188-595: Political views Parties Elections [REDACTED] The Pakistan Muslim League (N) abbreviated as PML (N) , ( Urdu : پاکستان مسلم لیگ (ن) ) is a centre-right , conservative liberal political party in Pakistan . It is currently the third-largest party in the Senate and the largest in the National Assembly . The party was founded in 1993, when a number of prominent conservative politicians in
376-642: A dialect continuum ranging from Persianised to Sanskritised vocabulary, but now they are more and more different in words due to politics. Old Urdu dictionaries also contain most of the Sanskrit words now present in Hindi. Mutual intelligibility decreases in literary and specialised contexts that rely on academic or technical vocabulary. In a longer conversation, differences in formal vocabulary and pronunciation of some Urdu phonemes are noticeable, though many native Hindi speakers also pronounce these phonemes. At
564-532: A 275-page report to the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The report found that Sharif, his sons and his daughter Maryam Nawaz could not justify their income nor their assets, adding that Maryam Nawaz had been proved to be a beneficial owner of Nielsen and Nescoll. The report also showed that Maryam Nawaz had falsified evidence before the Supreme Court, proven as the Calibri font used in the document did not exist at
752-450: A brief period in 1431 but was driven out by Mubarak Shah. Mughal Era The Mughals came to power in the early sixteenth century and gradually expanded to control all of Punjab. During Mughal period Punjab region was divided into two provinces; Province of Multan and Province of Lahore . The Mughal Empire ruled the region until it was severely weakened in the eighteenth century. As Mughal power weakened, Afghan rulers took control of
940-524: A coalition, and Nawaz announced that he and his party gave the PPP the right to choose the next Prime Minister. On 13 May 2008, the PML-N ministers resigned from the government due to a disagreement related to the reinstatement of the judges. Nawaz said that the PML-N would support the government without participating in it. Zardari, hoping to preserve the coalition, told Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to reject
1128-406: A core vocabulary of native Sanskrit and Prakrit derived words and a significant number of Arabic and Persian loanwords, with a consensus of linguists considering them to be two standardised forms of the same language and consider the differences to be sociolinguistic ; a few classify them separately. The two languages are often considered to be a single language (Hindustani or Hindi-Urdu) on
1316-546: A heavy influence on both as a co-official language. According to Bruce (2021), Urdu has adapted English words since the eighteenth century. A movement towards the hyper-Persianisation of an Urdu emerged in Pakistan since its independence in 1947 which is "as artificial as" the hyper-Sanskritised Hindi that has emerged in India; hyper-Persianisation of Urdu was prompted in part by the increasing Sanskritisation of Hindi. However,
1504-518: A literary medium for Indian writers from the Bombay Presidency, Bengal, Orissa Province, and Tamil Nadu as well. As Urdu and Hindi became means of religious and social construction for Muslims and Hindus respectively, each register developed its own script. According to Islamic tradition, Arabic , the language of Muhammad and the Qur'an , holds spiritual significance and power. Because Urdu
1692-595: A notable novel being Umrao Jaan Ada . According to the Navadirul Alfaz by Khan-i Arzu, the "Zaban-e Urdu-e Shahi" [language of the Imperial Camp] had attained special importance in the time of Alamgir ". By the end of the reign of Aurangzeb in the early 1700s, the common language around Delhi began to be referred to as Zaban-e-Urdu , a name derived from the Turkic word ordu (army) or orda and
1880-702: A phonological level, speakers of both languages are frequently aware of the Perso-Arabic or Sanskrit origins of their word choice, which affects the pronunciation of those words. Urdu speakers will often insert vowels to break up consonant clusters found in words of Sanskritic origin, but will pronounce them correctly in Arabic and Persian loanwords. As a result of religious nationalism since the partition of British India and continued communal tensions, native speakers of both Hindi and Urdu frequently assert that they are distinct languages. The grammar of Hindi and Urdu
2068-413: A plane carrying then Chief of Army Staff Pervez Musharraf as it was about to land at Karachi airport , and the control tower ordered the plane not to land in Pakistan but India instead. However, Musharraf and his loyalists had been planning a coup for months and some versions of the story claim that Musharraf orchestrated the coup from the plane and the military didn't allow the plane to land until Musharraf
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#17327724762952256-589: A policy continued by the Mughal Empire , which extended over most of northern South Asia from the 16th to 18th centuries and cemented Persian influence on Hindustani. Urdu was patronised by the Nawab of Awadh and in Lucknow , the language was refined, being not only spoken in the court, but by the common people in the city—both Hindus and Muslims; the city of Lucknow gave birth to Urdu prose literature, with
