“The Seraiki people need to do more to protect their cultural identity,” Auditor General of Pakistan Akhtar Buland Rana said on Tuesday.
He was speaking at a symposium organised by the Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU), Multan, to pay tribute to Seraiki language, culture and history.
Rana said the Seraiki people needed to voice their opinions to defend their rights.
“The Seraiki region has no shortage of natural or human resources… people just need to learn to make use of these resources,” he said.
Rana said the Seraiki region was a multilingual and multicultural area home to peace-loving people.
“If singers from elsewhere can lovingly sing Seraiki songs why can’t the natives take ownership of their history, language and culture?” he asked.
BZU Vice Chancellor Syed Khawaja Alqama said the masses needed to “raise their voices to get the attention of the ruling elite.”
BZU Seraiki Area Study Centre Director Alamdar Hussain Bukhari said more research needed on the region.
Prof Shaukat Malik, Aijaz Ahmed, Farzana Jamshaid, Muhammad Amin, Mrs Nasim Akhtar, Hafiz Muhammad Fayyaz, Muhammad Ajmal Mahar, Mian Ghulam Ahmed, Mian Noorul Haq, Jam Jamshaid, Shakil Ahmed, Syed Iqbal Rizvi, Mehmood Raja, Ziaul Haq and Imran Farooq also spoke on the occasion.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 12th, 2014.