aziz, Sher Azam
Saima Kasuar
Shazia Akbar Lecturer at Department Linguistics
Quaid e Azam University, Islamabad

Abstract
In this project, we have focused Langue planning and language
policy (LPLP) generally, in particular, in Pakistani context and discussed the
dilemma of language policy in Pakistan. The problems are as well discussed
which were caused by language policy and close study of language policies
have been done from 1947 to date. The language policies have been debated
and gaps have been pointed out. At last, a recommended proposal has been
given for language policy in Pakistan to be implemented.

Keywords: Language planning, language policy, overview of language

policies

Introduction
The language planning is essentially so important for the survival of
any nation which can elevate it to the level of high prestige or very lower
ones. The language planning was first introduced by Einar Haugen, an
American linguist, in the late 1950s, which states ‘…all conscious efforts
that aim at changing the linguistic behavior of a speech community.’ 1
Language planning and policy mainly are considered to be similar terms
relating to each other; however, language policy refers to more general
linguistics, political and social goals.2

1 (Mesthrie, 2009)
Language policy in Pakistan is meant to strengthen the state. This is taken to mean that there
should be a national language which should symbolize the nation-state. This language is
Urdu. The policy also claims to modernize the state (Rahman)

1
 International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Culture (Linqua- LLC) December 2015 edition Vol.2 No.4 ISSN 2410-6577

Language planning has been defined in multiple ways, one of which

is:
‘….language planning is an attempt by someone to modify the
3
linguistic behavior of some community for some reason.’
The reasons multiple such as spreading the language, creating
standardized form of it as Cooper discusses three major types of language
planning:
4
‘…status planning, corpus planning and acquisition planning.’
The first one is status planning which is to giving status to a language
and selecting a language to standardize it. Tariq Rehman writes that ‘…term
was used by Kloss (1969) for the importance given to a language by the
5
state.’ It is invariably done by the governmental bodies, who decide which
language is taken to be national language or official one.
The second one is corpus planning, which is primarily is to create
literature in the language, to codify it and make the orthography so that the
masses get it easy to read and write it. Most of the time, corpus planning is
done by the institutions and linguists authorized by the state, but not
necessarily all the time. The efforts are taken to make dictionaries in that
language, translate world literature in it and produce neologism. As
mentioned ‘ Corpus planning may include attempts to define or reform the
standard language by changing or introducing forms in spelling,
pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar.6
The third one is known as acquisition planning, the third type given
by Cooper, discusses the teaching of language. This too ‘refers to organized
7
efforts to promote the learning or relearning of a language’ . It is to boot
8
considered the ‘sub-category’ of status planning and it promotes the use of
language in media, education and research by the help of status planning.
Language planning seems a very complicated concept which not only
solves out linguistic issue but also generate simultaneously linguistic issues
to the surface. The reason behind it is that it creates problem may be that it’s
done by the bureaucratic organizations or ruling elites who always do
language planning and formulate language policy to their own favor ignoring
the other minor languages. Mansoor points out that ‘‘….language policy and

(Crystal, 1987)
6 (Jr, 1997)
The strategy is to establish language policies on a local, regional, and international level
as part of overall political planning and resource management (Romanie, 2000)
(Jones, 1998)
(Mansoor, 2005)

2
 International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Culture (Linqua- LLC) December 2015 edition Vol.2 No.4 ISSN 2410-6577