2444-430: A poor third, with 54 seats. Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) won eight provincial assembly seats, while the PPP won seven provincial seats. On 25 August 2008, Nawaz Sharif announced that Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui would be Pakistan Muslim League (N) nominee to replace Pervez Musharraf as President of Pakistan . During its election campaign for the 2013 general elections , the party competed against its arch-rival,
2632-409: A population of over 127 million, it is the most populous province in Pakistan and second most populous subnational polity in the world. Located in the central-eastern region of the country, it has the largest economy , contributing the most to national GDP , in Pakistan. Lahore is the capital and largest city. Other major cities include Faisalabad , Rawalpindi , Gujranwala and Multan . It
2820-547: A resolution to work for a Muslim Pakistan, making the Punjab region a center of growing conflict between Indian and Pakistani nationalists. At the end of the war, the British granted separate independence to India and Pakistan, setting off massive communal violence as Muslims fled to Pakistan and Hindu and Sikh Punjabis fled east to India. The British Raj had major political, cultural, philosophical, and literary consequences in
3008-507: A sectarian divide of "Urdu" for Muslims and "Hindi" for Hindus, a divide that was formalised with the partition of colonial India into the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan after independence (though there are Hindu poets who continue to write in Urdu, including Gopi Chand Narang and Gulzar ). Urdu had been used as a literary medium for British colonial Indian writers from
3196-481: A significant role in the development of the Urdu register. Hindi became the distinct register spoken by those who sought to construct a Hindu identity in the face of colonial rule. As Hindi separated from Hindustani to create a distinct spiritual identity, Urdu was employed to create a definitive Islamic identity for the Muslim population in India. Urdu's use was not confined only to northern India – it had been used as
3384-651: A single party, known as the Pakistan Muslim League . After President Zia-ul-Haq's death in 1988, under the leadership of Fida Mohammad Khan , a large faction split away from the Junejo-led Pakistan Muslim League , and formed a conservative alliance with various right-wing and Islamist political parties, called the Islamic Democratic Alliance . The alliance formed a government in 1990 under
3572-793: A small opposition. On 18 February 1997, when Nawaz Sharif obtained a vote of confidence, the Pakistan Muslim League assumed the government of Pakistan. Nawaz Sharif allowed Benazir Bhutto to hold the office of Leader of the Opposition , though the PML-N held control of the state parliament. The PML-N government passed the Thirteenth and the Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of Pakistan to stabilize its mandate and strengthen its position. In 1998,
3760-614: A symbol of their religious identity. Hindus in northwestern India, under the Arya Samaj agitated against the sole use of the Perso-Arabic script and argued that the language should be written in the native Devanagari script, which triggered a backlash against the use of Hindi written in Devanagari by the Anjuman-e-Islamia of Lahore. Hindi in the Devanagari script and Urdu written in the Perso-Arabic script established
3948-419: A uniting language. Urdu was chosen as a symbol of unity for the new Dominion of Pakistan in 1947, because it had already served as a lingua franca among Muslims in north and northwest of British Indian Empire . Urdu is also seen as a repertory for the cultural and social heritage of Pakistan. While Urdu and Islam together played important roles in developing the national identity of Pakistan, disputes in
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#17327724762954136-465: A vehicle of poetry, (especially under the Bahmanids ), and is known as Dakhini , which contains loanwords from Telugu and Marathi . From the 13th century until the end of the 18th century; the language now known as Urdu was called Hindi , Hindavi , Hindustani , Dehlavi , Dihlawi , Lahori , and Lashkari . The Delhi Sultanate established Persian as its official language in India,
4324-464: A very significant number among the nearly 800 districts of India, there is a small Urdu-speaking minority at least. In Araria district , Bihar, there is a plurality of Urdu speakers and near-plurality in Hyderabad district, Telangana (43.35% Telugu speakers and 43.24% Urdu speakers). Some Indian Muslim schools ( Madrasa ) teach Urdu as a first language and have their own syllabi and exams. In fact,
