No, Pakistanis will not be saying 'Ni Hao' officially

Photo: Reuters

ISLAMABAD: News that the Pakistani Senate on Monday approved a motion to declare Mandarin as one of the official languages of Pakistan sparked furore online before it emerged that it was incorrect information.

The misreporting began with a report on Pakistani news channel AbbTakk News.

It also sparked criticism that Pakistan was not doing enough to promote its own languages.

Pakistan's Ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani tweeted: "In a short span of 70 years, Pakistan has flirted with promoting four languages that were not the mother tongue of many people in the country- English, Urdu, Arabic, and now Chinese — ignoring native languages.

Punjabi, which is widely spoken in Punjab province of Pakistan, Pashto and many other native languages have not been declared official languages of the country.

According to Dawn News, Pakistanis are more interested in learning the Chinese language than ever as they see the tides changing and expect that knowing Mandarin would mean more job opportunities in Pakistan and China.