The Impact of European Languages in Former Colonial territories

43

Master's thesis

The Impact of European Languages in Former Colonial territories

Abstract

This paper presents a case study of the impact of a European language (English) in a former colonial territory (Pakistan). As Pakistan is a frontline state helping the United States to fight terrorism while, at the same time, having an educational system which can create terrorists, it is important to understand what role English plays in it.

English was introduced in the areas now comprising Pakistan by the British colonial power in the nineteenth century. As it was the language of the domains of power - government, bureaucracy, judiciary, military, education, commerce, media etc - at the elitist level, it became a preserve of the elite and a means of empowerment. It also became a status marker and a social asset, thus functioning as a class differentiator.

This role of English has become more pronounced in the recent years because the elites of Pakistan--especially the armed forces and the bureaucracy - have appropriated English for themselves contrary to the state's declared policy of curtailing its role and replacing it with Urdu, the national language, as the official language.

This chapter looks at the use of English in different institutions - schools, institutions of higher education, the state sector, the private sector and the entertainment sector with a view to understanding how English empowers and privileges an elite and what worldview, or ideological orientation, it encourages. This last is important if we are to understand how English, an elitist preserve though it is, seems to favour liberal values which may be an antidote to the rising intolerance and violence in Pakistani society as well as the world in general.

Introduction

Language is an important instrument of state power. Thus states have two dimensions of language policy: first, to spread their languages to as many people and groups as possible; and second, to learn foreign languages to secure their national interests through diplomacy, intelligence-gathering, trade, domination by their media, production of ideas and even war. Both aspects of policy preserve, enhance and sustain their power. The states of Europe did the same in their colonial territories though the emphases varied and other policies-- administrative, judicial, military and educational-- changed with circumstances and beliefs. Barring a few cases, languages were not imposed upon conquered people-- they were rationed out. That is to say, market conditions were created which made the colonial subjects themselves keen to acquire the language of their rulers. This was done by creating modern domains for the exercise of power-- bureaucracy, education, the officer corps of the armed forces, higher judiciary, elitist media, higher commerce etc-- and making entry into these domains contingent upon the knowledge of the European language of the rulers. This language, then, was what I would call the 'language of power'. And it is about one of them, English, that I am going to talk about in this paper. And I will take one case of its impact: Pakistan.

A traveller from an English-speaking country finds it easy to travel in Pakistan. The PIA (Pakistan International Airline). If that is the traveler's carrier to Pakistan, makes announcements in English in addition to Urdu, the national language. The air hostesses speak in English to the passengers. The immigration officials speak the requisite few phrases in English and even the taxi drivers and porters know enough English to serve the traveller. Out in the street, on the way to a hotel, the shops have signs in English as well as Urdu. Sometimes, confusingly enough, there are Urdu words written in the Roman script and vise versa. The hotel, if it is in an upscale locality, functions in English. In short, the penetration of English in Pakistani society, at least in the urban areas, is visible everywhere in the country.

Objective

This paper presents a case study of the impact of a European language (English) in a former colonial territory (Pakistan). Admittedly only a case study, Pakistan is important because it affects the Western world, and especially the United States, in ways which have become crucial after Nine Eleven. It is now a frontline state helping the United States fight terrorism. At the same time its education system has the potential to create terrorists. English is relevant in this context because students who are least exposed to it appear to be most supportive of intolerant and militant values. This is what makes this case study relevant to one of the major concerns of the world community and maybe for the participants of this conference.

Specifically, this paper analyses the role of English in Pakistani society with a view to understanding:

(a)The use of English in public and private domains i.e. government, education, media etc.

(b)The relationship between English and the distribution of power (socio-economic class) in society.

(c)The relationship between worldview (relating to tolerance and militancy) and the exposure to English as medium of instruction.

The Linguistic Background of Pakistan

Pakistan, created out of British India in 1947, has a 97 per cent Muslim Population speaking 69 languages (Grimes 2000: Section on Pakistan) out of which the following six are spoken by 96 per cent of the people:

Urdu, an urban language of wider communication whose mother-tongue speakers (Mohajirs) immigrated from India, is the national language of the country while English is the official language. English is the language of the elite of Pakistan both formally--official interaction, employment, education etc--and informally (private conversation, entertainment, reading, travel etc). It is perhaps even more firmly entrenched today in Pakistan than it was during the British period. However, English has very few native speakers in Pakistan though it is spoken as an additional language by the Westernized, urban elite.