4512-588: Is a Persianised register of the Hindustani language , an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia . It is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan , where it is also an official language alongside English . In India , Urdu is an Eighth Schedule language , the status and cultural heritage of which are recognised by the Constitution of India ; and it also has an official status in several Indian states. In Nepal , Urdu
4700-668: Is a registered regional dialect and in South Africa , it is a protected language in the constitution. It is also spoken as a minority language in Afghanistan and Bangladesh , with no official status. Urdu and Hindi share a common Sanskrit - and Prakrit -derived vocabulary base, phonology , syntax , and grammar, making them mutually intelligible during colloquial communication . While formal Urdu draws literary, political, and technical vocabulary from Persian , formal Hindi draws these aspects from Sanskrit; consequently,
4888-533: Is bordered by the Pakistani provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the north-west, Balochistan to the south-west and Sindh to the south, as well as Islamabad Capital Territory to the north-west and Azad Kashmir to the north. It shares an international border with the Indian states of Rajasthan and Punjab to the east and Indian-administered Kashmir to the north-east. Punjab is the most fertile province of
5076-621: Is historically significant because it resulted in the syncretism of ancient Greek political and cultural influences to the Indian subcontinent, yielding works such as Greco-Buddhist art, which continued to have an impact for the ensuing centuries. Multan was the noted centre of excellence of the region which was attacked by the Greek army led by Alexander the Great . The Malli tribe together with nearby tribes gathered an army of 90,000 personnel to face
5264-527: Is not officially recognised by the Government of Bangladesh . The Urdu spoken by Stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh is different from this dialect. Many bilingual or multi-lingual Urdu speakers, being familiar with both Urdu and English, display code-switching (referred to as " Urdish ") in certain localities and between certain social groups. On 14 August 2015, the Government of Pakistan launched
5452-488: Is one variety, is spoken much more widely, forming the third most commonly spoken language in the world, after Mandarin and English . The syntax (grammar), morphology , and the core vocabulary of Urdu and Hindi are essentially identical – thus linguists usually count them as one single language, while some contend that they are considered as two different languages for socio-political reasons. Owing to interaction with other languages, Urdu has become localised wherever it
5640-593: Is read and written as in other parts of India. A number of daily newspapers and several monthly magazines in Urdu are published in these states. Dhakaiya Urdu is a dialect native to the city of Old Dhaka in Bangladesh , dating back to the Mughal era . However, its popularity, even among native speakers, has been gradually declining since the Bengali Language Movement in the 20th century. It
5828-552: Is said to have arisen as the "language of the camp", or " Zaban-i-Ordu " means " Language of High camps " or natively " Lashkari Zaban " means " Language of Army " even though term Urdu held different meanings at that time. It is recorded that Aurangzeb spoke in Hindvi, which was most likely Persianized, as there are substantial evidence that Hindvi was written in the Persian script in this period. During this time period Urdu
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6016-491: Is shared, though formal Urdu makes more use of the Persian "-e-" izafat grammatical construct (as in Hammam-e-Qadimi , or Nishan-e-Haider ) than does Hindi. The following table shows the number of Urdu speakers in some countries. Punjab, Pakistan Punjab ( / p ʌ n ˈ dʒ ɑː b / ; Punjabi , Urdu : پنجاب , pronounced [pənˈd͡ʒɑːb] ) is a province of Pakistan . With
6204-729: Is spoken by large numbers of migrant South Asian workers in the major urban centres of the Persian Gulf countries. Urdu is also spoken by large numbers of immigrants and their children in the major urban centres of the United Kingdom , the United States, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, and Australia. Along with Arabic , Urdu is among the immigrant languages with the most speakers in Catalonia . Religious and social atmospheres in early nineteenth century India played
6392-492: Is spoken, including in Pakistan. Urdu in Pakistan has undergone changes and has incorporated and borrowed many words from regional languages, thus allowing speakers of the language in Pakistan to distinguish themselves more easily and giving the language a decidedly Pakistani flavor. Similarly, the Urdu spoken in India can also be distinguished into many dialects such as the Standard Urdu of Lucknow and Delhi , as well as
6580-518: Is the backbone of national prosperity and diversification of the rural economy, by expanding non-farm rural employment, is critical for the alleviation of poverty". During its federal government, the PML-N successfully privatised the major heavy industries under its planned industrial development programme. In 1997, the Environmental Protection Agency was established by the PML-N government, and its Ministry of Environment
