The First Punjabi National Conference: 2009

LAHORE: The first Punjabi National Conference held under the auspices of the Academy for the Promotion of Punjabi Language, Literature, Art and Culture (APPLLAC) and hosted by Chaudhry Nazeer Kahut at the Alhamra Arts Council Lahore on Saturday, August 8,2009, unanimously adopted the following 16 resolutions.

1-: The state of Pakistan which was secured after lots of sacrifices is passing through the most crucial phase of its history. Pakistan is the federation of four provinces, which is in danger. The Punjabi National Conference demands that the federation remain intact and should not be destabilised. No province should be divided, come what may.

2-: Punjab is characterised by its historical, cultural, economic, linguistic, administrative, and geographical identity. The Punjabi National Conference rejects the division of the province at any pretext, be it administrative, racial, lingual or other.

3-:The Punjabi National  Conference demands that Punjabi should be adopted as the basic medium of instruction in the province and it should be made official language in all spheres including government and legal.

4-: The conference demands that feudalism should be done away with in Pakistan and all the lands should be distributed among the tenets and landless farmers.

5-: Pakistan‘s sixty percent population lives in Punjab. The revenue generated by the export and import of goods from the province should be separated from that of the 70 percent received by Karachi. This revenue is Punjab’s due right and it should be spent on the development of the underdeveloped districts of the province.

6-: Multan Division is an established cotton growing belt in Pakistan. The PNC demands that the Karachi Cotton Exchange should be shifted to Multan and be renamed as Multan Cotton Exchange. 

7-:  The non-Punjabis holding posts on Punjab’s quota in the Karachi based federal governmental/non governmental organisations, departments and  financial institutions should be removed and these jobs should be given to the unemployed youth from the underdeveloped districts of Dera Ghazi Khan, Bahawalpur, Multan, Mianwali and Jhang. Otherwise, these federal departments/institutions should be shifted to Islamabad.

8-: The Punjabi National Conference fully supports the demand for provincial autonomy by the provinces. The conference demands that all the four provinces should be granted complete provincial autonomy. PNC recognises that Sindh and Balochistan have full rights over their resources. And demands that both the provinces should be given their due rights and control over their resources under the cover of Constitution.

9- : The conference strongly condemns the atrocities being committed against the Baloch people in Balochistan. The PNC fully endorses the Baloch people's rights over the natural resources of Balochistan. The military operation in Balochistan should be stopped and the missing political leaders and workers be recovered forthwith. Target killings of Punjabi inhabitants and Punjabi teachers in Balochistan should come to an immediate end. The people of Punjab stand with their oppressed Baloch brethren.

10-: The Punjabi National Conference demands that all the mother tongues in Pakistan should be made national languages through the constitutional cover.

11-: The Federal Government should set up universities of all national languages on the pattern of the Federal Urdu University. The provincial campuses of these universities should be established in their respective provinces.

12-: Pakistan is facing the worst-ever electricity crisis. The PNC demands that the power distribution should be handed over to the provinces and the provinces should pay its revenue according to their capacity.

13-: The PNC is of the view that the federal government’s grants for the Punjabi Adabi Board, Balochi Academy and Pushto Academy should be raised and made equal to that of the Sindhi Adabi Board’s. It should be made compulsory for the provinces to reserve one percent of their respective budgets for these literary institutions.

14-: Government advertisements should be distributed to the print and electronic media in their mother language on priority basis as ads are the lifeline of the media industry.

15- The Punjabi National Conference condemns the atrocities being perpetrated against minorities and demands that the life and property of the minorities should be protected according to the Constitution. The PNC also demands that the laws which help incite extremism should be reviewed for the sake of national interest.

16-: The Punjab Directorate General of Public Relations should launch a newspaper in Punjabi language in the province.