The variety of English spoken and written by Pakistanis has been called `Pakistani English' in sociolinguistic literature (Baumgardner 1987; Rahman 1990). This is a non-native variety of English with its own rules. As it is created by the `interference' of Pakistani languages, it is internally differentiated--with reference to the first language of the speaker (`Punjabi English', `Pashtun English' etc). It is also differentiated according to closeness to native (in this case `British') norms of usage with the acrolectal sub-variety being the closest and the basilectal one being the furthest removed from British Standard English. The mesolectal variety, which most ordinary Pakistanis use, is in between. Pakistani English differs from British and American English most in pronunciation and accent but there are differences in grammar and vocabulary too (for details see Rahman 1990). Pakistani English is used in the media, in literature and in advertising (Baumgardner 1993).

The number of those who commonly spoke English (probably acrolectal sub-variety of Pakistani English, though this is not indicated anywhere) was less than 2 per cent of the population nor did those who claimed to read and write it exceed about 2.67 per cent of the population up to 1961 when the census recorded such information (see Annexure-1). After that one can only make guesses. According to David Crystal the estimate of English users is as follows:

The source of Crystal's figures is not given. If all these who have passed the matriculation examination, in which English is a compulsory subject, are taken as being literate in English (i.e. if they read it with understanding and write in it), then the figure was 17.29 per cent of the total population (132,352,000) according to the latest census report (Census 1998). However, as most matriculates from vernacular-medium government schools cannot use English in real life situations, the real number of those who can use it must be less. The members of the Westernized elite, who do use English almost as a first language (acrolectal variety of Pakistani English), would be around 1.5 per cent of the population. This however, is the author's personal guess based upon, among other things, the proportion of those who opt for British school examinations versus those who do not (see Annexure-2).

Review of Literature

The role of English in Pakistan has been studied by Anjum Riaz ul Haque (1983), Shemeem Abbas (1993) Sabiha Mansoor (1993) and Tariq Rahman (1996: Chapter-13; 2002: Chapter-9). The first two writers merely touch upon the role of English in the country in survey articles. Sabiha Mansoor, however, has conducted two major surveys on the attitudes of students towards languages. The first survey, conducted in Lahore in 1992, suggests that students have a linguistic hierarchy in mind with English at the top followed by Urdu and with the mother tongue, in this case Punjabi, coming to the bottom. She also found out that English is associated with modernity and efficiency while Punjabi is associated with informality and intimacy (Mansoor 1993). Sabiha Mansoor's Ph. D thesis, `The Role of English in Higher Education' gives a detailed analysis of the role of English in higher education. The study confirms Pakistani students', their teachers' parents' and the administrators of universities' positive attitudes towards English. It goes on to recommend that English should continue to be used as an `alternate medium of instruction for government schools' till class 12 (Mansoor 2002: 316). Moreover, English would also be the medium of instruction in higher education. These recommendations, if implemented, will not change the power equation because only a few urban government schools would be able to use English as a medium of instruction as, indeed, the model schools of Islamabad are already doing. All other schools would be forced to keep using Urdu as they would neither have the teachers nor the texts to use English effectively. In short, as the present author has pointed out in several studies earlier (Rahman 1999: Chapter-4), the present linguistic apartheid will continue.

The Historical Background

The demand for learning English among Indians began in the Bengal where British rule was established after 1757. Even in those early days translations from Persian into English and vice versa were required and the translator is said to have exacted `as many eshreffies (or double guineas) as there are lines translated' (Khan 1789, Vol. 3: 210). The Hindus, having sought employment with the British earlier and in greater numbers than the Muslims, took a lead over the latter in learning English. However, a number of Muslim travellers to Europe, such as Dean Mahomet (1759-1851), did learn English and even wrote in it (Fisher 1996; Khan 1998). There were also Muslims in English-teaching schools in the early part of the nineteenth century (Hampton 1947: 35; Fisher 1826 in Basu 1952: 105) much before Nawab Abdul Latif (1828-93) and Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (1817-98) made efforts to popularize English among the Muslims of India. However, these efforts were needed because ordinary Muslims regarded English as an anti-religious influence despite the edict of Shah Abdul Aziz (1746-1823), a religious reformer, who pronounced that it was permissible for Muslims to learn English but for purely instrumental, work-related, reasons (Aziz n.d: 571-2, original in Urdu; quoted from Rizvi 1982: 240-41). Though the ulema of all schools agreed with this early edict, the Indian Muslims mistrusted English till the middle of the nineteenth century and even after that (Rahman 2002: 165-167).

