URDU AND BENGALI OFFICIAL LANGUAGES
A new eight clause chapter- ‘Language of the Republic’- was added to the Basic Principles Committee Report by the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan yesterday.
The chapter ‘Language of the Republic’ was brought before the House by Prime Minister Mohammad Ali and accepted without any amendment. It reads as follows :
(1) The official languages of the Republic should be Urdu, Bengali and such other Provincial languages as may be declared to such by the Head of the State on the recommendation of the Provincial Legislatures concerned.
(2) Members of Parliament shall have a right to speak in Urdu and Bengali in addition to English.
(3) Notwithstanding anything in the above article, for a period of 20 years from the commencement of the constitution the English language should continue to be used for all official purposes of the Republic for which it was being used immediately before such commencement.
(4) For examinations for the central services, all provincial languages should be placed on an equal footing. Additional Language
(5) Provision should be made for the teaching of Arabic, Urdu, and Bengali in Secondary schools to enable students to take either one or two of them in addition to the language used as the medium of instruction.
(6) The state should take all measures for the development and growth of common national language.
(7) A commission should be appointed 10 years after the commencement of the constitution to make recommendations for the replacement of English. On a point of information Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan wanted to know if there were any decisions on provincial languages.
The Prime Minister explained that :
(1) All Provinces were free to use the provincial languages of their Choice.
(2) The Head of State also had the powers to declare any provincial language as official language of the Republic on the recommendation of the Provincial Legislature concerned.
সূত্র: দ্য ডন ৮ই মে, ১৯৫৪