DDRESSING the annual convocation of the Dacca University, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah again clarified the position regarding the state language of Pakistan.

He said that so far as the provincial language was concerned the people could choose any language they desired to adopt. But there could be only one lingua franca, language of intercommunication, for the whole of Pakistan. That language should be Urdu and could not be any other language.

Referring to the demand recently made in certain interested quarters that Bengali should be a state language along with Urdu, the Quaid-i-Azam said that it was only Urdu that could be called the state language. Urdu was the language which was understood throughout the length and breadth of Pakistan, which was nearer to the languages of other Islamic countries and which embodied in a larger measure than any other language Islamic culture and civilization.

The Quaid-i-Azam asked the students to note the trials and tribulations through which Pakistan had passed. The Quaid-i-Azam advised the students to beware of fifth columnists, to guard against and weed out selfish people who only wished to exploit them and to learn to judge really unselfish people wishing to serve the state. He also asked them to consolidate the Muslim League Party and to extend invitation to those who are either not helping the cause or working against it to join the organisation.

A small group of students led by a Hindu youth shouted `No, No, No` when the Quaid-i-Azam said that no language other than Urdu could be the state language. While the Quaid-i-Azam was leaving the hall, Hindu students again led a demonstration, shouting Bengali slogans.

The Curzon Hall where the convocation was held was packed to capacity and besides the Ministers of East Bengal all MLAs and leading citizens were present.The occasion was unique in this respect that a Calcutta firm which used to supply gowns for the students at the convocation refused to do so this time. The university authorities had requested the firm to send the gowns to Dacca by air immediately after the Calcutta University convocation which was on March 20, at the expense of the Dacca University. But the firm still refused. The students, therefore, attended the convocation without gowns, but wearing only the hood. •