Srinagar, Sep 30: The absence of a Kashmiri language translation facility in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly has triggered concern among literary organisations and writers after National Conference legislator Mubarak Gul sought to deliver his intervention in Kashmiri during the ongoing Assembly session.
As Gul began speaking in Kashmiri, Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather informed him that he could continue speaking in Kashmiri, but his intervention could not be incorporated into the official record of the House as no facility was available for translating Kashmiri into Urdu.
The development has drawn reactions from literary and cultural organisations, which have expressed concern over the lack of an institutional mechanism to facilitate the use of Kashmiri in the legislative proceedings.
Kashmiri is one of the principal languages of Jammu and Kashmir and is spoken by a large section of the population. Literary bodies and writers have questioned the absence of a translation facility in the Assembly, particularly when elected representatives seek to communicate in the language spoken by a significant section of their constituents.
The literary community has also pointed out that Kashmiri is used by Members of Parliament in proceedings of the Parliament of India and questioned why elected members of the J&K Legislative Assembly should face difficulties in using the language in their own House.
Representatives of literary organisations and several literary personalities have sought the intervention of the Government of Jammu and Kashmir and Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather for establishing a permanent facility for translation of Kashmiri into Urdu in the Legislative Assembly.
They said the availability of such a facility would enable legislators to participate in proceedings in Kashmiri while ensuring that their interventions are translated, understood by other members and incorporated into the official record.
The literary bodies have urged the Assembly authorities to treat the issue as a matter of linguistic inclusion and take necessary measures so that speakers of Kashmiri are able to express themselves in their mother tongue on the floor of the House without their interventions being excluded from the official record.
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