KARACHI: Amit Kumar, a 37-year-old dweller of the Soldier Bazaar locality of Karachi, works as a peon in private firms during the day. After little rest in the evening, he takes his four children to the rooftop of a three-story Shri Ramdev Pir temple. At the top of this Hindu temple, however, there are no prayers. These are classes for Karachiites of Gujarati decent, who are fast forgetting their native language.
“Although I could speak my mother tongue, it would always bother me that I was not able to write and read Gujarati,” Kumar says. His children, Simren, 10, Nena, 6, and Gaurav, 4, are sitting by his side as he talks to Arab News.
This informal school is open from Monday to Saturday from 9 to 10 p.m.
“When I came to know that The Education Sanstha (TES) had started offering free Gujarati language classes, I took no time to get myself and my children registered,” he said. They would never be able to read and write Gujarati language had he not come across this opportunity, said Kumar.
Meenakshi Solanki, a nurse at a local hospital, was the first girl to join these free lessons. There are now 125 students and 53 of them are girls who took inspiration from Solanki to join this informal language school. “It was a boys-only class but when I joined the girls started coming,” she told Arab News.
According to Solanki, she is also the first member of her family who will be able to write and read Gujarati. “We deserve to be educated in our mother tongue but since it’s not part of the curriculum, TES has provided this golden opportunity to us,” she said, expressing her gratitude to a group of youngsters who launched this initiative.
Another student, 12-year-old Vivek Premji, said most of his family were still attached to the language. “Had these classes not been arranged, I would have been the first of my family to forget my mother tongue. My mother knew Gujarati but I didn’t. I was super-excited when I first heard about the classes,” Premji, who has been raised by a single mother, told Arab News.
Chander Kant Jethwa, an office-bearer of the TES, said his group of volunteers will help dropouts from the community to get back to schools. “We will also arrange special Urdu and English language classes for the dropouts to make them literate,” he told Arab News, adding that it was at one point that TES conceived the idea of beginning the Gujarati language classes.
Manoj Solanki, another group member, said his group kicked off classes on July 9, 2018 and, after getting an enormous response, they decided to expand the language program to other areas. “On September 26, we started classes in Keemari [area] and will soon take this #SaveGujarati initiative to different areas of the city,” he said.
Pandit Vital Das, one of the three teachers at this informal school, says Guajarati was part of the curriculum till 1975. For the next six years, the community continued to teach the language in different temples in the city. “In 1981, the education, however, completely stopped. Now, after 29 years, the city is having the first classes where students are being taught their mother language,” Das told Arab News.
These are not lower or lower-middle class areas where this important language is endangered.
Usman Ghani Saati, owner and editor of one of the two Gujarati language newspapers, has 23 siblings, including five sons, two daughters and 16 grandchildren. “Only two of my sons and one daughter, who are associated with our Watan Gujarati newspaper, can write and read the language,” Saati told Arab News.
The language is spoken by more than 50 million people in the world. In Karachi, the population of Gujarati-speaking people is estimated to be around 3.5 million, Saati said. Saati, who also worked with English daily Dawn between 1966 and 1983, bought Watan Gujarati when this oldest newspaper was founded by Muhammad Ali Jinnah in 1942 in Mumbai and later shifted, with the partition of India, to Karachi.
The circulation has witnessed massive cuts, Saati said, and the reason, he offered, is that Gujarati, despite being a mother tongue of top-notch industrialists, businessmen, stockbrokers, and owners of major media houses such as Dawn and ARY, is no longer taught at schools and spoken at homes. “Even the majority of the city’s schools were owned by Gujaratis but the irony is that none of them taught this language anymore,” Saati said.
“Once, the bank cheque in this city would also be written in Gujarati language. Now among 3.5 million, fewer than 10,000 may know the language,” he said.
Gujarati people have their distinctive proud culture and if the language continues to decline at this rate, the community will also lose their rich customs and traditions. Like his Watan, Millat Gujarati newspaper is also alive but the newspapers may not survive if the language continues to vanish.
Amid these fears of Saati and others, the Karachi’s youths have shown a path, which may lead to save the language from its complete death, even if it is not completely revived.
“We are proud of Gujarati language. It’s the language of the father of the nation. It’s the language of Edhi. It’s not only a language of Hindus but people of Gujarati descent belonging to different faiths,” Jethwa says.
“We urge all communities, including Parsi and Muslims, to come forward and join us in our #SaveGujarati initiative,” he said.
“We will soon hold meetings with different communities to request them for providing their community centers for such classes for a large number of people, who want to learn their mother tongue — a language that was spoken by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Mohandas Gandhi and Abdul Sattar Edhi,” he says.
