INTEGRATION THROUGH LANGUAGE IN THE PAK-AFGHAN BORDERLAND: THE INTERPLAY OF PAST LEGACIES, PRESENT REALITIES AND FUTURE SCENARIOS.

This paper overviews the genesis, development, decay and legacy of Pashto language policy and planning (LPP) in Pakistan and Afghanistan within the context of borderland. It argues that despite sharing one language, Pashtoons living across Durand Line gradually diverged to integrate respectively in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Therefore, support and opposition to Pashto language was politically motivated. The Afghan, British Indian and Pakistani elite used planning and policy for Pashto as an instrument and indicator of political ends. This paper establishes that the development and weakening of Pashto in domains of power is intrinsically dependent on its speakers. Political interests, therefore, made Pashto the center of Pashtoon identity. Current policies in the borderland point to a future where cohesion through language takes place in Afghanistan and Pakistan. So, acceptance of linguistic diversity as a unifying asset is gradually replacing the earlier fear of viewing it as a threat to unity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]