The British policy towards the diffusion of English among Indians too underwent major changes during the roughly two centuries of rule. In the beginning, from the end of the eighteenth century till 1835, the `Orientalist' policy was followed. This consisted of using Persian, with some Arabic and Sanskrit, which were religious languages of the Muslims and the Hindus respectively, as the language of education and the courts. The British officers adopted Indian customs and wrote in Persian and Urdu and have rightly been called `White Mughals' by William Darlymple (2002). After the 1820s, however, the Anglicist lobby, which wanted English and the vernacular languages of India to replace Persian, gained strength and Persian was removed between 1835 and 1837. In 1835 Governor General William Bentinck, a man of Anglicist views, accepted T. B. Macaulay's recommendation that Indians should be taught through English at the upper level and the Indian elite should be Anglicized. The masses, however, were to be taught through the recognized vernaculars of the country (Rahman 1996: Chapter-4).

This decision created an educational apartheid based upon competence in English. The old feudal elite (in chiefs colleges) as well as the new modernizing elite (in European schools, convents and military schools) learnt good English which they used even for informal conversation with each other. The masses, on the other hand, struggled with English at school and had to contend with it during college and university days when they gained working proficiency in it though it never became the language of preferred, private conversation. English thus became a marker of urban, middle and upper class identity which it remains even today.

English in the Areas Now in Pakistan

The areas which now constitute Pakistan were conquered almost a century after the British gained ascendancy in India. Sindh was conquered in 1843 and the Punjab (including the present North West Frontier Province) in 1849. In Sindh, as early as 1847, an Indo-British School was set up in Karachi for the education of `European and Anglo-Indian Children'. However, the Muslims of Sindh started learning English when one of their compatriots, Majid K. B. Hussanally Effendi (1830-95), created the Sindh Madressah-tul Islam in Karachi in 1885. In the Punjab, English was available in the colleges which the British established in the major cities, in missionary schools and, for the landed aristocracy, in Aitshison College (1886) in Lahore. In the N. W. F. P, although there were English medium schools for British children as early as the 1860s, the Edwards College, a missionary college for Indian students, was established only in 1935 by Reverend Robert Clarke (Ahmed 1989: 15). In short, at the time of the establishment of Pakistan in 1947, English was available only in a few elitist schools or in institutions of higher education in the areas now called Pakistan. As in the rest of India, English was very much a marker of elitist status and the major language of empowerment for those who sought employment by the state or the corporate sector.

English and the Power Structure in Pakistan

English is used in the domains of power in Pakistan--the government, bureaucracy, judiciary, military, commerce, media, corporate sector, entertainment--at the elitist level. It is required for empowerment at the personal, and familial, level. Those who manipulate it have an obvious advantage over those who do not. This does not mean, however, that English is the only means for empowerment or that competence in English is directly proportional to empowerment. In the Pakistani countryside ownership of land, and in the market place the possession of capital, are the sources of power. And, of course, English gives entry, but only entry, in the modern, literacy-based, urban domains of power. It does not ensure promotion which is based on efficiency, manipulation of influence using relationships, one's nuisance value, and so on. Thus, while it is not possible to become a bureaucrat or an army officer without knowing some English, it is possible to rise high in these professions acquiring great power leaving behind those who are far more proficient in English but are not in a position to, or do not know how to, manipulate the system of the distribution of goods and services to their advantage.

This makes English the preferred language of the `salariat'--defined by Hamza Alavi as those who `share a common struggle for access to a share of limited opportunities for state employment' (1987: 226)--of Pakistan. In recent years, English has become the language of globalization and, therefore, dominates the world. Thus Pakistanis seeking access to the international market also need English. Indeed, while state jobs in Pakistan have become accessible for people who have average proficiency in English, the most well paying NGOs, the private educational institutions, the corporate sector and the most fashionable society all need very high proficiency in English. Thus, fifty seven years after independence from British rule, Pakistanis find themselves more in need of English than ever before. It was, and remains, the modernizing Pakistanis' major hope for empowerment as long as the present policies, which favour English, remain intact.

State Policies Favouring English

From the earliest days of Pakistan the state seems to have followed discrepant policies about English. The overt policy, which was enshrined in the 1973 constitution, was as follows:

(1)The National language of Pakistan is Urdu, and arrangements shall be made for its being used for official and other purposes within fifteen years from the commencing day.

(2)Subject to clause (1) The English language may be used for official purposes until arrangements are made for its replacement by Urdu (Article 251 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973).