Karachi’s Gujarati speaking youth strive to revive Jinnah’s language
Karachi’s Gujarati speaking youth strive to revive Jinnah’s language
- Out of the 50 million Gujarati-speaking people in the world, around 3.5 million live in Karachi and these include top industrialists, businessmen and owners of big media houses
- Karachi’s Gujarati-speaking youth has launched The Education Sanstha (TES) as part of the #SaveGujarati initiative to keep their language from dying
PM hails Pakistan for ‘unstoppable, unbeatable’ performance in South Africa ODI series
- Green Shirts thrashed South Africa 3-0 after losing Twenty20 series 2-0
- Pakistan will now play three Tests against South Africa later this month
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday praised the Pakistan cricket team for winning a three-match One Day International (ODI) series against South Africa, describing their performance as “unstoppable and unbeatable.”
The Green Shirts completed a series clean sweep over South Africa in the third ODI at the Wanderers Stadium on Sunday, with rising star Saim Ayub smashing his second century of the series and his third from five innings.
The left-handed opening batsman made a sparkling 101 off 94 balls in a Pakistan total of 308 for nine. Heinrich Klaasen thrashed 81 off 43 balls for South Africa, but the hosts were beaten by 36 runs chasing an adjusted target of 308 because of rain.
“Unstoppable and unbeatable!” Sharif remarked in a post on X. “Congratulations to Team Pakistan on an outstanding 3-0 ODI series victory against South Africa.”
The prime minister also praised the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman for the team’s performance.
“Well done, boys! Your determination, skill, and teamwork under the leadership of the PCB Chairman Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi have made the entire nation proud,” he said.
“Keep raising the green flag high!“
South Africa won the T20I series 2-0 after the third match was washed out on Dec. 14. The ODI series win comes ahead of the upcoming International Cricket Council (ICC) Champions Trophy, which Pakistan will hosting in February and March 2025.
Pakistan will also play three Tests against South Africa later this month.
Government opens long-awaited talks with Imran Khan’s party amid deepening polarization
- Negotiations began after Khan threatened civil disobedience, seeking release of political prisoners
- The government formed a negotiating committee a day earlier to engage with Khan’s PTI team
ISLAMABAD: The government and the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday began long-awaited negotiations to resolve issues fueling political polarization and straining the country’s fragile economy, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq confirmed.
The government announced the formation of a committee a day earlier to hold talks with PTI. This followed ex-premier Khan’s threat to launch civil disobedience by urging overseas Pakistanis, his party’s key support base, to halt remittances if his demands, including the release of political prisoners, were not met by Dec. 22.
Khan, who has been imprisoned for over a year on charges he claims are politically motivated, has also called for judicial commissions to investigate violent protests on May 9 last year and Nov. 26 this year, which the government says involved his party supporters.
Known for taking hard-line political positions, Khan formed a seven-member committee to negotiate with the government. This was done amid growing concerns he may face trial by the military for allegedly inciting attacks on sensitive security installations during violent protests following his brief detention last year in a graft case.
“We will talk about Pakistan’s interests instead of our own,” the National Assembly speaker said while addressing the initial round of talks. “We will try to sit and discuss matters for the sake of Pakistan.”
“The solution to every problem is through talks,” he added. “We implied a democratic way and talks are being held in the parliament only.”
The government’s committee includes key figures from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), such as Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, Political Adviser Rana Sanaullah and Senator Irfan Siddiqui, alongside representatives from allied parties.
The PTI team has Khan’s loyal lieutenant Asad Qaiser, Sunni Ittehad Council Chairman Sahibzada Hamid Raza and Majlis Wehdat-i-Muslimeen’s Senator Raja Nasir Abbas.
Sadiq said the seriousness of purpose on both sides was reflected by the seniority of the people representing them.
He informed that a second meeting would follow the deliberations in the initial one.
The negotiations come days after Pakistan’s military announced prison sentences for 25 people involved in the May 9, 2023, protests, which PTI has demanded be investigated. The military said it had gathered “irrefutable evidence” against those prosecuted and reiterated its commitment to bringing the planners of the violence to justice.
The country has remained gripped by political unrest and uncertainty since Khan’s ouster from power through a parliamentary no-confidence vote, which has also exacerbated Pakistan’s economic hardships.
Senior government representatives have recently acknowledged that negotiations could offer a pathway out of the current political impasse. However, they have cautioned that it is too early to determine which of PTI’s demands might be addressed.
Ancient winter festival in Pakistan’s Chitral concludes with rituals, traditional dance
- Chawmos festival is celebrated in December by the Kalash people, who are numbered around 4,000
- Festival marks welcoming of new year, celebrated with dance, animal sacrifice, singing and feasting
PESHAWAR: A religious winter festival celebrated by the Kalash people in the northwestern Pakistani district of Chitral has concluded after featuring rituals, traditional dance and other festivities for two weeks, provincial tourism authority said on Monday.
