International Panjabi Conference seeks Pakistan Govt Support

On 20-22 Dec, Pakistan-based Panjabi Parchar group hosted an international Panjabi conference titled Panjabi Language and Culture. The conference received  an overwhelming response from scholars, academicians, journalists, and government officials. Twenty delegates from nearly ten countries attended the conference. The conference drew more than 100,000 participants in person and online from 10 countries. The organizers reached a 12-point demand and urged the government to implement it. The demands are as follows. 1) Panjabi should be the official language of the Panjab Assembly, 2) All public messages should be disseminated in the mother language of the region. 3) The government should end discrimination against all Panjabi dialects. 4) The Panjabi language should be given all due rights in the media. 5) A state-run Panjabi broadcaster should be formed to cover all dialects. The Panjabi language should be taught in all middle schools. 6) Panjabi should be implemented in all Panjab offices and courts. 7) All Panjab colleges should have Panjabi teachers. 8) All public and college libraries should have a 10% annual grant for Panjabi books, magazines, and newspapers. 9) Panjab state’s highways, roads, buildings, gardens, and crossovers should be named after Panjabi warriors. 10) Sign boards in Panjab should feature all content in the Panjabi language. 11) All Panjabi festivities and memorial remembrances related to Panjab should be commemorated at the state level. 12) The Pakistani government should remain vocal about the rights of Palestinians, as it represents the sentiment of the South Asian nation. The revival of the Panjabi language is gaining momentum in both Indian and Pakistani Panjab as well as the Diaspora; both states have neglected the Panjabi language since the 1947 Partition.