The covert policy, or rather the practice, was to allow English to continue as an official language regardless of what the constitution might have declared. Moreover, it was allowed to function as the medium of instruction in elitist schools. Indeed, the civil bureaucracy and the armed forces, both institutions of the state, invested heavily in creating an English-medium system of instruction for the elite contrary to the declared policies of the state of Pakistan.

English in the Educational System

English is taught as a subject in the vernacular-medium schools either from class-1 or class-6 throughout Pakistan. It is also compulsory it the Higher Secondary level (classes 11 and 12) and the two-year bachelor's level (13 and 14 years of education). However, the level of competence attained is low and students are unable to understand and write, let alone speak, English. English is taught through the grammar-translation method. Students memorize a large number of rules without acquiring any real understanding of the language. They also translate passages from English to Urdu and vise versa. As the books are not changed for many years, people write guide books to help the students. Thus, the students cram lessons, such as essays, from the guide books and get passing grades without acquiring any real competence in English. Passing percentages in Urdu, and overall passing percentages, are better than in English.

Those who do acquire varying degrees of competence go to English-medium schools. As mentioned earlier, there are (1) private elitist English-medium school (2) cadet college/public schools (3) Non-elitist English-medium schools.

Private Elitist English-medium Schools

They are set up by private entrepreneurs in all the major cities of Pakistan. Some are single institutions while others are chains out of which the most notable are the Beacon House system, the City School System and Froebels. They charge tuition fees ranging from Rs. 1500 to Rs. 8000 per month besides admission and other fees. They generally prepare their students for the British Ordinary and Advanced School level examinations. They are not paid by the state but the armed forces, which own land in the most fashionable parts of the city, give them land at bargain prices on the condition that their own wards should get concessions in fees. In short, the elite of power uses public property to get concessions for its own self and not the public at large--an arrangement which probably violates the law but which goes unchecked in the country.

The students of these schools generally come from the upper-middle classes (26.66%) and the upper classes (53.33%) (see Annexure-3). They are much fewer in number than their vernacular school counterparts (see Annexure-2).

They learn English primarily from their families, peer group and exposure to the T. V, computer, songs, media and reading material in English. Their schools have books written by native speakers of English with attractive pictures and creative exercises. Their school also expose them to real-life situations and extra curricular activities which test and hone their skills in English. Thus, generally speaking, the products of these schools use English spontaneously and naturally. This, however, is a product of class--as is their expensive schooling itself for that matter--than either good teaching or books or any single other factor.

In a survey of the opinions of 116 students of these schools in 2002-03 the present author obtained replies to questions about an open war with India for Kashmir or supporting militants who operate across the line of control which suggest that the students of the elitist English-medium schools do not support militant policies in Kashmir. They are aware of the disastrous consequences of a war with India and also oppose any abetment of low-intensity war in Kashmir In the same survey questions were also asked to test to level of tolerance of religious minorities (Ahmedis, Hindus and Christians) and women. The results are given in annexure-4.

Except in the case of Ahmedis where the large percentage of `don't know' suggests that students are confused, students agree that religious minorities should be given the same rights as Muslims in Pakistan. They also have very pro-women views even though the number of girls was 53 (out of 116) and 96.15 percent of them voted for equal rights for women.

Despite this apparently liberal worldview, English-medium school students are social snobs. They look down upon their follow citizens from vernacular-medium schools and madrassas. They are also alienated from Pakistan's culture, languages, literature, dress and even cuisine. They listen to English music and like foreign food to their homegrown products. This elite was Anglicized till the sixties. They went to convent schools where they were taught by European missionaries; aspired to British university degrees or a commission from Sandhurst; preferred the Civil Service of Pakistan (CSP) or a commission in the army to any other employment. Their evenings were spent in clubs and gymkhanas where bearers dressed as if they still lived in the world of the British `burra sahibs' and chatted in English over `chota pegs' of whisky. The caricatures of this elite are found in Nasir Ahmed Farooqi's novels: Faces of Love and Death(n.d) and Snakes and Ladders (1968) (Rahman 1991: 72-80). Nowadays, this elite is Americanized and much richer than before. The children do not only aspire for a foreign education but mostly do go abroad preferably to the United States. They seek employment in the NGO or the corporate sector and attend ostentatious parties where drugs are in fashion as much as alcohol. This lifestyle is described by Mohsin Hamid in his novel Moth Smoke (2000). What is common to both the Anglicized and the Americanized English-speaking elite is that both are callously indifferent to the peoples' aspirations, values and feelings. Thus, as long as they are not part of the decision-making apparatus they express ideas which appear liberal because they belong to an abstract, idealized, Western world and not the real world anywhere.