The Kalash are a group of about 4,000 people, possibly Pakistan’s smallest minority, who live in the mountains of the Hindu Kush, where they practice an ancient polytheistic faith.
They come together each year in December to celebrate the two-week Chawmos festival after the community finishes fieldwork and stores cheese, fruit, vegetables and grains for the year.
The festival features various rituals, animal sacrifice, dance, songs and feasting, preserving the Kalash culture and attracting a number of tourists to Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“The religious Chawmos festival of the ancient Kalash Valley has concluded,” Mohammad Saad, a spokesperson for the KP Tourism Authority, said in a statement.
“The festival continued from Dec. 8 in the three valleys of Bumburet, Birir and Rumbur.”
The Kalash community’s religion incorporates animiztic traditions of worshipping nature as well as a pantheon of gods, and its people live mainly in the three Kalash valleys of Bumburet, Birir and Rumbur.
The Chawmos festival is celebrated to welcome the new year, with the Kalash people indulging in religious practices and distributing vegetables and fruit among each other, according to the official.
The festival was attended by a large number of domestic and foreign tourists who were fully facilitated by the provincial tourism authority.
Pakistan defense minister blames judiciary for delayed verdicts in May 9 cases
- National problems require decisions at the earliest, says Khawaja Asif while talking to media in London
- Protests erupted in several Pakistani cities on May 9, 2023, over ex-PM Imran Khan’s arrest in a graft case
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif on Sunday blamed the judiciary for delaying verdicts in the May 9, 2023, cases, which have so far led to the conviction of 25 supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party for attacking government buildings and military properties last year.
On Dec. 21, the Pakistan Army sentenced 25 people for participating in the violent protests that erupted in several Pakistani cities following Khan’s brief detention on corruption charges, resulting in damage to major military facilities and martyrs’ monuments in the country.
However, several suspects are also facing legal charges in anti-terrorism courts, with the military hoping for early verdicts in their cases, according to a statement announcing the sentencing of the 25 individuals, which described the rioting as “politically provoked violence.”
The PTI has denied any involvement in the violence, describing the May 9 incident as a “false flag” operation aimed at crushing the party.
“The judiciary created the biggest hurdle in this [the conviction of May 9 suspects] while this thing was allowed to linger for one and a half years,” Asif said while speaking to the media in London, the city he is currently visiting.
Describing the May 9 protests as a national problem, he said all the cases related to it required verdicts at the earliest.
The conviction of the 25 individuals followed a ruling by a seven-member Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Dec. 13, allowing military courts to share their verdicts. Prior to that, the court had unanimously declared last year that prosecuting civilians in military courts violated the Constitution.
Khan’s PTI party rejected the military’s announcement, with opposition leader Omar Ayub Khan saying they were “against the principles of justice.”
The sentencing of the 25 individuals also raises concerns about Khan, who faces charges of inciting attacks against the armed forces and may potentially be tried in a military court.
Earlier, Asif had regretted the delay in announcing the verdicts, saying that it “raised the morale of the accused and their facilitators.”
“Right now, only the workers, who were used [to generate violence], have been punished under the law,” he had said. “This will not end until the ones, who planned this terrible day, are not brought before the law.”
Pakistan PM reviews security situation amid rising militancy, sectarian clashes
- PM Sharif was briefed by Mohsin Naqvi who recently attended a security meeting in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
- Security remained a concern for Pakistan this year, which witnessed renewed attacks on Chinese nationals
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif evaluated the security situation during a meeting with Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore on Sunday, focusing on measures taken by the authorities to ensure peace across the country.
The talks come days after Naqvi attended a high-level security meeting in the volatile Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan and has seen a surge in cross-border militant attacks.
The region’s Kurram district has been gripped by sectarian clashes since last month, leaving well over 100 people dead, according to local reports.
During the meeting in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Naqvi and other stakeholders decided to enhance the capacity of law enforcement agencies with the federal government’s full cooperation to combat mounting security challenges.
Pakistan has also faced unrest in its southwestern province of Balochistan, where separatist attacks intensified throughout the year.
“Federal Interior Minister Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi provided a detailed briefing to Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on the overall security situation in the country,” the statement from the PM Office said. “The Prime Minister expressed satisfaction with the measures taken to ensure law and order in the country.”
The meeting also included discussions on the country’s political situation, the statement added.
Security remained a major concern for the government this year, which witnessed renewed attacks on Chinese workers, including five fatalities when their convoy was targeted by an explosive-laden vehicle near Besham city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Later in October, two Chinese engineers lost their lives in a blast near Karachi airport.
On Sunday, Pakistan’s army chief, General Asim Munir, vowed to hunt down militants and their facilitators, following a deadly attack on a military outpost in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that left 16 soldiers dead.
