Kathmandu, February 21:

Minister for Science and Technology Formullah Mansur said today that all languages of the nation should be treated equally. Mansur was speaking at a function organised to mark the International Mother Language Day.

“Languages that are facing extinction must be protected,” said culture expert Satya Mohan Joshi, adding that one who forgets his language loses his cultural identity. Linguist Nabin Chitrakar said Nepali language has dominated all other ethnic languages and accused the government of being biased.

Culture expert Chunda Bajracharya demanded that local languages be recognised official languages in autonomous states to be carved in the future.