Brahui language one of world’s ancient languages: scholars

Research scholars emphasises further research on the origin of the language Say all languages and cultures of Pakistan should be promoted to further strengthen unity and peace in the country
January 19, 2015

Leading International and National Linguists and experts have declared Brahui language of Balochistan as one of the ancient languages of the world.

Terming it as mother language of 7,000 years old Dravidian languages of Indus civilisation, the research scholars emphasised on further research on the origin of Brahui language which according to them would help in resolving the question of the languages of Mohen Jo Daro, Harapa and Mehrgarah civilisations.

This was declared in a two-day “International Conference on Brahui Language and Culture” in the main auditorium of Allama Iqbal Open University Islamabad on Sunday. The conference was organised by Brahui Academy Pakistan with the support of Allama Iqbal Open University Participatory Development Initiatives (PDI) and Sughar Empowerment Society (SES).

A number of research scholars from the US, Spain, Germany, Iraq, Mexico and other countries of the world and renowned research scholars and linguists of Pakistan presented their papers in the conference.

While speaking at the inaugural session of the conference as chief guest, Nawabzada Haji Lashkari Khan Raisani said that the United Nations, especially UNESCO, should take steps for the uplifting of the neglected indigenous languages of Pakistan including Brahui language. He said that the indigenous languages of Pakistan including Brahui language were lagging behind due to the government policy of encouraging education only in Urdu and English languages.

Allama Iqbal Open University Vice Chancellor Dr Prof Shahid Siddiqui said that all the languages and cultures of Pakistan are part and parcel of Pakistani culture and they should be promoted to further strengthening unity and peace in the country. He said that the language is a strong tool of imperialism on the one hand and also strong tool of resistance and movements on the other hand and “we should learn lessons from Bangladesh episode and should respect and give proper and equal rights to all the languages and cultures of Pakistan.”

Dr Siddiqui said that he was happy that his university was the part of this international conference on Brahui language, one of the ancient languages of the world and mother language of Indus civilisation. He said that it is important to keep all the languages alive because with the death of one language, culture and history related to that language also die.

Leading linguist from the US Dr Elena Bashir, while reading her paper on Brahui language, said that Brahui language has strong connections with other Dravidian languages. She said that due to hegemony of one language the small languages usually become weaker and die. Therefore, it is time that the speakers of all the indigenous languages including Brahui should ensure that their language is in use; especially their children must talk in their mother languages in their homes. Dr Elena emphasised on documenting the language and its works and also stressed on the use of Internet and other modern methods of documenting and protecting the material related to the languages.

Leading Pakistani linguist Dr Tariq Rahman while presenting his paper said that Brahui has been part of the markers of ethnic identity in Balochistan. Despite the fact that jobs are not available in the province, language activists have kept up production of material in it. However, the government policies have not encouraged education and printing in it. He said that the Balochistan Mother Tongue Use Bill was passed in 1990. Mother tongues were compulsory up to class-3. On November 8, 1992, the PML government made them optional as a result the education in mother tongues including Brahui could not flourish in Balochistan.

Leading linguist Dr Joan LG Baart presented his paper through video conferencing from Germany on measuring and promoting language vitality. He described different phases of the travel of any langue towards endangerment and emphasised on the use of modern technology for the revival, promotion and documentation of the indigenous languages.

The speakers lamented that the federal government as well as the provincial government of Balochistan were ignoring indigenous and ancient Brahui language, which is creating a sense of deprivation among Brahui speaking people of Balochistan. They said that there was a separate column for Brahui language in the census forms since the first census held in this region in 1901 during the colonial era and this practice continued till the census of 1981; however during the census of 1997, the government removed the column of Brahui from the census form. This was done only to compel Brahui speaking people to write other language than Brahui in the column of language and to also show drastically reduced number of Brahui speakers in Balochistan.

The speakers said that Brahui language was also not included in the competitive CSS examinations, while all other languages of Pakistan are included in these examinations. Similarly, all other major languages of Pakistan are taught in almost all major universities of Pakistan at MA level while Brahui is only taught in Balochistan University.

The other researchers who presented their paper included AIOU Head of the Department of Pakistani Languages Dr Abdullah Jan, Prof Sosan Brahui, Prof. Khuda-e-Dad Gul, Abdul Qayum Bedar, Dr Hakim Ali Burero, Dr Abdul Wajid Tabasum, Professor Dr Liaquat Sani, Professor Dr Mohammed Ashraf, Federal Public Service Commission Member Mir Ahmed Bux Lahri, Quetta Development Authority DG Noor Ahmed Pirkani, Nazeer Shakir Brahui, Sultan Ahmed Shahwani, Dr Ziaur Rahman Baloch, Dr Abdul Wajid Tabasum.

The foreign scholars who could not travel to Pakistan and sent their papers for presentation included Dr Jaroslave Vacek of Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, Dr Vikalp Kumar, Dr Anand M Sharan of Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada, Prof Uma Maheshwar Rao Garapati and others. Their papers on Brahui language, its history and origins were presented in the conference.