planning decisions take place not only at the policy level but also in
bureaucratic organization (Mansoor, 2005)’9
When devising language policy or working on language planning,
some very crucial factors are never neglected, be that social needs, religious,
technological and financial. Moreover, by the emergence of nation-states in
Europe, the significance of LPLP doubled, for every state endeavored to
prove itself as a distinct identity which made the language the strong ground
for it. Commenting on same process Mansoor states ‘The choice of language,
therefore, has to fulfill the functions of both nationalism and nationsim so
that the social structure is not disrupted and the country is not isolated from
10
the outside world (Mansoor, 2005)’
From the day one, in Pakistan, government policy regarding the
language has faced on its each step sheer fiasco; however, no significant
lesson has ever been learnt by policy-makers. Given the national unification
the strong base, the ruling elites very earlier just decided one-prong-approach
to language problem in Pakistan, which was to impose Urdu both declaring it
the identity marker of Islam and unifying force to unite all ethnic groups
together. To the contrary, the same fruitless approach made the building
block to the separation of Bangladesh.
The dilemma in LPLP in Pakistan is that of no implementation but
only paper work or rhetoric, and no considerable attention towards regional
and provincial languages. Some writers carry the belief that the controversy
on languages in Pakistan is a sense of a pre-partition drama. As Rafiqul
Islam writes:
“The language controversy of Pakistan started even before the
creation of Pakistan. Dr. Ziauddin Ahmed, a former Vice-Chancellor of the
Aligarh University of India had suggested that Urdu should be the state or
official language of the future state of Pakistan. Simultaneously Dr. Md.
Shahidullah, a noted Bengali linguist from Decca University, opposed the
suggestion and put forth argument in favor of Bengali as the future state
11
language of Pakistan (Islam, 2008)”
It was the dreadful beginning of a politico-lingual problem for
Pakistan which very harshly and compellingly led to the making of a country
on face of world as Bangladesh. By the time, Pakistan emerged as a state in
the world; it had two parts, West Pakistan (present one) and East Pakistan
(now Bangladesh). It was a blunder on part of West Pakistan to ignore
Bangla language and impose Urdu on Bengali people who were in majority,
as opposed to same illogical decision the agitation were waged. Bengali

11 (Islam, 2008), 143.

3
 International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Culture (Linqua- LLC) December 2015 edition Vol.2 No.4 ISSN 2410-6577

people endeavored so enthusiastically to get the decision changed, but to no

avail. Once such example is of Mr. Dhirendra Nath Dutta’s proposal which
was openly rejected by Mr.Liquat Ali Khan, the then PM of Pakistan in 25 th
12
of Feb, 1948 in Constitutional Assembly of Pakistan. The proposal
emphasized that the lingua franca of state should be the language majority
speak, absolutely indirect indication to Bengali. Moreover, in the second
Advisory Board Committee decided that Arabic should be the script of all
13
regional languages which added fuel to the fire of Bengali language issue
and in response to it a protest memorandum was sent to education advisory
board which is following:
‘The attempt of introducing Arabic script for the Bengali language,
which has a rich heritage and tradition, is an attack on our language,
literature and culture. This attempt has created a fear of new colonial design
and slavery in the minds of Bengalis. (Omar 1970:263)”14
Furthermore, language related issues not only are confined to Bengali
movement, but also the history witnessed in 1971 to 1972 the Sindhi-Muhajir
linguistic riots in Pakistan. The basic reason of which was the problem of
Sindhi salariat who were of the opinion that Urdu-speaking people avail
greater jobs than them because of language, absolutely Urdu. Fearing this
that in coming time, they would be turned into the inferior citizen; they
wages a protest to change language policy towards them and bring Sindhi
language in place of Urdu. Till today, ethnic politics is mostly based on
language as seen in case of Seraiki province movement, which shows their
language different from Punjabi and consider themselves a distinct ethnic
identity on base of language; therefore, they keep struggling to get a new
province.

Overview of Language Policies in Pakistan

Pakistan has now completed 65 years of its independence, though it
has not got any authentic policy for language which is wholeheartedly
implemented and is in the official process. Below are the given policies
pertinent to language from the day one of independence.

1948-1958
The first meeting on education was held at Karachi in 1947, but at
that time Pakistan was going through a critical period and education was not
a subject of high priority in the new state. Then the topic of language

12 We must think locally but act globally: local languages for expressing local identities and
global languages for communicating beyond local levels and expressing our identities as
citizens of the world (Romanie, 2000)
13 (Rehman, Language Planning and Politics in Pakistan, 1995)

