Reading the article reminded me heavily of Pakistan. Although Pakistan is home to more than four dozen languages, the official language the leaders chose was not from any of the originally spoken in the country.
After Pakistan became independent in 1947, Urdu was made the official language of more than 200 million people. The language 'migrated' from North India into Pakistan. To the non-Urdu speaking population of the country, who formed the majority of the population, this was a major setback. They felt that a minority, that was less than 4% of the population, was enforcing its own culture and traditions upon them. Such was the intensity of this feeling of cultural hijacking that East Pakistan broke away from the center to become Bangladesh, in order to preserve their own language, traditions and culture. For the people who remained in Pakistan, their language, culture and traditions eroded away with time. This is visible in the degeneration of Sriaiki, which is increasingly becoming an oral tradition. There is a major scarcity of Siraiki literature in circulation. The Urdu and English languages are supplanting local languages. This means the new generations are giving up their own traditions and practices in favor of Western and Urdu cultures. In essence, replacing the language has meant replacing the entire cultural identity.
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