The aim of this magazine is to connect the communities of Hindu Kush, Himalaya, Karakorum and Pamir by providing them a common accessible platform for production and dissemination of knowledge.
The paradox of multilingualism in Pakistan
By Zubair Torwali
Language is not merely a tool for communication; it is the very medium through which humans perceive, interpret, and recreate the world. In most societies today, more than one language is spoken, leading to what linguists call multilingualism: the coexistence and use of multiple languages by individuals and communities.
Multilingualism is a universal human condition. From the markets of Nairobi and New York to the valleys of Swat, people switch between languages with ease and creativity. Yet while it appears natural, multilingualism is also profoundly political. Not all languages enjoy equal status, and not all speakers have the same freedom to use them.
At its core, multilingualism refers to the ability or practice of using more than one language, but it operates at two interrelated levels, individual and societal. Individual multilingualism describes a person’s ability to speak and navigate multiple languages. A single individual may use one language at home, another at work, and a third in formal education. For instance, a Torwali speaker in Bahrain Swat might speak Torwali at home, Pashto in the marketplace, Urdu in school, and English in official correspondence. The acquisition of several languages may occur simultaneously from birth what is called simultaneous multilingualism or sequentially throughout life called sequential multilingualism, often driven by education, migration, or the need for social survival.
Societal multilingualism, on the other hand, refers to the coexistence of multiple languages within a political or cultural community. It is reflected in the institutional arrangements: education, governance, media—that determine which languages are recognized, valued, or marginalized. In this sense, societal multilingualism is not merely a linguistic reality but a political and social structure that distributes power and privilege.
Both forms of multilingualism offer significant benefits. At the individual level, multilingual speakers demonstrate higher cognitive flexibility, empathy, and creativity. Switching between languages enhances mental agility and deepens cross-cultural understanding. A child growing up with both Torwali and Urdu internalizes two distinct worldviews: one grounded in the oral traditions and metaphors of the mountains, the other shaped by national narratives and formal schooling.
At the societal level, multilingualism fosters cultural pluralism and social inclusion. Each language encapsulates a unique system of knowledge; ecological, historical, and moral. Sustaining multiple languages is, therefore, a way of sustaining multiple ways of seeing the world. Nations that embrace linguistic diversity, such as Switzerland or South Africa, show that unity need not rest on uniformity.
However, multilingualism also reveals deep inequalities. In many societies, a few dominant languages—often English, Spanish, or national languages like Urdu—serve as gateways to power, education, and prestige. Meanwhile, indigenous and minority languages are confined to informal or private domains, accelerating language shift and loss. This creates what sociolinguists call multilingual disparity meaning people may live multilingual lives, yet the system remains monolingual in power.
Pakistan is one of Asia’s most linguistically diverse countries, home to more than 70 languages. This diversity should be a national asset but it remains an unacknowledged strength. English dominates the elite spheres of governance, law, and higher education. Urdu, spoken natively by less than 8% of the population, is promoted as the national language and medium of schooling. Indigenous languages such as Saraiki, Brahui, Torwali, Gawri, and Shina et al remain largely excluded from official and educational domains.
This has created a stark linguistic hierarchy. English and Urdu open doors to opportunity; local languages are treated as markers of backwardness. Pakistanis live multilingual lives but within a monolingual system.
The politics of this hierarchy have deep historical roots. Under British rule, English was the language of power and administration. After independence, Urdu was elevated as a unifying symbol of Muslim identity and national cohesion. This policy, while politically strategic, came at the expense of linguistic justice for the country’s diverse peoples.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Regional Languages Promotion Authority Act of 2012, which aimed to promote local languages, remains unimplemented. Instead of establishing functional research and promotion institutions, governments have opted for symbolic gestures such as permitting a few regional languages to be spoken in the provincial assembly. This is cosmetic multilingualism i.e. diversity celebrated in rhetoric but ignored in policy.
When languages like Torwali, Gawri, or Indus Kohistani decline, the loss is not only linguistic, it is civilizational. Each language carries centuries of poetry, proverbs, oral history, and ecological knowledge that shape how communities relate to their environment. Denying children the right to be educated in their mother tongue is not only unjust but educationally counterproductive. Studies across Asia and Africa show that mother-tongue-based multilingual education (MTB-MLE) leads to better learning outcomes, higher retention, and stronger cultural confidence.
To build a fair and inclusive linguistic future, Pakistan must move beyond token gestures and adopt structural reforms.
First, provincial language authorities must be established and empowered to conduct research, translation, and creative work in indigenous languages.
Second, a multilingual education system should begin with the mother tongue and gradually integrate national and global languages to ensure both cultural continuity and academic success.
Third, digital documentation and media initiatives must be supported to give indigenous languages visibility in modern communication and technology.
Finally, community-based organizations be included in the design and monitoring of linguistic programs, ensuring that policy remains grounded in lived experience and local ownership.
Multilingualism, then, is both a fact and a choice. Every society hosts multiple languages, but only a just society allows all of them to flourish with dignity. Individual multilingualism expresses human adaptability—the ability to live in more than one world. Societal multilingualism expresses justice—the collective decision to give each world its rightful space.
Pakistan’s linguistic future depends on moving from symbolic recognition to structural inclusion. To preserve and promote languages like Torwali is not to resist progress; it is to redefine progress in human and plural terms where every citizen, in every valley and city, can learn, educate, dream, and speak in the language of their heart.