4
 International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Culture (Linqua- LLC) December 2015 edition Vol.2 No.4 ISSN 2410-6577

erupted, elite wanted to make Urdu national language while at the same time
a controversy between majority and minority language arose as the issue of
15
‘Bengali as the national language of the country’. At the time of
independence, Pakistan was faced with the problem of language developing
a language policy. The problems in designing and implementing such a
policy were complicated by language groups competing to be recognized as
national languages, the two dominant native languages were Urdu and
Bengali. Urdu was used as a symbol of Muslim unity and Bengali was the
majority language of East Pakistan. Bengalis were in majority and half of the
total population of Pakistan. The prominent leader of Pakistan Muhammad
Ali Jinnah delivered a speech in Dhaka University in 1948, said that Urdu is
going to be a state language of Pakistan and no other language .According to
this speech Bengali recognized as a provincial language. The Bengalis
protested against this speech, many students were killed and several others
injured. The Pakistani leaders believed that there should be one national
language and more than one language could not bring the nation together.
This policy strongly criticized by Bengalis and the government towards
Bengali was symbolically terminated the Bengali culture and the Bengali
nationalist movement that eventually separated to form Bangladesh (East
16
Pakistan) in 1971.
1958-1971
Ayub Khan was openly pro-English and he believed that most of the
qualified personnel should acquire their knowledge in English medium
schools. All training for military officers was in English and cadets were not
allowed to use regional languages.
In 1959 a comprehensive document in education policy was set up to
explore language issues in Pakistan. According to this commission, Urdu and
Bengali should be the medium of instruction in secondary schools in the
government schools and Urdu would reach to become the medium of
instruction at university level in 15 years. The Sharif commission stated
clearly that Urdu should replace English.
“English should continue as second language since advance
knowledge which was in English only needed for advanced study and
research”. In the government schools institutionalized Urdu was the language

15 (Rehman, Language and Politics in Pakistan, 1996), 84-85.

English was supposed to continue as the official language of Pakistan till such time that the
national language(s) replaced it. However, this date came and went, as had many other dates
before it, and English is as firmly entrenched in the domains of power in Pakistan as it was
in 1947 (Rehman, Language policy, multilingualism and language vitality in Pakistan)
16 (Afzal, 1976), 01.163-175.

5
 International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Culture (Linqua- LLC) December 2015 edition Vol.2 No.4 ISSN 2410-6577

of instruction, English was taught as a compulsory subject and English

17
medium schools were allowed to flourish.
National Language
In addition to maintaining English, Bhutto tried to give Urdu official
recognition in the newly form constitution. According to the article 251 of
1973 constitution states that:
 The national language of Pakistan is Urdu and arrangements shall be
made for its being used for official and other purposes within 15 years from
the commencing day.
 The English language may be used for official purposes until
arrangements are made for its replacement by Urdu.
 In addition to the national language, provincial languages should
promote to the status of national language.
Thus, 1973 constitution gave English a new lease for 15 years based
on first clause, language instructions were set up to develop Urdu and
English medium schools got legal protection under this constitution.
According to the article 251, states clearly that Urdu is the national language
of Pakistan and the policy planners desire that it should play its role as the
official language of Pakistan. It has only mentioned in the constitution of
1973, but no materials or documents have been developed successfully after
twenty-three years of the country’s independence. National and official
language of Pakistan in Article 251 has remained unchanged in all three
constitutions. The constitution very clearly states the role of English as the
language for all official purposes for definite time. Abbas (1998) and
Rehman (1998) pointed out the official policy is being promoted Urdu as the
official language and English continues for all practical purposes as the
official language of Pakistan.
The status of provincial languages in Article 251 is also conditional
to the national language. The development of regional languages has been
remained only on the lip service based on constitutional provision but, there
is no concrete stet to promote regional languages at the cost of the status to
the national language. Regional languages should organize in all provinces in
the official shapers including education.18

(Rehman, Language Planning and Politics in Pakistan, 1995)

The stated policy was to support Urdu but that was only to create a subordinate bureaucracy
at low cost (vernacular-medium education costs less than Englishmedium education). It was
also to keep an anti -ethnic, centrist, ideological symbol potent and vibrant in the country.
(Rehman, Language policy, multilingualism and language vitality in Pakistan)
The armed forces, better organized than any other section of society, created cadet colleges
from the nineteen fifties onwards. These schools, run on the lines of the elitist British public
schools, were subsidized by the state (Rahman)

6
 International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Culture (Linqua- LLC) December 2015 edition Vol.2 No.4 ISSN 2410-6577

National Language Policy (1979)