Of course, as soon as they become part of the real world they operate differently. After all, the present-day Pakistan elite, which studied in English-medium institutions, took decisions which created the apartheid in the educational system we see today. They are also the architects, or at least the supporters, of militant policies and have increased the gap between the haves and the have-not. Hence the apparent liberal worldview of the English-medium elite does not automatically translate itself into either pro-peace or tolerant or pro-women policies as imperatives of security, class interest and other factors affect decision-making as adults.

Cadet College/Public School Students

The cadet colleges/public schools are influenced by the armed forces. Their boards of governors, at times administrators, have armed forces officers. As wards of armed forces have various concessions the student body comes from a lower socio-economic background than that of the private elitist English-medium schools (see Annexure-3). The answers to the questionnaire given in survey 2003 are given in detail in Annexure-4.

In short, while the cadet college students are less militant and more tolerant of religious minorities and women than madrassa ones (for whose views also see Annexure-4), they are less liberal in their attitudes than their private English-medium counterparts.

The views of non-elitist English-medium school students were not ascertained in 2003-2004 as they had revealed views very similar to their Urdu-medium counterparts in an earlier survey in 1999-2000 (see Rahman 2002: Annexure-14).

The cadet college/public schools are said to run on money generated by fees. However, they are given land at nominal cost or on lease by the state. Moreover, the provincial government, while spending inadequate funds on their own schools running in the vernaculars, are more generous to the elitist cadet colleges running in English as we shall see in the next section.

The State's Covert Support to English in the Education Sector

Indeed, what never comes out in the educational reports is that the state actually spends public funds on elitist schooling. Agencies of the state, primarily the military and the bureaucracy, created the cadet college, or public schools, in order to groom young men for military and administrative positions since Ayub Khan military rule (1958-1969). Indeed, Ayub established such elitist institutions when he was the Commander-in-Chief of the army (Khan 1967: 43) without realizing that the state itself cannot place some of its citizens in an advantageous position compared to the others nor, indeed, can it finance institutions which violate its own educational policy (of not using English as the medium of instruction). It was precisely this point which the report on student's problems and welfare, reporting in 1966 on the causes of widespread student unrest of the 1960s, had to acknowledge as follows:

… we cannot help observing that we are unable to appreciate the principle upon which such a discrimination is sought to be made by the government, particularly in view of the constitutional assurance given in paragraph 15 under Right No. VI to the effect that “all citizens are equal before law” (GOP 1966: 18).

However, having pointed out this legal nicety, the commission--nor anyone else for that matter--did not do anything about the elitist cadet colleges and they flourished and multiplied.

The position now is that the armed forces are the leading entrepreneurs of elitist, English-medium education in the country. Other agencies of the state follow. There are elitist English-medium schools administered by the armed forces, welfare organizations of the armed forces, organizations paid by public funds as well as the cadet colleges which are heavily influenced by the armed forces since their boards of governors have senior military officers in dominating positions.

The army runs brigade schools, garrison schools and, through the Fauji Foundation, nearly ninety secondary and four higher secondary schools. It also influences a number of cadet colleges/public schools. Beneficiaries, generally depends of army personnel, pay lower fees than civilians. For instance, in the Army Burn Hall College, a public school in Abbottabad, boarders from army families pay Rs. 2,956 per month while civilians pay Rs. 3,506 (personal communication by the principal, June 2003). The Pakistan Air Force has established over 25 schools and colleges with an enrollment of over 43,000 students and 2000 teachers (Air University Manual 2003). The Pakistan Navy, through the Bahria Foundation, has also set up English-medium schools.

The schools of the armed forces, though English-medium, do not cater to the upper-middle and upper-class which are Westernized and highly exposed to English. Thus neither students nor teachers use English as the medium of private conversation as do their counterparts from the elitist private English-medium schools. However, the students of these institutions gain much more competence in English than their counterparts in the vernacular-medium institutions.

Moreover, all the federal government schools and colleges in the cantonments and garrisons, though financed by the federal government, are actually administered by a serving brigadier of the army. The cadet college/public schools are said to run on money generated by fees. However, they are given land at nominal cost or on lease by the state. Moreover, the provincial government, while spending inadequate funds on their own schools running in the vernaculars, are more generous to the elitist cadet colleges running in English. The following figures illustrate this:

Although the armed forces are the most dominant among the institutions of the state to promote English-medium schooling for their dependents at low cost, the federal government too promotes English for its employees and the residents of the federally administered areas. The Federal Directorate of Education, established in 1967, administers 396 educational institutions. Their cost per students per year is worked out as follows:

In addition to the model colleges, some of the federal schools and colleges, are also English-medium institutions whereas provincial government schools are mostly Urdu-medium, and in some parts of Sindh Sindhi-medium, institutions.

