Suddenly Punjabi is being promoted by Maryam Nawaz, apparently to gain support from those who voted for Imran Khan recently. Imran Khan himself speaks Punjabi fluently, even though he is of Pashtun descent. He can't speak Pushto at all, but despite that he's very popular in KP (where "Punjabi" is often used as a word of abuse). In fact, those who speak Hindko (spoken in many parts of KP) are referred to as Punjabis by the Pahtuns
I've never been able to understand Punjabi. In Lahore, it's very difficult to converse with people who think they're speaking Urdu when in fact they are talking Punjabi. Lahoris are often amazed that there are people in the country who can't speak or understand Punjabi.
To return to the teaching of Punjabi in schools, as proposed by Maryam Nawaz, I can't understand how that will help her party. It's well-known that Nawaz Sharif prefers to have Punjabi speakers only in his cabinet. But he did select a non-Punjabi (Musharraf) as Chief of Army, and we know how that turned out. The only Memon who served as Finance Minister was Miftah Ismail (my distant relative), but he didn't last long and was replaced by the Sharif's favorite (Ishaq Dar). In fact, Maryam Nawaz herself was instrumental in getting him ousted from the party. So, Punjabi is already the dominating language in the province (where Seraiki is spoken in the south). Giving too much importance to Punjabi might backfire.
Post a Comment