General Zia ul Haq justified his coup by implementing Islamization
and Urduization policies. This policy involved drastic change towards
English. Consideration for medium of instruction and provincial languages
can be placed in educational system. National language and its programs are
going to adopt as medium of instruction. The importance of English
particularly at higher level of education .The 1979 language policy advised
the English medium to shift either to Urdu or to another regional language;
all Pakistani schools throughout the country will be required to adopt Urdu
and provincial languages used as a medium of instruction. Only one
language was recognized as the provincial in each province. According to
this policy English medium schools abolished, so this policy imposed
forcefully and some English medium schools had to go back to Urdu and
after few months they adopted English again. In addition to Urdu, and as a
provincial language, Arabic was introduced as a compulsory foreign
language and used as a symbol of Islamic government.
In 1979 Muqtadira Quami Zaban (National Language Authority) was
formed to devise ways and means for the promotion of Urdu as the national
language of Pakistan. Urdu was imposed as the medium of instruction in all
government schools from class1 and English was not introduced until class
6.
The government imposed the Urdu policy quite strictly in
government schools however; the elite schools were not affected and were
allowed to operate due to political influence exerted by the people who sent
their children to these schools. English elite medium schools got legal
protection in 1987, used as the medium of instruction for science subjects
.Urdu only policy had surfaced and the students did not get the same
exposure to the English language the generation before had them. The
teachers stopped working in English and the sharp competency of people in
English was completely declined.

National language policy (1992)

The objective of national educational policy of Nawaz Sharif
government was to restructure the education system according to the
teachings of Islam. The 1992 education policy did not directly address the
language in education issue. During this period, there were some changes in
the government’s stance on English; Benazir Bhutto gave schools the option
of adopting English as the medium of instruction in all subjects beginning
class 1.This change in policy was supported by informants who participated.
This policy was focused on Islamiat in the education system and to promote
Islamic education as a compulsory subject in all educational institutions from
class 1 to BA/B.Sc. The policy fully recognized the importance of the

7
 International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Culture (Linqua- LLC) December 2015 edition Vol.2 No.4 ISSN 2410-6577

contributory role of higher education in economic development and to

improve efficiency of higher education and to strengthen graduate programs
and capability of universities for creating new knowledge and materials.
According to this policy, English may be used is one of the medium of
instructions in addition to Urdu as a provincial language. At secondary level,
English may be the medium of instruction for science and technical subjects.

National language Policy (2009)

This policy was introduced by General Pervez Musharraf in 1999.
According to this policy, the state makes a commitment to use Urdu as the
medium of instruction in state schools. The main focus of this policy is that
to elevate the status and development of English in his government, reforms
in the areas of basic education and literary, revision of curriculum in
secondary and technical education and interfacing between higher education
and industry. Furthermore, one of the justifications for the coup is the poor
shape of the Pakistani economy. Improvement of economy and boosting
foreign investment has been set as the primary goal by this policy. In order to
attract multinational investment, he stated that government will have to
increase the literary rate and resource requirements in all these areas. English
is a key to the global economy; the government will have to develop English
language skills.

Recommendations
Having done a comprehensive study on this topic, our approach to
design a language policy for Pakistani society will be mainly trilingual
model which in some sorts has been mentioned in some commissions done
before.
This trilingual formula or model included the regional language,
communicational language and international language. Urdu to be changed
from National to Communication so that grudge against it lesser down, for it
has been the bone of contention among many ethnic groups in Pakistan, i.e.
Sindhi movement in case in 1971 to 1972. However, for this to happen a
modification in educational policy is worth needing or without it this would
either not be implemented or would be paid completely blind eye.
Let us give a brief sketch of the historical overview of the English
language policies in Pakistan. We have seen a number of educational policies
instituted by different governments but never has there been a
comprehensive document on language policy and these documents have not
been bolstered by institutional support. English is an important contemporary
language used for wider communication in the world. Pakistanis must learn
English but not at the cost of rejecting regional languages. In fact, we should
be striving for a balance between English and the local languages. There is a

