World Punjabi Conference, 2001, Lahore and formation
of world Punjabi Congress.
In
December 2000 World Punjabi Conference was held in
Chandigarh, India, Which was quite successful and helped
in carrying on the message of previous Lahore Conferences.
Lahore World Punjabi Conference held from April 13 to
April 16, 2001 was attended by 400 delegates from 15
countries of the world around 150 from India alone. Lahore
declaration among other things reiterated the adoption of
Punjabi as medium of instruction at primary level and need
to speak in Punjabi in the Provincial legislature. Lahore
conference was the biggest conference of any language ever
held in the sub continent. It was given excellent coverage
both by the print and electronic media at national as well
as international level. The history making conference made
a passionate appeal for peace between India and Pakistan
by resolving existing disputes, specially Kashmir by
mutual dialogue the success of the conference is further
borne out by the mindless criticism churned out by a
coterie of obscurantist, extremists chauvinists and
literary fundamentalists and purists who could not conceal
their simmering jealousy. After Lahore Conference 2001 it
was to rename world Punjabi Conference as World Punjabi
Congress a supreme body representing all Punjabi
organization engaged in the promotion of Punjabi language,
literature and history.
World Punjabi
Conference2002 London
World Punjabi Congress decided in July 2001 to hold next
conference in London. Chairman of WPC, during his stay in
London set up an organizing committee and appointed
eminent writer and intellectual Amin Malik as the
president of WPC UK chapter. Amin Malik and his
hardworking colleagues like Ayub Aulia,T. Bhogal Rani
Malik, G.S. Sagoo Ajit Singh Shamsher Roy, Pakeeza Beg,
Ashruf Mukhlis, Dr. Gurdial, Mahboob Ahmed Dr.Arif,Ditshad
Zafar Nasim Bajwa Dr.Sheikh,Anjela Gulfam, Dr.Ghauri, Raja
Sabir,Gurdas Parmar, Balbir Kanwal, Gurpal Singh,K.C
Mohan, Councillors Lodhi and Ch. M Hussain have put up
relentless efforts and finalized arrangements for
conference to be held on may 17-18-19, 2002. Conference
will be attended by over 300 delegates from 25 countries
of the World ( Pakistan India UK, US,Canada, Sweden,
Norway, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Poland, Holland,
France, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Italy, Russia,
Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Japan, China, Uzbekistan
and Turkey.)Invitations alongwith detailed programme will
be issued in January, 2002.
The main theory of the moot is
Punjabi language, Literature , Culture and History in the
21st Century. Sub themes include an assessment
of punjabi literature being written in various countries
Distortions in Punjabi History-Punjab Culture in an era of
Globalization- Punjabiat-a message of peace at the global
level-revisiting Punjabi sufi writings and heritage-
promotion of fine arts in Punjab-foreign languages
hegemony over languages of the soil- Punjabi Journalism.
London declaration will be issued at the end of the
conference. A mushaira and a cultural program are also
included in the conference schedule.
As has been mentioned above, the
Punjabi all over the World are grappling with manifold
hurdles in the way of the recognition of their mother
tongue. Lahore Conference 2001 has played a memorable role
and for once Punjabi everywhere have surmounted the
identity crisis and are confronting in unison the
challenges to their mother tongue. At home, Punjabi for
the first time in Pakistan ‘s history are exuding a sense
of pride on their mother tongue, sufi heritage, cultural
ethos and have pledged to refuse to be exploited in the
name of one language theory and stand up to the detractors
indiscriminately abusing Punjabis and their language and
culture and ridiculing historical traditions. They are now
determined to fight out the chicaneries that are
invariably the wont of reactionaries and supercilious
mandarins of our society.
