Urdu computing standards: development of Urdu Zabta Takhti (UZT) 1.01

With increasing usage of computers in Pakistan, and emerging Urdu applications from word processing to mega-scale projects such as National ID card project and proposed E-governance projects by the government of Pakistan, there is a growing need for a consistent way of storing and exchanging data among applications in Urdu. However, consistent data storage and communication is not possible unless computing standards are defined. Otherwise, despite the deployment of individual systems, they would not be able to communicate among each other and therefore would be largely ineffective. This paper narrates the details of the recent efforts put into the evolution of one such standard, the code page for Urdu: Urdu Zabta Takhti (UZT) 1.01. The government of Pakistan (GoP) approved this standard in July 2000.