By: Dr. Ali Akbar Dhakan, Karachi, Sindh

The writer can be reached at – drdhakansindheconomist@hotmail.com

We Sindhis have sacrificed a lot as we have lost many political leaders since partition… Every language has its own importance and status in every country. We feel pride if we speak Punjabi in Punjab, Pushto in Pakhtunkhawah, Siraiki in Multan and surrounding areas, Balochi in Balochistan and Sindhi in our own motherland. But we being Sindhi speaking in Sindh, have not been so careful to save our own language even in our own motherland, not only outsiders have neglected, but even our own Sindhis, have neglected speaking Sindhi language in the right dialect and pronunciation. The aged Sindhis born before Pakistan, speak Sindhi somewhat in its proper dialect but sorry to say with greater grief and sadness that even we being elders of our families have never given attention towards our generations and future children to speak in proper pronunciation and according to the alphabet as the new born children particularly born in the big cities of Sindh like Karachi, Hyderabad and other big towns, I have not learnt the right dialect of the Sindhi language because of being spoken generally Urdu/Hindi and English in the elite families of Sindhis. It is not common in these homes where the mothers of our children are non-sindhis and do not speak the Sindhi language, they do not try to let their children speak in Sindhi. Most of our elite Sindhis families themselves do not allow their children to talk in their own language and therefore avoid speaking their own language. I have an example of Dr. Shamshad Akhtar, the Former Governor State Bank of Pakistan who used to say that she hated to speak in Sindhi even being the daughter of an old bureaucrat of Sindh. Even Mr.A.G.N Kazi, former Governor State Bank of Paksitan did not talk to me deliberately in Sindhi when I used to talk to him in Sindhi. When he was requested to preside over a conference on Shah Abdul Lateef Bhittai arranged by Sindhi Officers’ Union in State Bank, Mr. Kazi asked them as to who was Shah Abdul Lateef Bhittai as he did not know about Bhittai. There is another story about him that once in the State Bank meeting, he told me that he was basically Sindhi but his wife was a Hindustani immigrant and his two children had married in Punjab so he became 25 percent Sindhi, 25 percent Hindustani and 50 percent Punjabi.

So, it is the position and attitude of our own Sindhis who have proved to be the enemies or careless towards their language which is called Mother Tongue and the paradise is under the feet of mother. It can be termed that he who neglects the mother tongue, is devoid of mother’s paradise and honour. He can be termed as not real son of the soil but son of aliens. I must point out that the children of all Sindhis born in Karachi and other cities of Sindh, are getting education in other languages, therefore they are not in a position to write in Sindhi. They cannot even express the typical letters of Sindhi language in right dialect and sound. They speak Sindhi language grammatically wrong and their sound of speaking does not match with their own mother tongue Sindhi.

In order to save Sindhi Language for Future generations, our three institutions i.e Sindhi language Authority, The Sindhi Adabi Board and Sindhiology in Sindh University should spread their wings and start a persuasion campaign of saving the Sindhi language not only in Sindh/Pakistan but throughout the world by arranging conferences, workshops and seminars for chalking out programs to find out ways and means for all the Sindhi families and persons individually and guide them how Sindhi language can be preserved, protected, guarded and saved from the coming upheavals. For this purpose, it is suggested that all the above three organizations of Sindhi subject and language should have cordial and continual coordination and discuss this matter in frequent gatherings and plan for the protection of the Sindhi language.

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