Since nationalism is based on language, only Urdu should be allowed to flourish, all the other languages in Pakistan should be abolished/banned.
Re: Urdu necessary for national unity
^ Aren’t you a pashtun?
I see a conspiracy here! 
Re: Urdu necessary for national unity
no, i am not a Pashtun. I am a Kashmiri.
Re: Urdu necessary for national unity
Some kashmiris I know speak good urdu!
Talking to them, I never knew there would be something like "kashmiri" (close to northern punjabi).
Re: Urdu necessary for national unity
well i dont think they should be banned...thats a little harsh
Re: Urdu necessary for national unity
Talking to them, I never knew there would be something like "kashmiri" (close to northern punjabi).
Kashmiri is nothing like northern Panjabi. It's a totally different language. Urdu is spoken by educated Kashmiris.
Re: Urdu necessary for national unity
The effort must be to make Urdu the mother tongue of the vast majority of Pakistani citizens.
The provinces should be abolished. In their place, there should be 100 "regions" each with a regional government. The regions should be based solely on geography and not ethnicity, in fact there should be mixed regions.
The government should also encourage inter-ethnic mixing and migration.
Those who teach their children Urdu as the mother tongue should be admitted to schools for free, whereas those who teach them some other language should be charged fees.
Just imagine a Pakistan with 99% speaking Urdu as their mother tongue! It would be a true nation state. What have the Punjabis, Pashtus, Balochis and Sindhis got to lose? Nothing at all except their languages! But they all speak Urdu anyway so they won't have any problems.
Re: Urdu necessary for national unity
urdu should be the focal point but different dialects and languages bring spice, variety and color to our culture.
oh and in the above post you are suggesting something to the likes of what was done to africa....where the various tribes were drawn a map and told "live with it".....and you can observe how much bloodshed ethnic clashes have caused in these regions because you cannot change the way these people think right away by drawing a map.
Re: Urdu necessary for national unity
Eventually it will happen anyway. It has in Afghanistan, I tried warming up to a fellow Durrani from Kabul by speaking Pashto to him but he told me he only speaks Afghan Persian and that Pashto is not really spoken by the educated elite.
Actively banning other languages will not be a good idea because people will only rebel but like you suggested the use of other languages can be discouraged and regions based on ethnicity should be abolished.
Sadly the Islam drum has been worn out and close to ripping because of our own actions, now we need something to make us as a nation.
Re: Urdu necessary for national unity
they only mean anything to the small minority who speak them, li don’t feel anything for Pahari language and can’t really appreciate it’s culture but i can with Urdu because i’ve been conditioned to think of it as synonomous to Pakistan.
if anything they cause contempt amongst pakistanis, i know its wrong but up untill recently i’ve not thought very kindly of my relatives who inter-married with Punjabi, Hindko and Karachi people because i was so hell bent upon preserving our language and ways, maybe now that i’m not such an extremist about my ethnicity and carefree about it (the world wont sieze to spin if a language becomes extinct and every paki speaks urdu) i can enjoy other regions of pakistan and appreciate other pakistanis when i go back home this summer. 
Re: Urdu necessary for national unity
oh and in the above post you are suggesting something to the likes of what was done to africa....where the various tribes were drawn a map and told "live with it".....and you can observe how much bloodshed ethnic clashes have caused in these regions because you cannot change the way these people think right away by drawing a map.
Pakistanis are not organised into tribes but into ethnic groups. Pakistan has a well-functioning intellectual class that is far removed from what you may have found in Africa. The best form of local government for Pakistan was Ayub Khan's experiment in "basic democracies". Provincial government has become a joke in Pakistan, and provincialism is probably the greatest threat to Pakistan's integrity.
Re: Urdu necessary for national unity
Talking to them, I never knew there would be something like "kashmiri" (close to northern punjabi).
I am a kashmiri also and speak very good Urdu.
Re: Urdu necessary for national unity
Stop these nonsensical utopian ideas.
This will never happen...Urdu/Hindi is a foreign language imported from Gangtic plane and is the mother tongue of only 7% of the total population (Urdu-speakers of Karachi)...Urdu and Hindi are the synonyms for the same language....In old days it was called Hindustani...
And I will again say why should I give up my ethnicity and become an Urdu/Hindi speaking Pakistani...will I become a superhuman...what will happen if Pakistan becomes a Nation-state in the true sense...how will my lot be improved...If the past 60 years is a good indication how much it achieved in terms of political-economic stability and human development...?
It is time to accept that Pakistan is just a political union...one unit walked out of this contract for the same reasons in 1971...the seed of this division was sown when Urdu/Hindi was imposed on Bangalis in early 1950s.
Urdu/Hindi is a Hindustani language glamourised and devinized by the dominent suedo-intellectual elite that migrated from UP immediately after partition ...
Re: Urdu necessary for national unity
oh and in the above post you are suggesting something to the likes of what was done to africa....where the various tribes were drawn a map and told "live with it".....and you can observe how much bloodshed ethnic clashes have caused in these regions because you cannot change the way these people think right away by drawing a map.
very sensible...
Re: Urdu necessary for national unity
What connection do you have with Prince of Persia and Chalchabela Babu?
You will see it either way. The Tajiks in Kandahar and Jalabad and Nuristanis of Badakhshan are fastly adopting Pashto. In Pakistan, Hindko speaking of Peshawar, Kohat, Nowshera are fastly adopting Pashto.
In northern Afghanistan and in Kabul, Pashto speaking people are under a strong influence of Persian just like in Hazara entire Pashtun tribes have adopted Hindku.
My point is, you will see both transitions simultaneously.
Adopting another language is a voluntary behaviour. Forcing an alien language on indegenous people has seldom worked and many times has proved to be counter-productive…
Re: Urdu necessary for national unity
^ Didn’t you say you were from Multan? 
Re: Urdu necessary for national unity
So you are saying it shares no similarity with pahari or potohari?
Isn't the language spoken in Azad Kashmir same as indian kashmir (kashmiri..)?
Re: Urdu necessary for national unity
The idea of basic democracies wasn't very feasible in case of Pakistan!
I rather have smaller provinces (punjab made into 3, balochistan 3, nwfp could be 2 or not and finally assimilate the northern areas as pak provinces of gilgit, baltistan).
Autonomy is also the key here!
And Lastpashtundinosaur, you don't have to be sooo oblivious!
It is obvious that pashtu loses out to persian in more urban and educational settings. This could be the fact that persian has a more literary and rich background unlike pashtu which is spoken by rural south afghanis and powenda sharmoshes!
Re: Urdu necessary for national unity
i guess you don’t consider pashtoon as pakistani:rolleyes:
Re: Urdu necessary for national unity
ok, i’m coming from a country that did it…they were beating kids in school if they did not speak french…one century ago, now everyone speak french and most regional languages are near extinction…most of our traditions are gone, and the only traditions that remained is some local dishes, and houses:rolleyes:
we are sooooooooooooo much americanised, i don’t give a damn about the future of our country…sooner or later we will all speak english…we already drink coke, eat macdonald, drive SUV, wear jeans and Nikes…we are all same, and it’s pathetic…we shout loud at USA, just cause we know they are stronger we are a pale stupid copy 
i think is pakistan adopt urdu as forced unique laguage, sooner or later pakistan will just be a pale copy of india…my two cents