The armed forces also control schools and colleges, established by the federal government, in the cantonments. The total number of such institutions in 2003 was 291 out of which 258 were schools and 33 colleges. The cost per student per year was as follows:

Out of these 88 schools are English-medium institutions while the rest are Urdu-medium ones. The cost is higher in English-medium institutions though it cannot be calculated as the budget and enrollment for these schools is not available separately.

Education reports pretend that the English-medium institutions are financed by private means and, hence, government does not deal with them. As we have seen, this is not true. English is the language of elitist schooling in Pakistan and Pakistan's elite, especially the military and the civil bureaucracy, does promote it both through public means and private ones in an organized manner: That this is contrary to the state's declared policy or that it discriminates between citizens is something which is completely ignored in Pakistan.

The Press

We have seen earlier that the actual size of the elite which is really fluent in English is very small. Thus the circulation figures of newspapers given below tell us about the strength of the powerful, English-using elite in Pakistan. The figures are given in annexures 5 and 6.

So weak are the indigenous languages of Pakistan that none of them, including Sindhi (circulation 707,303), can beat English. In 2003 out of a total number of 945 publications, 628 are in Urdu and 204 in English. Sindhi, which is the highest in the indigenous language of the country, has 53 publications.

The major dailies in English are Dawn (Karachi); The News (Rawalpindi), The Nation (Lahore); The Frontier Post (Peshawar) and The Daily Times (Lahore). They also have their internet editions. The Dawn has the distinction of being among the top 50 newspapers in the world as far as circulation of the internet edition is concerned (www.dawn.com).

The monthlies Herald and Newsline (both from Karachi) and the weekly Friday Times (Lahore) are read avidly by these who want a candid and detailed coverage of important news and frank, often very daring, analysis of their implications.

The English press is often more balanced and liberal in its analysis than are the major publications in Urdu. The Nawa-i-Waqt has always been an upholder of rights wing views favouring the complete Islamization of the country; the suppression of ethnic diversity in order to promote uniform, monolithic Pakistani nationalism; making Kashmir a part of Pakistan and, therefore, support to militant policies and glorification of war and the armed forces. These policies stay intact and governments are supported in proportion to their adherence to them. Military governments are greeted with enthusiasm by this articulate section of the Urdu press but their liberal tendencies--an in Ayub Khan's (1958-1969) and Pervez Musharraf's case (1999- )--are criticized as being anti-Islam and anti-Pakistan. All liberal views are also castigated in the same scathing terms.

Besides giving informed analysis, the English press often features female models and features on fashionable parties and elitist social life. Their young reader's editions cater for the tastes of the Westernized youth and are written in an in-group idiom which is completely alienated from, and almost incomprehensible to, young people outside this small elite. In short, while the English press is more informed and liberal in its views than the vernacular press in Pakistan, it is essentially more alienated from the ordinary people whose worldview, values and emotions it often ignores.

The Computer

Computers, usually in the form of net cafes, are easily available to all except the rural working classes in Pakistan. Because of this greatly increased use of them, it is often conjectured that this generation of Pakistani children knows better English than the pre-computer one. This is not entirely true as upper-middle and upper-class children, who were educated in elitist English medium schools earlier, read much written material in English and also wrote letters in the language. They now spend more time on the computer and the T. V. This does not improve their English though it does give them other skills. Indeed, as they use contracted spellings in chatting and sending e-mail, they are under less pressure to standardize their spellings than was the pre-computer generation before them.

However, one remarkable effect of the computer revolution is that the Pakistani elitist youth with good skills in English has the opportunity to express itself much more openly than over before. Earlier generations either suppressed doubts about religion, sexual preferences and political dissent or discussed them in whispers with very reliable friends. Now, while on the one hand Pakistani society becomes more and more oppressive and intolerant, on the other, young people express themselves candidly in the internet. Among other things they create web logs (or blogs as they call them). (Muhammad 2003). The `blogs' are very often politically incorrect, sometimes blasphemous and most often about sexuality (mostly tabooed areas such as same-sex love) (see www.aool.blogspot.com) Pakistanis also write informed, often dissenting, articles on the internet (see www.chowk.com) and exhibit much talent and acumen in their writings.

