ISLAMABAD: The Cabinet Ministerial Committee on Implementation of the Urdu language in government departments decided to seek report of implementation of Urdu as official language from all the ministries, departments and provincial governments, in line with the directives of the prime minister.

The decision was taken during a meeting held at the National History and Literary Heritage (NH&LH) division chaired by Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training Engineer Balighur Rehman.

The meeting was also attended by Federal Minister for Religious Affairs, Sardar Muhammad Yousaf, Minister for Housing and Works, Muhammad Akram Khan Durrani and Adviser to Prime Minister on NH&LH, Irfan Siddiqui.

The committee decided to formulate comprehensive recommendations for implementing Urdu as official language at the federal and provincial levels and present those before Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.

The committee also recommended inclusion of Urdu as compulsory subject in all competitive examinations including the Federal Public Service Commission’s exams while command over Urdu language will be compulsory for inductions on permanent jobs. The committee decided to brief Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi about the implementation status of the decision to implement Urdu as official language taken on July 6, 2015.

The committee directed all the government, semi government institutions including parliament, judiciary and Pakistan Army to gradually adopt Urdu as their official language and compile an implementation report in this regard.

Internews