Row over making Arabic compulsory in schools

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The Senate, the upper house in the Pakistani Parliament, on February 1 approved compulsory teaching of the Arabic language in the primary and secondary schools in Capital Islamabad. The move, however, fetched an ire from the scholars and writers who exposed the loopholes in it.

Javed Abbasi, a member of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), presented a bill regarding making Arabic mandatory. The Senate almost unanimously passed the bill barring opposition from Raza Rabbani, a member of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). The debate in the House over the bill, however, has shaken the consciences of the scholars.

Abbasi emphasised that learning Arabic could open up more job opportunities for Pakistanis in the Middle East and lead to lower unemployment and increased remittances. He argued that Pakistani people would not have faced the existing problems if they had learnt Arabic as the Holy Quran and daily prayers are read in Arabic. 

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan agreed with Abbasi supporting the bill. He said Article 31 of the Constitution states that measures should be taken to spend lives according to the Holy Quran and Sunnah. 

“Learning Arabic is crucial to become a good Muslim and understand God’s message.”

The lone dissent voice Rabbani alleged that the bill was an attempt to use Islam for achieving a political agenda. He said the government was trying to eliminate Pakistan’s multicultural and multi-lingual diversity by “importing” Arab culture. 

“The Arab culture is not mine, Indus Valley Civilisation is my culture,” he said. “Arabic has nothing to do with the religion of Islam or the Holy Quran beyond being the language it was revealed in.”

The bill will be sent to the National Assembly Standing Committee on Education. It will come into force if the lower house, the National Assembly approved it. Then Arabic will be taught in schools in Islamabad from grades 1 to 5, while Arabic grammar will be taught to grades 6 to 12. After Islamabad, the exercise will be replicated all over the country. Arabic is the world’s fifth most widely spoken language and the official language of 25 countries.

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The scholars have pointed out that the move will not be beneficial for the Pakistani people. The country’s share in the jobs in Arab countries is only three per cent as compared to India’s 10 per cent. They say skills and education are required to get a job in Arab countries rather than speaking in Arabic. 

Also, the Arab countries are slowly but gradually adopting English. In this case, the future of Pakistani students who will complete their education after 10 years will be uncertain if they stick to Arabic and not English.

War within judiciary

In an unprecedented scenario, the Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed has refrained a colleague Justice Qazi Faez Isa, who is slated to become the Chief Justice in 2023, from hearing cases involving Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The five-page written order, authored by Ahmed, stated that it would not be proper for Justice Isa to hear cases against the PM as he has, in a personal capacity, filed a petition against Khan. The PM is facing a trial for allegedly distributing funds of Rs 500 million among the parliamentarians ahead of Senate polls. He has claimed that no money would be given to the legislators for carrying out any development schemes.

However, Justice Isa, a member of the five-judge special bench which is hearing the petition, questioned the PM. He presented a WhatsApp message he had received from an unknown source on February 10. The message contained supporting documents showing doling out of massive amounts recently for building roads by the PWD in the constituency NA-65 that belongs to an important coalition partner. 

The chief justice, however, disposed of the matter with an observation that there had been a contest between a judge and the prime minister. The five-judge larger bench of the Supreme Court led by Ahmed is comprising of Justice Mushir Alam, Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan.

Justice Isa expressed “shock” as the JCP’s judgement was released to the media before it was sent to him. In a letter to the SC registrar, he sought to know why the order was not sent to him and who ordered its release to the media even before he read the order.

The opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz Sharif took this opportunity to allege that the entire justice is under pressure and its credibility is in danger. “The justice system and the honour of the judges are being compromised to save the incompetent and corrupt,” Maryam said.

Shortage of cotton but no import from India

Pakistan is facing a shortage of cotton due to less production this year. However, the government is not in a mood to import from its cotton-rich neighbour, India. Abdul Razak Dawood, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Commerce, has said that the government will not allow duty-free import of cotton from India to bridge the shortfall.

Pakistan is facing a shortfall of one million cotton bales because of low production this year. Dawood hoped that the country would have better cotton crop next year.

In Pakistan, the area under cotton had fallen from 2.9 million to 2.5 million hectares in the last five years. It went south further by four per cent this year. Pakistan had a production of 12 million cotton bales in 2017-18, after an abysmal performance for many years. The production fell to 9.8 million bales in 2018-19, and 9.1 million bales in 2019-20. The per hectare yield also has fallen from 753 kg in 2017-18 to 618 kg in 2019-20.

Apart from cotton, Pakistan is also facing a shortfall of sugar, which has touched a new high of Rs 100 per kg in all major cities.