These who do not pick up good English from their families, friends and school do not create `blogs' or write articles. They generally do not have computers in their houses in any case. Such young people come to the internet cafes which are widely available in all large, and even small, towns. Informal conversations and observation of such young people--most are boys--revealed that they just know enough English to get to the sites they want. In general these are pornographic sites. In a sex starved and fun starved society where dating members of the opposite sex is not permissible, pornography is the major source of pleasure for the urban upper-working and lower-middle-class young people. They also like to chat to each other for which a smattering of English is needed. However, they do not go beyond a few hackneyed phrases, sometimes mixed with Urdu in the Roman alphabet.

This exposure to English through the internet may have increased the desire to learn English or confirmed people in their view that English is the most useful bit of cultural capital they can possess, but it can hardly be said to have improved the English of the non-elitist school students or the ordinary people. However, as the exposure to the English script and words, especially words used in computers, has increased it is possible that English has entered the lives of people below the middle class in a way which was unthinkable before computers entered Pakistan.

Entertainment

State-owned television and radio channels mostly use Urdu but English is used for the news (total one hour in the day) and discussions meant for foreign audiences (another two hours in a week). Even the PTV World uses English for these two purposes. The English programmes are for information or projection not for entertainment. Private T. V channels, such as Indus Music, has entertainment programmes in English. Some Video Jockeys (VJ's) conduct entire programmes in English.

The very small elite which uses English almost like a first language also uses it for entertainment. Thus there are publications, movies, songs and theatre shows in English. The publications include foreign imports such as popular fiction, the classics of Western literature and popular American comics such as `Archie comics'. Films in English are popular even among people who do not understand English very well because they cater to tastes to which other kind of movies do not. Surprisingly the Censor Board examined more English films in 2003 than those in any Pakistani languages. Most of these films are not even dubbed in a Pakistani language (see Annexure-7). This shows what a strong presence English has in the entertainment world in Pakistan. Young people listen to foreign music channels through cable T. V and DVD dices of Western singers are commonly available. Some Pakistani singers too have attempted to release songs in English. For instance, the Entity Paradigm, Junoon, Codroy and Dusk groups have released such songs (see www.pakistanimusic.com). Moreover, popular Pakistani music has been profoundly affected by the tune, style, rhythm and melody of English music so that the older melody is no longer fashionable. In some cases old popular songs have been re-recorded with snatches of English words, or music with a distinctively Western beat. Some so-called `underground' music is also under the influence of English while code-switching (Urdu and English) is common in others. Indeed, the effect of English music on the musical tradition of Pakistan is so profound that the country is in danger of losing its roots as far as music is concerned.

The theatre is mostly in Urdu and popular folk entertainment is in the local languages. However, plays in English are staged by students of colleges and schools and the cadets of military academics. Recently (23-28 April 2004) the old Grammarian Society staged a play called. `The Amorous Ambassador' which the elite of Karachi enjoyed very much (Menzes 2004: 30). Sometimes professional groups also stage a show. One such show, `The Phantom of the Opera', directed by Shah Sharabil in Islamabad in March 2004, was a great success. In short, the English-using elite is large enough to sustain an entertainment industry specifically catering for it.

The Official Domains

English remains the language of the bureaucracy, the officer corps of the armed forces, the superior judiciary, corporations (Pakistan International Airlines etc) and the parliament. However, the parliament allows Urdu to be used and it is used very commonly. The records of the parliament are printed in English but if speeches are in Urdu they are printed in that language (Jabbar 2004). The superior courts still use English though the council of Islamic Ideology, set upon in 1962, recommended that the charge should be in the national language or a language the accused understands (CII 1983: Section 221, pp 6-7) and the record of the court too should be in Urdu rather than English (Ibid: Section 265, p. 12). Despite these recommendations, the superior judiciary operates in English. Similarly, despite the presence of Urdu bureaucratic terms, the higher bureaucracy also operates in English though most new entrants in the bureaucracy are now from vernacular-medium schools and find it more congenial to operate in Urdu in their personal lives.

Literature

English was used for literary purposes ever since sake Dean Mahomet [Shaikh Deen Muhammad] (1759-1851) wrote his books entitled Travels (1794) and Shampooing (1822). According to Michael Fisher who had written an excellent biography of this fascinating man, `Dean Mahomet mastered the classically polished literary forces of the day, complete with poetic interjections and allusions' (Fisher 1996: 208).

