TH IS is apropos Dr Mubarak Ali`s article `Dead language` (May 31). His diagnosis is correct but his prognosis is wrong. He has pronounced Urdu dead as an academic language.
No, sir, Urdu has not died, nor is it dying.
It awaits state patronage which the Islamabad mandarins, both of the bureaucratic and political kind, are unable to provide.
Our leadership has been busy over the last decades in `saving Pakistan` and has hardly had time lef t for strengthening the cultural basis of the nation.
Translation indeed is the way to enrich our national language and it is never too late.
The Japanese, Chinese and Iranians have not stopped translating. How come Urdu has lost the opportunity of becoming an academic language? Why should we be making such dire predictions as Dr Ali does? Perhaps it is a confession, coming from someone who has the distinction of writing so many authentic Urdu books on history. We need to listen to him seriously.
