Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: President Mamnoon Hussain on Wednesday termed the launch of digital Urdu dictionary the biggest treasure of Pakistan’s literary history and said that its digitalisation would preserved a thousand-year-old culture and tradition of the land.

Addressing the launching ceremony of web edition of Urdu language dictionary at the Presidency, the president said the step would promote Urdu language among other languages of the world.

President Mamnoon said languages were the source of identity for literature and culture and expressed satisfaction that digitalization of Urdu dictionary would help the new generation get a detailed know-how about the language.

He appreciated Adviser to Prime Minister on National History and Literary Heritage Irfan Siddiqui under whose patronage editor-in-chief of Urdu Dictionary Board Aqeel Abbas Jaffery accomplished the strenuous project of digitalisation of 22 editions of the dictionary.

He said the nations that document their cultural history have nothing to fear from the foreign cultural invasion.

He emphasised upon preservation of rare books, literature and research material used in preparation of Urdu dictionary as a national asset and added that the government would fulfil the requirement of related institutions in their efforts.

The president said maintaining a dictionary was not only an academic activity but a technical matter as well. He said though the overall expression and style of dictionaries worldwide was more or less the same in Pakistan, it required further advancement.

He said languages were subject to change by absorbing new words with time and called upon the Urdu Dictionary Board to prepare itself as a vibrant institution to address these challenges of future.

He recalled his visit to Baku University in Azerbaijan where he presenting a set of Urdu dictionary to the Urdu Department, which was appreciated by students who termed it a great source of knowledge for the coming generations.

In his remarks, Advisor to Prime Minister on National History and Literary Heritage Irfan Siddiqui said that the dictionary consists of 22 editions with 1,000 pages each and have 264,000 words typed in Naskh font. He said the price of a complete set of dictionary, which took 52 long years to complete, was Rs 50,400, which was now available free at Internet and in shape of two compact discs at nominal price.

He said in view of making the dictionary highly accessible to common man and students, he envisioned the project named ‘Computerisation of Urdu Dictionary, software development for mobile phones, web hosting and establishment of server room’, which was completed with a cost of Rs 13,200,000.

He said the work on recording of first ‘Digital Urdu Sound Dictionary’ was in progress, which would offer proper pronunciation of 264,000 words. He said the projects of launching a tri-lingual Chinese-Urdu-English dictionary and separate dictionaries of great poets Iqbal and Ghalib were in pipeline.

The president launched the online edition of Urdu dictionary by clicking the computer key. Later, he gave shields of appreciation to Advisor Irfan Siddiqui and Editor-in-Chief Urdu Dictionary Board Aqeel Abbas Jaffery.

Published in Daily Times, January 25^th 2018.