Islamization under General Zia Al-Haq (1977-1988) : An Analysis

As a result of the political crisis in Pakistan, the Martial Law regime of General Zia Al-Haq came into power on July 5, 1977. The process of Islamization was given a new boost during the period of Zia Al-Haq 1977- 1988. He launched a comprehensive scheme to eradicate non-Islamic practices in Pakistani state and society. His Islamization program contemplated significant reforms in the legal-constitutional, socioeconomic and educational institutions of Pakistan. The principles of Zakāt -‘Ushr ordinance, Islamic Ḥudūd and Penal code were introduced in the country. To Islamizing the economy Ribā abandoning and Profit and Loss sharing accounts in banks were initiated. Besides, he renamed parliament as Majlis Al-Shūrā; the Federal Sharī‘at Court, Sharī‘at Appellate Benches and Sharī‘ah Council were established in the country. Under the umbrella of Nizām-e-Muṣṭafā, social reforms were introduced, through the stressing of sanctity of the Holy month of Ramaḍān, enforcement of the bans on gambling and encouragement of chadar for women. Un-Islamic programs were banned on television and radio and news in Arabic was made compulsory. The stated objectives of President Zia’s Islamization policies were to lead Pakistan in the direction of truly Islamic state. However, the critics of his polices considered it a tool for legitimizing and enhancing his political powers in the country.

A Study of Lexico-Semantical Peculiarities of Translation of the Scientific and Technical Text form Urdu to Russian

A Study of Lexico-Semantical Peculiarities of Translation of the Scientific and Technical Text form Urdu to Russian Translation of scientific and technical text is a multidimensional and multifaceted process determined by the System and norm of the two languages involved. It is not only dependent on the two cultures and the communicative situations, but also directly dependent on the referential situation and the functional parameters, of the source / target text. The process of translation is not only a speech act, but also an act of cross-cultural communication and this fact is borne out by the interdisciplinary status of translation studies and its close link with contrastive and text-linguistics; socio and psycholinguistics and semiotics. The 21st century witnessed the emergence of scientific and technical translation as an independent field of study on the international level. The Intercultural and Intercontinental communications made it mandatory for human beings to understand scientific, technical and environmental issues in the world, and to leave their cocoons behind. It only served to underscore the significance that translation studies was to hold in the times to come. There is hardly a Translator or an Interpreter today who has not to deal with translation of scientific and technical materials. Translation of technical text puts a premium on the translator's knowledge of the subject-matter of Source Text. He must take great pains to get familiar with the system of terms in the appropriate field and make good use of technical dictionaries and other books of reference. When new words come into being to denote news object or phenomena, they naturally cannot have regular equivalents in another language. Such equivalents may only gradually evolve as the result of extensive contacts between the two nations. Therefore the translator coming across a new coinage has to interpret its meaning and to choose the appropriate way of rendering it in his translation. It has been observed that many phenomenon, words and terminologies of Urdu language have no regular equivalents, and a number of techniques has been suggested for transformation of such units of translation in Russian. New words are coined in the language to give names to new objects, or phenomena which become known to the people. Thus, research has been conducted in the background of the ever changing in scientific and technological scenario. The fast-track changes and rapid breakthrough in almost all fields in science and technology has made it mandatory for technical and scientific texts to translate into languages, other than the one in which the study or work has been conducted. Selecting this area to work in, the researcher has tried to focus on the problems encountered during the translation of technical and scientific texts from Urdu into Russian. The researcher is seemed mindful of the magnitude of the task, and has therefore delimited the study to focusing on the lexico-semantic peculiarities of translation of scientific and technical text from Urdu into Russian. Russian and Urdu are difficult languages to learn/teach, yet the geographical proximity has made it important for learners and teachers to recognize and identify the issues involved in translating the text. The major problems, in rendering Urdu scientific/technical texts into Russian, lie in the domain of lexico-semantics. Thus, the researcher has made a comparison of the two languages. But in keeping with the nature of the study, has focused only on the major differences — the foremost being the fact that Urdu lexicon suffers from a dearth of scientific and technical terminology. These and other points have been discussed in detail in this study. The parameters of the research demand a theoretical framework, and this has been discussed in the preliminary chapters — 1 & 2. Chapter 3 comprises general scientific and technical lexicon; word- building; structure and features of translation of terminological units and ways of translating multi- component terms etc. Chapter 4 deals with the fundamentals of translation, focusing on the contrastive analysis of translation material. The concluding chapter gives the findings and recommends that the study be used to further explore and exploit the Russian market, in order to give a boost to our economy. This study discusses translation studies, from a variety of perspectives and not merely the pedagogical aspects. The nature of the research combined with the significance of the language in the global scenario, makes this study the first of its kind, and the researcher, without idle boasting, is hopeful that he has begun to set a new trend in Pakistan. Hopefully, this study would be utilized to its utmost and in the spirit in which it has been conducted.