JEDDAH — Social activist Rohail Khan has formally launched Urdu Academy International (UAI) as a global think tank to incubate new ideas and develop projects to promote Urdu language, literature, and culture. Urdu is the fourth most-spoken language with over 550 million people speaking it worldwide. To serve future generations, there is a need to rebuild the brand of Urdu and execute well-planned projects to popularize and secure Urdu language and literature at all levels, Khan said while launching the organization. He said there was a need to represent Urdu internationally and build bridges between the East and the West. Urdu Academy International will have its head office in the Middle East that will also manage its activities in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh in addition to the GCC countries. A regional office will be established next year in Washington, DC, to manage operations across North America and Europe. The new organization's motto is “Serving Urdu. Serving Islam”. Khan, who is the founder chairman of the academy, said there was a need to use Urdu as a means to enhance knowledge about Islam. He said: “Regardless of our origin or nationality, let us admit that (after Arabic) Urdu is the largest source of knowledge and literature on Islam, Qur'an and the Sunnah. “This is an undeniable fact.” UAI shall attempt to continue the work of Anjuman-e-Taraqqi-e-Urdu (Urdu Development Association), established in 1903 under the banner of the All India Muhammadan Education Conference, a branch of Aligarh Muslim University. Khan invited Urdu lovers to join and contribute to the growth of the think tank. Facebook has been selected as the social media platform to promote the organization's work throughout the world. UAI's page can be found at www.facebook.com/groups UrduAcademyInternational. Under the academy's flag, Khan hopes to bring together the Urdu-serving associations, societies, universities and colleges from all over the world under one roof. Already within days of the launch, 300 individual and institutional members have joined the UAI from India, Pakistan, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the UK, the US and Canada. Khan announced the short and mid-term projects of the academy, including a quarterly Urdu Digest where Urdu scholars from all over the world will contribute essays, short stories and poems on socioeconomic topics. Every quarter, trophies will be awarded for the best essay and the best poem. Young talents will be encouraged to participate in this project. The organization also aims to publish a concise single-volume Urdu-to-Urdu Dictionary that will attempt to simplify and convert tough Urdu words into commonly understandable Urdu parlance. The UAI also intends to launch an ambitious project to compile and publish a comprehensive 50-volume encyclopedia. It wants to publish an Urdu Thesaurus of Information Technology for children studying in primary and secondary schools. It will also launch a global petition to urge Facebook to adopt Urdu as one of its official languages, before moving on to other social media such as LinkedIn and Twitter. The UAI also wants to standardize the top three Urdu software applications and develop compatible operating systems in Urdu, making them accessible to smart phone, computer and laptop users. Other UAI initiatives include developing an International Directory of Urdu with the names of writers, poets, philosophers and their contact details. The organization will also hold Urdu workshops and symposia at local schools with the aim of conducting one-hour sessions highlighting the importance of Urdu language and literature for children. Inter-school debates will be conducted for young people with scholarships offered as prizes. The UAI will also launch a publishing center to initiate research projects on Urdu. The center, after it has been accredited by Ivy League universities, shall invite upcoming Ph.D. students to research the life and works of the so-called “Father of Urdu” Moulvi Abdul Haq, Shah Waliullah, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and contemporary writers. The center shall also translate internationally acclaimed English literature into Urdu. The center will establish a state-of-the-art, high-tech publishing house dedicated to publishing e-books that can be accessed by everyone. Urdu Academy International shall also organize international conferences and poetry sessions in cooperation with local and international literary societies.
