Pakistan Academy of Letters
Encyclopedia
The Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) is a learned society
of literary
, Arts
, and humanities
. It is the largest learned society of it own kind, and promotes literacy and literature based conferences throughout the country. It was established in July 1976 under the Government
of Prime minister
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
by a group of renowned group of Pakistani writers, poets, essayists, and inspired by the Académie Française
. It is a non-profit and education promotion organization which works under the Ministry of Education
with a view to promoting and fostering literary activities in Pakistan and systematizing the support mechanism to scholars and writer
s of Urdu
, Punjabi
, Sindhi
, Pushto
, Balochi
and English in the pursuit of their research and creative works.
In 1978, dr. Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi
became its first President, and the same year he Aims and Objectives of the Academy were formulated. Founding Fellows among whom were prominent men of letters representing different languages of Pakistan. The founding fellows includes Mr. Allah Bukhsh Karim Bukhsh Brohi
, Mr. Hafeez Jalandhri, Mian Sad Rasool Rasa, Prof. Ahmad Ali, Mr. Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi, Mr. Shareef Kunjahi
i and Dr. N.A. Baloch.
In 1980, dr. Shafiq-ur-Rehman was appointed the Academy’s first Chairman in December 1980. A Board of governors was also established in 1978. As of today, Mr. Fakhar Zaman is the current Chairman, the second time he is holding this responsibility. This present Chairman of Academy, assumed charge in November, 2008.
There are more than 300 fellows of the academy (generally 14 new Fellows are named annually) who earn the privilege of using the post-nominal letters FPAL. The fellowship of the academy is high restricted, and is fellowship is only awarded those who have done extraordinary work in Urdu language/or education.
Learned society
A learned society is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline/profession, as well a group of disciplines. Membership may be open to all, may require possession of some qualification, or may be an honor conferred by election, as is the case with the oldest learned societies,...
of literary
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
, Arts
ARts
aRts, which stands for analog Real time synthesizer, is an audio framework that is no longer under development. It is best known for previously being used in KDE to simulate an analog synthesizer....
, and humanities
Humanities
The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....
. It is the largest learned society of it own kind, and promotes literacy and literature based conferences throughout the country. It was established in July 1976 under the Government
Government of Pakistan
The Government of Pakistan is a federal parliamentary system, with an indirectly-elected President as the Head of State and Commander in Chief of the Pakistani Armed Forces, and an indirectly-elected Prime Minister as the Head of Government. The President’s appointment and term are...
of Prime minister
Prime Minister of Pakistan
The Prime Minister of Pakistan , is the Head of Government of Pakistan who is designated to exercise as the country's Chief Executive. By the Constitution of Pakistan, Pakistan has the parliamentary democratic system of government...
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was 9th Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1973 to 1977, and prior to that, 4th President of Pakistan from 1971 to 1973. Bhutto was the founder of the Pakistan Peoples Party — the largest and most influential political party in Pakistan— and served as its chairman until his...
by a group of renowned group of Pakistani writers, poets, essayists, and inspired by the Académie Française
Académie française
L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...
. It is a non-profit and education promotion organization which works under the Ministry of Education
Ministry of Education (Pakistan)
The Ministry of Education, also referred as MEd, is a Cabinet-leveled ministry of the Government of Pakistan. The ministry's political figure is known as Education Minister of Pakistan, and Parliamentarian Sardar Asif Ahmad Ali is the current Federal Education Minister of Pakistan while Mr. Ghulam...
with a view to promoting and fostering literary activities in Pakistan and systematizing the support mechanism to scholars and writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
s of Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
, Punjabi
Punjabi language
Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region . For Sikhs, the Punjabi language stands as the official language in which all ceremonies take place. In Pakistan, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language...
, Sindhi
Sindhi language
Sindhi is the language of the Sindh region of Pakistan that is spoken by the Sindhi people. In India, it is among 22 constitutionally recognized languages, where Sindhis are a sizeable minority. It is spoken by 53,410,910 people in Pakistan, according to the national government's Statistics Division...
, Pushto
Pashto language
Pashto , known as Afghani in Persian and Pathani in Punjabi , is the native language of the indigenous Pashtun people or Afghan people who are found primarily between an area south of the Amu Darya in Afghanistan and...
, Balochi
Balochi language
Balochi is a Northwestern Iranian language. It is the principal language of the Baloch of Balochistan, Pakistan, eastern Iran and southern Afghanistan. It is also spoken as a second language by some Brahui. It is designated as one of nine official languages of Pakistan.-Vowels:The Balochi vowel...
and English in the pursuit of their research and creative works.
In 1978, dr. Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi
Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi
Prof. Dr. Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi SP, HI was a noted historian, educationist and scholar of Pakistan as well as a prolific writer. He is regarded as the founding member of Muqtadra Qaumi Zaban and served as the first education minister of Pakistan...
became its first President, and the same year he Aims and Objectives of the Academy were formulated. Founding Fellows among whom were prominent men of letters representing different languages of Pakistan. The founding fellows includes Mr. Allah Bukhsh Karim Bukhsh Brohi
Allah Bukhsh Karim Bukhsh Brohi
Allah Bukhsh Karim Bukhsh Brohi was a prominent politician and lawyer from Sindh, Pakistan.He is the first mentor of famous Indian Lawyer Ram Jethmalani as acknowledged in his authorized biography....
, Mr. Hafeez Jalandhri, Mian Sad Rasool Rasa, Prof. Ahmad Ali, Mr. Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi, Mr. Shareef Kunjahi
Shareef Kunjahi
Shareef Kunjahi ) was a leading writer and poet of Punjabi. He was among the first faculty members of the Department of Punjabi Language at University of Punjab in 1970s and contributed to Punjabi literature as a poet, prose writer, teacher, research scholar, linguist, lexicographer and...
i and Dr. N.A. Baloch.
In 1980, dr. Shafiq-ur-Rehman was appointed the Academy’s first Chairman in December 1980. A Board of governors was also established in 1978. As of today, Mr. Fakhar Zaman is the current Chairman, the second time he is holding this responsibility. This present Chairman of Academy, assumed charge in November, 2008.
There are more than 300 fellows of the academy (generally 14 new Fellows are named annually) who earn the privilege of using the post-nominal letters FPAL. The fellowship of the academy is high restricted, and is fellowship is only awarded those who have done extraordinary work in Urdu language/or education.