GB ministers appreciate FLI’s services for indigenous languages   

“FLI has emerged as a heritage savior, and an organization which believes in practical work, not just with the rhetoric”, this was said by Mr. Maisum Kazim, the tourism minister of Gilgit Baltistan (GB). He said that the protection and promotion of cultural heritage would strengthen our cultural diversity leading to promoting tourism and widening the horizon of job opportunities in the region. He was addressing the concluding session of a workshop, FLI held at Baltistan University of GB for Balti language researchers. Mr. Raja Nasir, the minister for culture also spoke on the occasion and praised the services FLI has been rendering to protect and promote the indigenous languages of Pakistan.

FLI held a workshop last week in Skardu city of Gilgit Baltistan for Balti language researchers to facilitate them in identification of writing issues in their language. Twenty eight people including senior researchers and university students attended the three day event which also provided the participants an opportunity to look for how to agree on various terms primarily to finding solutions to the identified issues relating to orthography of the language.

FLI, few years back held a media seminar in the city which aimed at creating awareness among journalist community regarding the importance of indigenous language development. FLI assured the media persons of its cooperation with regards to provision of data for their research and reporting so that the wider proportion of society could be reached out with research based information and findings.

The recent workshop has involved learned individuals from the Balti language community which is hoped to facilitate the participants in their endeavor. The identification of orthography issues will help the researchers reach an agreement for their resolution. We hope that the participants will continue working towards development of their language.

Balti is spoken in the Northern Areas (Gilgit-Baltistan) of Pakistan and adjoining parts of Ladakh, India. It is closely related to those languages found in Tibet. Balti has several genres of folk and classical literature. While there are some proverbs and epic stories within the oral tradition, the existing literature is all poetry. The Balti community people claim that there are around a million people in Pakistan who speak the language as their mother tongue.