Govt asked to give recognition to Kalash in upcoming census

MIER, an organization working for the promotion and preservation of languages and cultures in Chitral, expressed displeasure over the government apathy. At a meeting, language activists of the district expressed their concerns over the discriminatory treatment meted out to the regional languages of the country. They stressed the need that the government should own and respect the linguistic diversity of the country and ensure equal representation to all language communities in the census 2017. By listing all regional languages in the census form or by allotting a space to be filled with a distinct mother tongue of people, the census 2017 can be made more effective with regard to knowing the population of all regional languages of the country, the participants of the meeting said. It is never late for the government to revise the census forms even now. The concerned ministry should take immediate steps to this effect.–Atta Hussain Athar]]>