Before the partition a number of Indian Muslims such as Ahmed Ali and Mumtaz Shahnawaz had written novels on themes relating to the Muslim identity and polities in an era of rapid political change. The riots of the partition were reflected in literature in all languages including English. Bapsi Sidhwa, the famous novelist from Pakistan, wrote her Ice Candy Man (1988) on this painful but perennial theme. The other themes were the conflict between tradition and modernity which is expressed both in the choice of the appropriate idiom (Pakistani English versus British standard English?) and theme (indigenous values versus Westernized values?). As for the individual writers or the major works in each genre--poetry, novel, short story, prose and drama--the present author's A History of Pakistani Literature in English (1991) is useful up to 1988. After that there is no chronological historical account but Muneeza Shamsie's anthology A Dragonfly in the Sun (1997) gives a sample of representative poetry and short stories, with a few extracts from novels, up to 1996. Later, Muneeza Shamsie brought out another anthology, Leaving Home (2001) which brings together prose and short stories upto 2000 in one place. A number of outstanding works by Pakistani authors--Kamila Shamsie, Mohsin Hamid, Uzma Aslam Khan, sara Suleri, Nadeem Aslam, Sorayya Khan (Shamsie, K 2004)--have since been published. Alamgir Hashmi, himself a poet in English, dutifully collects references to these writings in yearly bibliographical entries which are generally published in journals of post-colonial literature. Pakistani universities generally ignore Pakistani literature in English though it is an option in some research (M. Phil) courses. On the whole the English literary tradition is less strong and vibrant in Pakistan than it is in India, Africa and the Caribbean.

The Demand for English

Because of its role in empowering people, English is in great demand in Pakistan. A number of surveys have confirmed this (see Mahbub 2003; Mansoor 2002). The present author also carried out a survey of 954 students in 1999-200 (described in detail in Rahman 2002: Annexure-14) which gave the following results:

The results suggest that whereas most people do give great value to English they do not event it to be used as a medium of instruction for all subjects nor do they want it to be used in the elitist gobs as it is being used at present. They do not want English-medium schools to be abolished, however, because they know that the apartheid system of education will not be abolished and their children or siblings might empower themselves by joining the English-medium schools if the option remains available.

Conclusion

English has a very important role in Pakistan. It is the major language of power being used in the higher domains of employment both in the state and the private sector. It is, therefore, much in demand and the elite of wealth and power have made special provisions in the form of English-medium schools where their own children can acquire skills in it. The number of students appearing in the British O' and A' Level examinations seems to be increasing at a faster pace than the total rate of growth of student population (see Annexure-8). English is also the language of private conversation and entertainment for a very small elite which is alienated from and indifferent to the rest of their compatriots from less privileged socio-economic classes.

English is also the window to the outside world and has discourses with liberal, democratic values which do have the potential of changing male-dominating, macho values from Pakistani traditional sub-cultures. It can also act as a moderating influence against the influence of religious extremists who are intolerant of points of view different from their own or of womens' empowerment and liberation. However, since these liberalizing influences of English are available only to people who, being from the elite, are alienated from the ordinary people, they do not have the capability of making society really moderate or liberal.

This, however, is no longer a national problem; it has international dimensions. In the wake of Nine Eleven much has been made of computer-savvy young people, quite at home in Western countries and, of course, literate and even competent in English. Theey are said to be the leaders or the brains of the anti-West militant movement we have witnessed. However, while some of these people may be personally well off (like Osma Bin Laden himself), most of them, at least from countries like Pakistan and Egypt are from the lower middle and working classes who have struggled against what they perceive to be a Westernized and corrupt elite in their own country and Western powers abroad. They have studied in state schools, being unable to afford private ones, where English was the biggest impediment of their academic and social lives. In a global context, of course, even the rich may feel marginalized, besieged and isolated by the pressures of globalization the language of which is generally English. But as for the rank and file, again with special reference to Pakistan, they are those who are marginalized through the educational system among other things. Their major defining characteristic is that they are given little exposure to English and are unable or unwilling to overcome the obstacle of English to get a decent job in society. Since they are not exposed to any discourses created in other societies, it is easy for discourses produced by religious fundamentalists, cultural chauvinists and others to dominate their minds. They often use the idiom of religion to express their anger against the system which has somehow cheated them of a decent existence.

It is only when English ceases to be the monopoly of the upper classes and is spread out as a subject (not a medium of instruction in elitist schools) to all schools that it will become a force of moderation. For this it is essential that the state, or agencies of the state, stop the unstated policy of discriminating between citizens by subsidizing elitist English-medium education while starving the other schools of funds (see Annexure-9). This is as much in the interest of Pakistan (ex-colonial territories) as that of the West (European former imperial powers and the United States)