For the past many months a new topic has taken over most political debates, the topic of ‘language’ used by politicians. From talk shows, press conferences to rallies the topic under discussion always seems to be the use of ‘unsuitable language’, however, the rather bizarre thing is that the very people responsible for using ‘unsuitable language’ are seen lecturing on the issue.

The issue came to the forefront after the 126-day long sit in by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the ruling party i.e. the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) as well as other parties that include the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) among others have accused not just the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chief Imran Khan but the entire party of promoting a culture of using abusive or ‘unsuitable language’. The party followers and officials have also been accused of using the same language on social networking websites.

However, the real problem lies in the fact that the assertion that only language issue is restricted to only PTI is not true. The problem is that more or less every party is guilty of the language issue. PMLN, PTI, PPP, MQM and others are all involved in this. The culture of using this sort of language is now even quite prevalent on television talk shows and is not restricted to social networking websites and political rallies.

The use of abusive language and mud-slinging being unintentionally promoted is not only against our culture but against basic ethics and morals. Instead of blaming others all political parties must cleanse themselves first. If this practice is not discouraged at this stage, it may come to haunt us in the future.

The culture of using inappropriate language must be nipped in the bud.