FLI reconnects Palula speakers of Chitral and Dir Kohistan

A delegation of Palula language speakers in Chitral visited Gomandan, a splintered village of Palula language community in Dir Kohistan to meet with those who share their language and culture. The delegation consisted of the office bearers of one of FLI’s partner organizations in northern Pakistan working for the Palula language in Chitral. Mr. Qazi Israr, Muneer Ahmad (the first poet of Palula language) and Naseem Haider who have long been working for preservation and promotion of their language under the banner of Palula Community Welfare Organization (PCWO) also took books, published in their language along with them to present as gift to those in Gomandan. The purpose of the visit was to enlighten the host Palula community members about the language development work being carried out in Chitral, and also to sensitize them about their identity, language and history and also to activate them for working to revitalize their language. They were welcomed by a gathering of their fellow language speakers where the visitors had the opportunity to sensitize them to be cognizant of how their language was being influenced by predominant languages of the area. Many young people from the Palula community in Gomandan after getting motivation vowed to remain in contact with the visitors so that they could benefit from the language development work in Chitral, from their experience and research abilities. Earlier, the educated youth were pleasantly amazed to receive books in their mother tongue, an inspiring surprise they never thought of.

The Palula speakers from Chitral migrated to Gomandan long ago and now have grown to more than 300 numbers. Many age groups like grandparents, parents and adults within the community have so far maintained and continued speaking their language, however, children are said to have been influenced and driven away by Pashto, the second language of the community. The PCWO officials, taking notice of the looming language shift and on demand of the residents, have started contemplating language revitalization activities for the younger generation of the community. FLI has assured its partner CBO of full cooperation in the struggle of their language’s revival as the executive director of FLI, Mr. Fakhruddin was leading this visit. Fakhruddin encouraged both sides to stay connected through social media and work together in future. The people from both sides have activated themselves, initially by creating a WhatsApp chat group to remain interconnected and started deliberations for future course of actions. We hope they continue meeting each other in days to come and will strive to revive their language in the area through a consistent approach of language revitalization.