THE LANGUAGES OF

PAKISTAN
BY
MUZZAMMIL HABIB

Pakistan is home to many dozens of languages

spoken as first languages. Five languages have more
than 10 million speakers each in Pakistan –
Punjabi, Pashto, Sindhi, Saraiki and Urdu. Almost all
of Pakistan's languages belong to the Indo-
Iranian group of the Indo-European language family.
Pakistan's national language is Urdu. Pakistan also
has several regional languages,
including Punjabi, Saraiki, Pashto, Sindhi, Balochi, Guj
ari, Kashmiri, Hindko, Brahui, Shina, Balti, Khowar, Dh
atki, Haryanvi, Marwari, Wakhi and Burushaski. Four
of these are provincial languages –
Punjabi, Pashto, Sindhi, and Balochi.

SINDHI

Sindhi is and historical language of the Sindh region

in northern India and is spoken by Sindhi people. It
is a language which is spoken in india and Pakistan
but is spoken by people mostly in Pakistan. It is the
national language of the Sindh region in Pakistan. he
name "Sindhi" is derived from Sindhu, the original
name of the Indus River. When Sindh was occupied
by British army and was annexed with Bombay,
governor of the province Sir George Clerk ordered to
make Sindhi the official language in the province in
1848. Sir Bartle Frere, the then commissioner of
Sindh, issued orders on August 29, 1857 advising
civil servants in Sindh to qualify examination in
Sindhi. He also ordered Sindhi to be used in all
official communication. Seven-grade education
system commonly known as Sindhi-Final was
introduced in Sindh. Sindhi Final was made a
prerequisite for employment in revenue, police and
education departments.

PUNJABI
Punjab is the national language of the people in the
Punjab province of India and Pakistan. Punjabi is
mostly spoken by Pakistanis. The word Punjabi ( has
been derived from the word Persian for "Five
Waters", referring to the five major eastern
tributaries of the Indus River. The name of the region
was introduced by the Turko-
Persian conqueror of South Asia and was a
translation of the Sanskrit name for the
region, Panchanada, which means "Land of the Five
Rivers".Panj is cognate with Sanskrit and Greek and
Lithuanian Penki - "five", and "" is cognate with
Sanskrit and with the Av- of Avon. The
historical Punjab region, now divided between India
and Pakistan, is defined physiographically by
the Indus River and these five tributaries. One of the
five, the Beas River, is a tributary of another,
the Sutlej.

PASHTO
It is the language of the Pashtuns mainly spoken in
Afghanistan and Pakistan. Pashto is spoken at the
province of Khyber paktunkhwan and is spoken by
15 percent of the population in Pakistan. Pashto is
mainly spoken in Afghanistan by 50 to 60 percent of
the population. It is the regional language of Khyber
pakthun khwan and Balochistan. From the 16th
century, Pashto poetry become very popular among
the Pashtuns. Some of those who wrote in Pashto
are Bayazid Pir Roshan (a major inventor of
the Pashto alphabet), Khushal Khan Khattak, Rahman
Baba, Nazo Tokhi, and Ahmad Shah Durrani, founder
of the modern state of Afghanistan or the Durrani
Empire.
URDU

Urdu is the national language of Pakistan. It is

spoken by all Pakistanis of Pakistan. It is a little bit
like Hindi the national language of India. Urdu was
chosen as an official language of Pakistan in 1947 as
it was already the lingua franca for Muslims in north
and northwest British India, although Urdu had been
used as a literary medium for British Indian writers
from the Bombay Presidency, Bengal, Orissa
Province, and Tamil Nadu as well. In 1973, Urdu was
recognised as the sole national language of Pakistan
- although English and regional languages were also
granted official recognition.