12/09/2025
The Fading Soul: Reviving the Balochi Language*
By : Lateef Saeed
As we all have heard, language is the soul of a nation. If a nation loses its language, it loses its soul.
*As Nelson Mandela said* Without a native language, one cannot talk to people and understand them, one cannot share their hopes and aspirations.
But I would like to say, Language is identifying a nation. It connects people with their culture. A native language is the only source allowing people to share their ideas and feelings.
Without proper language, a nation cannot be accepted as a nation.
But why does a language get lost or extinct?
There are several reasons why a language becomes extinct.
A language gets an extinct lack of literacy. Literacy helps a language to be recorded in a written form or text form in newspapers, books, and digital content, which can be kept for generations.
Through literacy, a language can develop standards such as grammar, spelling, and vocabulary, which make a language strong, unity, and usable.
Secondly, a language will be extinct when there is a decline in the number of speakers. Because when fewer people speak a language, within a nation, and, more especially, when the youth generation stops learning and writing it. This phase often happens when people shift to speak a dominant or global language for economic and political reasons.
Furthermore, when there is migration and displacement, it compels the communities to adopt a language according to the new environment.
So sad to say that all these problems are being faced in our Balochi language.
In fact, the literacy rate in the Balochi language is 1% even less than among the native speakers, due to the dominance of other languages like Urdu and English.
In 2025, the University of Balochistan closed the department of Balochi, because of which, overall, students focused on Urdu and English for better jobs.
Despite these, the rate of institutes for Balochi is less than ten, whereas for English and Urdu language institutions there are countless, which is a big reason for the disappearance of the Balochi language.
But still not too late to promote the language and make it a well-known language.
Balochistan's Educational Ministry BEM must introduce Balochi as a subject in schools.
Political leaders can promote the Balochi language by opening institutes for Balochi and funding them as well.
As belonging to the Baloch nation, we have to create content in Balochi, such as videos, audios, and tell and spread them in the media to reach young people.
Most importantly, we must organize cultural events such as festivals, seminars, and celebrate the Balochi language.
Finally, we should support and encourage those Baloch who are writing Balochi poems, stories, and books for the promotion of the Balochi language.