Siraiki is not a Punjabi variant and there is no way in the world that only 9% of Pakistan speak Seraiki.
Seraiki is spoken as a dominant language or widely spoken in Multan, D G Khan, Bahawalpur, Bahawalngar,. R Y Khan, Rajanpur, Bhakkar, Mianwali, Khushab and with good numbers also in northern sindh, loralai and neighbouring balochistan, d i khan, jhang, sargohda, toba tek singh, vihari, ..basically the southern punjab and central punjab,south western punjab and neighbouring quarters of nwfp balochistan and sindh.
in fact thereis a huge chance that seraiki is advancing into balochistan.
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Originally Posted by Spock
Yes, I am sure this is what the Bengalis thought when they were forced to accept Urdu. Maybe in 1952, they protested not because of their love for their own language, but to part ways right?
Also did you ever wonder, if Persian or Arabic were the national languages, your encyclopedia would have the same exact article there, just replace urdu by persian or arabic. Doesnt mean diddly squat. People speak the national language because they have been forced to do so for the last 60 years.
Check out the excerpt below. Also, why are you so afraid if we have all these wonderful languages in addition to the wonderful urdu as the official provincial languages? People still speak Hindi in India dont they? If you are convinced everyone speaks Urdu, you have nothinig to worry about then.
Pakistan - Linguistic and Ethnic Groups
Nearly half of all Pakistanis (48 percent) speak Punjabi. The next most commonly spoken language is Sindhi (12 percent), followed by the Punjabi variant Siraiki (10 percent) This is for you thejoke, Pakhtu or Pashto (8 percent), Balochi (3 percent), Hindko (2 percent), and Brahui (1 percent). Native speakers of other languages, including English, Burushaski, and various other tongues account for 8 percent.
Although Urdu is the official national language, it is spoken as a native tongue by only 8 percent of the population. |