KL Report
SRINAGAR
A former judge Muhammad Nazir Fida has submitted the Kashmiri translation of the Indian Constitution to the Union Law Ministry. With this, Kashmiri becomes among the very few languages of India in which Indian Constitution has been translated.
According to reports received by KNS, after about four years, a noted writer Muhammad Nazir Fida, who retired as Principal District and Sessions judge Anantnag in 2011, completed the translation and submitted the manuscript to the Law Ministry of the GoI in May last year. Translated directly from English, it is updated upto June 2012 and includes the 97th Amendment.
Fida was appointed by the State Government for the job through the State Cultural Academy in 2009. The project of translation of the Constitution in regional languages was initiated by the Union Law Ministry in 2009. For the Kashmiri translation in October 2009, the then Union Law Minister Verappa Moily wrote to J&K Chief Minister requesting him to appoint an expert for translation of the Constitution. The State government constituted a committee headed by Chief Secretary and appointed Fida for the job. The translation has been accepted by the Law Ministry and has given a letter of appreciation and acknowledgment to Fida.
“Translating legal language particularly terminology from English into Kashmiri was indeed a challenging job. It had to be made not only correct language-wise, but fact-wise as well,” he said.
Saying that taking up such a difficult translation assignment was because of his love for the Kashmiri language, Fida said, “I was actually driven and motivated by my passion for my mother tongue, as I wanted it to be rich in legal and constitutional literature as well. I am happy that I could contribute my bit.”
Pertinently the translation of the Constitution of India is available in few languages only which include Urdu and Hindi. Meanwhile, the legal and literary circles of the State have demanded immediate publication of the Kashmiri translation of the Constitution. “It is strange that even after ten months of submission of the manuscript to the Union Law Ministry, it is yet to be published. They should immediately publish it and make it available to public,” said a litterateur, who didn’t want to be named.
Regarding the non-publication of his translation, Fida said that he has done his job and the concerned are expected to publish it as the manuscript has been authenticated. “A senior officer of the Law Ministry had met me sometime back, and while appreciating my work, informed me that it will be published soon but that has not been done so far,” he said.
