ڈاکٹر عبدالعلیم
ڈاکٹر عبدالعلیم سابق وائس چانسلر مسلم یونیورسٹی علی گڑھ اور صدر اردو بورڈ دہلی کی اچانک وفات سے پورے علمی حلقہ کو دکھ ہے، ان کے خیالات کچھ بھی رہے ہوں، لیکن وہ اپنی شرافت طبع اور مرنجان مرنج رویے کی وجہ سے ہر حلقہ میں پسند کئے جاتے تھے، جہاں رہے ان کا وزن اور وقار رہا، دارالمصنفین سے ان کے تعلقات برابر خوشگوار رہے، مسلم یونیورسٹی کے عربی اور اسلامیات کے شعبوں کو ترقی دینے میں بھی ان کی خدمات برابر یاد کی جائیں گی، وہ مسلم یونیورسٹی کے وائس چانسلر بہت ہی نازک دور میں بنائے گئے، ان پر نظر انتخاب ڈاکٹر ذاکر حسین خاں مرحوم کی پڑی تھی، جو ان کو بہت محبوب رکھتے تھے، انھوں نے جامعہ ملیہ میں تعلیم پائی، ان کی وفات سے جامعہ ایک لائق فرزند علمی حلقہ ایک شریف اہل علم اور ملک ایک بہت ہی باوقار محب وطن سے محروم ہوگیا، اﷲ تبارک و تعالیٰ ان کو غریق رحمت کرے، آمین۔ (صباح الدین عبدالرحمن، مارچ ۱۹۷۶ء)
Until recently, Gwadar has always been mentioned as a small insignificant fishing town. Very little was known about its history and potential to the outside world. However, at the turn of the 21st century Gwadar became the focus of attention globally. The development of a deep seaport with China’s assistance and prospects of connecting China and Central Asia through Pakistan to the North Arabian Sea has brought this small, insignificant fishing town to international recognition. But history reveals that this region has always played a vital role since primeval times due to its geostrategic and geographical location. From Alexander’s retreat to Pakistan’s reclaiming Gwadar, it has always reminded its significance at different times in diverse manners. This paper aims to bring into light the historical journey of Gwadar, which usually remained unknown or were either considered trivial by historians. Gwadar became an important chapter in the Belt and Road initiative proposed by the Chinese president. It will link China, South Asia, Middle East, Central Asia, Africa and Europe through a network of land and sea routes and ports will contribute significantly to the progress and prosperity of Gwadar in Pakistan, China and the entire region.
Sociolinguistics Matters in Cross-Cultural Relations Pakistan has a rich and diverse cultural and linguistic composition. The principal ethnic groups include Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashtons and Baluch. The demographic survey of Pakistan (1998) indicates that these ethnic groups are further divided into various sub-categories, linguistic groups and castes. The main languages include Urdu, Punjabi, Pushto, Balochi, Sindhi, Seraiki, Hindko and Dan. In the presence of such a diverse linguistic and cultural scenario, there are ample occasions of cross-cultural communication among them. These opportunities are created at the social, academic, political and occupational level of interaction. The focus of this research is an interesting type of cross-cultural relation that is to say the marriage between a man and a woman from different linguistic communities. It explores the language dynamics, attitudes and speech patterns within these families, as well as the levels of success in achieving family bilingualism. In addition, it attempts to scan and analyze the sensitivity of the children in such families towards the linguistic input provided to them. The researcher has conducted primary research on the sample selected through the technique of random sampling. She has used questionnaires as research instrument for the collection of data. This is followed by a quantitative and statistical analysis of the gathered responses and a qualitative evaluation of the data to scan the research findings. The researcher has discovered productive bilingualism in most couples as a result of high frequency of contact with each other's language community and an overall positive view about it. Awareness about the linguistic differences and the effort required to overcome the negative impact of these differences are also found. The researcher has also found the prevalence of elements like linguistic pressures especially on children and the occurrence of sociolinguistic phenomena of functional differentiation and role governed nature of linguistic choices. In the end, the researcher offers a view on possible long-term linguistic outcomes for these families and recommendations on the area of linguistic planning and the improvement of factors promoting bilingualism in such families.