8
 International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Culture (Linqua- LLC) December 2015 edition Vol.2 No.4 ISSN 2410-6577

serious need to carve out a policy that is realistic in nature and that makes the
19
attempt to preserve local languages and cultures.
Trilingual Formula
Regional Language Class first to Middle as medium of
instruction including Urdu and English
being compulsory subject within that.
Urdu It should be changed to communicational
language from national language and
English language should be national
language
English It should be given serious attention from the
beginning so as to equip students with
modern technology and fast running world.
Moreover, the status of 1973 constitution regarding Urdu to be
implemented but with modified version as the official language and
communicational language. After completing middle, the students should be
given their own choice to any language to further proceed their study in that,
be that regional language, Urdu or English. The most important thing is that
NLA should be empowered to work for the development of all languages in
Pakistan with having linguists or educationist from every region of country
to contribute. The language policies of Pakistan, declared and undeclared,
have increased both ethnic and class conflict in the country. Moreover, our
Westernized elites, in their own interests, are helping the forces of
globalization and threatening cultural and linguistic diversity. In this process
they are impoverishing the already poor and creating much resentment
against the oppression and injustice of the system.
Both globalization and the continuation of colonial language policies
by the governments of Pakistan has increased the pressure of English on all
other languages. While this has also created an increased awareness of
language rights and movements to preserve languages, it has generally
resulted in more people learning English. In Pakistan this means that the
poor are under more pressure than before because they cannot afford
expensive schools which ‘sell’ English at exorbitant rates. As such linguistic
globalization is anti-poor, pro-elitist and exploitative (Rahman)

Conclusion
Issues relating languages must be discussed with unbiased approach
by the help of any community and this should be given a lot of attention,

Most language policy deals with national or international levels rather than local usage (Romanie, 2000)
19 (Mahboob, 2002)

9
 International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Culture (Linqua- LLC) December 2015 edition Vol.2 No.4 ISSN 2410-6577

because it’s no more 1947 in which on name of religion people can be

compelled to follow the orders. In fact, the ethnic-politics throughout the
history of the country has been based on language which contributed a lot of
disintegration within the communities. To the advantage of unity in the
country, the state should formalize a policy which can serve both elites and
common individuals in the country.

Acknowledgments
I thanks go to Naeem, Sher Azam, Monica Gill, Syed Aziz, Madam
Shazia Akbar, Mumtaz Ali Sannd and Samia Kausar at Quaid e Azam
University, Islamabad. I have tried to acknowledge all sources and true to the
original data as much as possible, however there are undoubtedly still
corrections to be made. If anyone who reads this acknowledgements find a
piece of data that needs correction, please notify me at
[email protected].

References:
Abdullah, S. (1976). Pakistan Mein Urdu Ka Masla. Lahore: Maktaba
Khayaban-e-Adab.
Afzal, M. R. (1976). Political Parties in Pakistan. Pakistan Muslim League.
Islamabad : National Commission on Historical and Cultural Research.
Baloch, N. B. (2003). Jatki Boli [Sindhi/Jatki; grammar; word list].
Hyderabad : Sindhi Language Authority.
cooper, R. (1989). Language Planning and Social Change. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Crystal, D. (1987). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language .
Cambridge University Press.
Edwards, J. (1994). Multilingualism . London: Routledge.
Fishman, J. A. (1991). Reversing Language Shift Clevedon. Multilingual
Matters Ltd.
Islam, R. (2008). The Bengali Language Movement and Emergence of
Bangladesh. Dhaka University Journal of Linguistics, 11.
Jones, C. B. (1998). Encyclopedia of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education.
Multilingual Matters.
Jr, R. B. (1997). Language Planning: from Practice to Theory. Multilingual
Matters Ltd.
Mahboob, A. (2002). No English, No Future!" : Language Policy in
Pakistan. Nova Science Publishers United States .
Mansoor, S. (2005) . Language Planning in Higher Education: A Case Study
of Pakistan. Oxford University Press.
Mesthrie, R. (2009). Introducing Sociolinguistics (2nd ed.). Edinburgh
University Press.

1
0
 International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Culture (Linqua- LLC) December 2015 edition Vol.2 No.4 ISSN 2410-6577

Rahman, T. (1995). Language Planning and Politics in Pakistan. Sustainable

Development Policy Institute.
Rahman, T. (1996). Language and Politics in Pakistan.
Rahman, T. (n.d.). Language policy, multilingualism and language vitality in
Pakistan. Academy of the Punjab in North America .
Romanie, D. N. (2000). Vanching Voices. Oxford University Press.

11