PREPAK greets on International Mother Language Day
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, February 20 2012:
The proscribed PREPAK has greeted all the people across the world on the occasion of International Mother Language Day which falls on February 21 .
Language is both a heritage and tradition which is essential for preserving and communicating both visible and unseen human thoughts, actions and objects, said a press release issued by the outfit's assistant secretary, publicity and propaganda Leibakngakpa Luwang.
One of the most noteworthy movements for preservation and promotion of mother language was that of the erstwhile East Pakistan, now Bangladesh.
It is in commemoration of the same movement that the International Mother Language Day is being observed all over the year on February 21 every year.
When the Government of Pakistan declared Urdu as their national language on March 21, 1948, Bengali politicians of East Pakistan and students of Dhaka voiced strong objections demanding that Bengali should be made official language of East Pakistan.
The movement for retaining Bengali as official language achieved the highest pitch on February 21, 1952 .
It was on this day three protesters were shot dead by security forces while hundreds of other protesters sustained casualties.
Since then, East Pakistan started observing February 21 as the Mother Language Day.
Unable to suppress the mass movement, Bengali was declared official language of East Pakistan on February 29, 1956 and it ultimately led to independence of East Pakistan in the form of a new country called Bangladesh.
Inspired by the movement in Bangladesh, two Bangladeshi diasporas Rafiq and Salam who were living in Canada set up a body called Mother Language Lovers of the World.
Later, the UNESCO in its 30th general conference held in November 1999 declared February 21 as the International Mother Language Day, the outfit recounted.
As pointed out by UNESCO in its book 'The Atlas of the World Languages in Danger of Disappearing', 10 languages have been disappearing from the Earth every year.
At least 372 languages are on the verge of extinction.
Out of these 50 languages spoken in different parts of Europe have almost disappeared.
Likewise Kanglei Lon (Meitei Lon) is also facing grave threats.
Since the early ages Kanglei Lon has been the lingua franca of the different communities living in Manipur.
However, after Manipur was allegedly annexed into the Indian Union, all the indigenous institutions and mode of interaction among different communities were severely altered.
These changes severely reduced the importance of Kanglei Lon as lingua franca of the land.
In its place, people started using English and Hindi as medium of communication.
On the other hand, the political class of the land never bothered to revive and promote Kanglei Lon although they were aware that the language is under grave threats.
Saying that reviving Kanglei Lon as the ultimate lingua franca of the land would go a long way in bringing emotional integrity among different communities, the outfit asserted that it's time for all the people to work together towards this end.
It also called upon all the communities to respect and promote all their indigenous languages by framing a language policy.
"Language is our mother and script is our father", it said.
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