KABUL (Pajhwok): A five-day academic and cultural workshop aimed at reviewing and harmonising the writing systems of Pashto and Dari has begun in Kabul.
According to a statement from the Ministry of Information and Culture, the workshop, titled “Correction and Unification of Pashto and Dari Writing Systems,” was launched at the National Museum by a commission of the Supreme Council of Languages under the ministry’s Deputy Ministry of Culture and Arts.
Hafiz Saif-ul-Rahman Mohammadi, director of public culture at the ministry, said the commission was established to strengthen the scientific foundations of the country’s languages and develop standard writing systems for national and other languages.
Deputy Minister of Culture and Arts Sheikh Abdul Rahman Tayebi said human excellence was linked to language and knowledge.
He said the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan was committed to strengthening and developing all languages in Afghanistan and that there was no place for linguistic, ethnic, regional or religious discrimination under the Islamic system.
Tayebi urged participants to cooperate fully in efforts to strengthen and develop the country’s languages.
The ministry said Kabul University professors Ajmal Azimi and Rawzatullah Majid, Education Ministry curriculum director Mufti Mohammad Halim Shakir, scholar Mohammad Masoom Hotak and representatives of the Afghanistan Academy of Sciences discussed the proposed unified writing system.
The participants said differences existed between the writing systems of Pashto and Dari, adding that the workshop aimed to review these differences and develop unified and standard writing systems for both languages.
They said the standardised systems would facilitate coordinated use of Pashto and Dari in academic, educational, administrative and cultural fields.
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