Hijratullah Kharotai - Apr 22, 2010 - 20:40

QUETTA (PAN): Participants of a seminar in Pakistan's Balochistan province have called for declaring Pashto language a compulsory subject in schools.

The two-day seminar organised by the Pashto Adabi Society in Loralai district was attended by writers, poets and intellectuals from Afghanistan, Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Balochistan provinces.

In a joint declaration, the participants demanded of the government to give Pashto the status of a compulsory language in educational institutes. They also demanded that the word 'Khyber' should be removed from the new name of NWFP (Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa) as majority of Pakhtuns don't like a hyphenated name for their province.

Khair Muhammad Arif, organiser of the seminar and president of the society, told Pajhwok Afghan News the gathering was held to discuss security situation in the Pashtun areas and send out a message of peace. He expressed the hope that the seminar would help bring peace in the Pashtun belt in the prevailing situation.

Talking to this news agency, a participant from Kabul Ghausuddin Frootan said such seminars could prove helpful in bringing the Pashtuns on both sides of the Durand Line closer to each other and the restoration of peace in the region.

http://pajhwok.com/viewstory.asp?lng=eng&id=93033