Jammu, A conference was held in Jammu, Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, on the occasion of the birth anniversary of poet Allama Muhammad Iqbal and World Urdu Day, today.

According to Kashmir Media Service, the conference was held under the banner of Tehreek-e-Tahaffauz-e-Urdu and a large number of Urdu lovers from the cross section of society, including writers, poets and journalists, took part in the day-long deliberations.

Apart from giving valuable suggestions for the protection and promotion of Urdu language, serious concerns were expressed over what they termed conspiracies being hatched to weaken, rather finish this beautiful civilisation called Urdu language.

The host of the conference and the Chairman of Tehreek-e-Tahaffauz-e-Urdu, Mir Shah Saleem, addressing on the occasion, appealed to the lovers of Urdu to take up the responsibility of protecting and promoting Urdu without looking at the authorities’ crutches.

He said it is very unfortunate that for some time conspiracies have been made to make Urdu language weak and irrelevant in every way and at every level. “To counter this we have to take practical steps at the public level”, he added.

Other speakers also presented their suggestions regarding the preservation and promotion of Urdu language and literature and expressed their deep anger that Urdu could not get its due place and status in occupied Jammu and Kashmir, where this language has been used as the official language for the last one and a half hundred years.

They said that the previous governments of Jammu and Kashmir did not play any important role for the promotion of Urdu language and since the Modi government came to power in India, no stone has been left unturned to weaken Urdu literature and language.

They said those who call Urdu the language of Muslims, are probably not aware of the history of this language, adding that the Urdu language has played a key role in the independence of Pakistan and India.

Prominent among those who also spoke on the occasion included Prof. Qudoos Javed, Aseer Kishtwari, Khawaja Ghulam Ahmed, Prof. Assadullah Wani, Dr Amar Chand Bhagat, RK Kalsotra, Ashiq Hussain Khan, Piarey Hatash, Sheikh Yousaf, Shabir Rather, Kuldeep Singh, Prof. Mushtaq Wani, Tarunjit Singh Tony, Shibanji Koul, Engineer Ghani Ghayoor, Shahida Kousar, Laksh Bali, Dr. Arshad Wali and Sheikh Nisar Ahmed.