KARACHI: President Mamnoon Hussain inaugurated newly constructed building of Anjuman-e-Taraqqi-e-Urdu “Urdu Bagh” in Karachi Saturday. Addressing ceremony on the occasion, he said as Urdu is a national language therefore everyone has to work for its promotion. He said that with the construction of Urdu Bagh the dream of Baba-e-Urdu Maulvi Abdul Haq has come true. This, he said will not only pave way for uniformity in the standard of instruction available to the students, pertaining to different sections, but further enable local youth to make optimum use of their capacities and express their creativity without any inhibitions. “Nations are identified on the basis of their language, history, cultural heritage and way of living, however, language tops the list and I pray that completion of Urdu Bagh Complex may provide needed impetus for the Urdu Movement in all parts of the country,” said President Mamnoon Hussain. He on the occasion expressed his deep satisfaction that translations of different text books, pertaining to medicine, science, technology and wide range of other relevant subjects besides literatures from across the globe, including those done at Usmania University of Hyderabad Deccan state, in pre and post-independence period are also available at the library of Anjuam e Tarraqi e Urdu. “This is a treasure that we as a nation can take advantage of,” commented the President and urged the managing committee of the Anjuman to develop and maintain a steady coordination with different universities in the country, particularly Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology (FUUAST) so as to help in further expansion in the availability of research oriented work underway across the globe. “This will definitely help us as a nation in general and our youth in particular to remain updated and also remain exposed to the diversity world is experimenting in the field of science and technology as these are the modern day tools of progress and development,” emphasised the President of Pakistan. He appreciated that certain universities of the country have realized the importance of Urdu and making efforts to get done the translations of research work, without any compromise in terms of quality. “We must acknowledge the efforts made by known scholar, Prof.Matin ur Rehman Murtaza, associated with Karachi University’s Mass Communication department and his team of teachers and students for making major contributions in this regard that too with limited resources at their disposal, he said urging local philanthropists and other supporters of Urdu cause to facilitate scholars involved in much needed knowledge based pursuits. He also sought close coopoeration between public and private sectors universities in the country mentioning that while much progress has been made in procuring appropriate translations of different technological and technical terminologies, however, since this is an ongoing process hence collaboration among higher education centres is and will always be needed. President Mamnoon Hussain said lead in this regard should be taken by Anjuman e Tarraqi e Urdu to facilitate the universities and help preventing loss of precious time in translation of complicated techical terms with equal attention that their substitues are easily deciphered and comprehended by public in general. He also expressed his desire that hard copies of old books available with Anjuman e Tarraqi e Urdu in the form of original work, manuscripts, etc and that have assumed a status of treasure and cherished by enthusiasts across the globe be digitalized so their life be prolonged with little risk of being lost under one or the other pretext. “We have to preserve them for our future generations and this can be easily done in the current era of digital technology,” said President Mamnoon Hussain further suggesting that access of people to this treasure be made easy through application of information technology adding that this could be a mean to keep it alive. Mentioning that promotion of Urdu must be a joint cause for all Pakistanis, he said that as President of Pakistan he had taken a lead and ensured that proceedings of meetings chaired by him are defintely made in the national language while Urdu is also used by him as the medium of conversation during meetings with foreign dignatories. The ceremony among others was also attended by Mayor of Karachi, Wasim Akhter and prominent citizens of the metropolis who represented different sections of the society. Special tributes were paid to Jamil uddin Aali (late), a strong supporter of Urdu and former President of the Anjuman. President Mamnoon Hussain specially felicitated the President of Anjuame Tarraqi e Urdu, Zulqarnain Haider Jamil and its Secretary, Fatema Hasan for their sincerity of purpose and endeavour in getting the Urdu Bagh project completed and hoped that their struggle for the Urdu cause will continue undeterred in the larger interest of the people of Pakistan. Earlier, Dr. Fatima Hassan of Anjuman-e-Taraqqi-e-Urdu and Zulqarnain Jameel in their speeches highlighted performance of the Anjuman. Published in Daily Times, January 21st 2018.