6768-481: Is used in education , literature , office and court business, although in practice, English is used instead of Urdu in the higher echelons of government. Article 251(1) of the Pakistani Constitution mandates that Urdu be implemented as the sole language of government, though English continues to be the most widely used language at the higher echelons of Pakistani government. Urdu is also one of
6956-502: The 1997 parliamentary elections , held on 3 February 1997. It secured a two-thirds majority in the Pakistan Parliament , the only political party to have gained a two-thirds majority since the country's independence in 1947. During this time, the PML-N was the largest conservative party, with its members occupying 137 seats out of 207, roughly 66.2%. In 1997, the party secured its win with an overwhelming mandate, with only
7144-471: The 2008 general election , the party won urban votes and dominated the provisional assembly of Punjab Province . They secured a total of 91 seats in the state parliament , just second to the Pakistan People's Party , which won 121 seats, and the parties agreed on forming a coalition government. The PML-N called for the impeachment of President Pervez Musharraf , and successfully ousted him from
7332-575: The Bombay , Bengal , Orissa , and Hyderabad State as well. Before independence, Muslim League leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah advocated the use of Urdu, which he used as a symbol of national cohesion in Pakistan. After the Bengali language movement and the separation of former East Pakistan , Urdu was recognised as the sole national language of Pakistan in 1973, although English and regional languages were also granted official recognition. Following
7520-671: The Central Hindi Directorate was established earlier in 1960, and the promotion of Hindi is better funded and more advanced, while the status of Urdu has been undermined by the promotion of Hindi. Private Indian organisations such as the Anjuman-e-Tariqqi Urdu, Deeni Talimi Council and Urdu Mushafiz Dasta promote the use and preservation of Urdu, with the Anjuman successfully launching a campaign that reintroduced Urdu as an official language of Bihar in
7708-687: The Dakhni ( Deccan ) of South India. Because of Urdu's similarity to Hindi , speakers of the two languages can easily understand one another if both sides refrain from using literary vocabulary. Although Urdu is widely spoken and understood throughout all of Pakistan, only 9% of Pakistan's population spoke Urdu according to the 2023 Pakistani census . Most of the nearly three million Afghan refugees of different ethnic origins (such as Pashtun , Tajik , Uzbek , Hazarvi , and Turkmen ) who stayed in Pakistan for over twenty-five years have also become fluent in Urdu. Muhajirs since 1947 have historically formed
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7896-527: The Devanagari and Latin script ( Roman Urdu ) to allow its survival, or whether this will only hasten its demise and that the language can only be preserved if expressed in the Perso-Arabic script. For Pakistan, Willoughby & Aftab (2020) argued that Urdu originally had the image of a refined elite language of the Enlightenment, progress and emancipation, which contributed to the success of
8084-527: The Ilm Pakistan movement, with a uniform curriculum in Urdish. Ahsan Iqbal , Federal Minister of Pakistan, said "Now the government is working on a new curriculum to provide a new medium to the students which will be the combination of both Urdu and English and will name it Urdish." Standard Urdu is often compared with Standard Hindi . Both Urdu and Hindi, which are considered standard registers of
8272-640: The Indian independence movement . Nationalists declared the independence of India from Lahore in 1930 but were quickly suppressed. When the Second World War broke out, nationalism in British India had already divided into religious movements. Many Sikhs and other minorities supported the Hindus, who promised a secular multicultural and multireligious society, and Muslim leaders in Lahore passed
8460-722: The Indo-Aryan migrations that overran the region in waves between 1500 and 500 B.C. The migrating Indo-Aryan tribes gave rise to the Iron Age Vedic civilization , which lasted till 500 BC. During this era, the Rigveda was composed in Punjab , laying the foundation of Hinduism . Frequent intertribal wars in the post-Vedic period stimulated the growth of larger groupings ruled by chieftains and kings, who ruled local kingdoms known as Mahajanapadas . Achaemenid emperor Darius
8648-596: The Jhelum , Chenab , Ravi , and Sutlej rivers which traverse Punjab north to south – the fifth of the "five waters" of Punjab, the Beas River , lies exclusively in the Indian state of Punjab. The landscape is amongst the most heavily irrigated on earth and canals can be found throughout the province. Punjab also includes several mountainous regions, including the Sulaiman Mountains in the southwest part of
8836-610: The Khariboli dialect of the Delhi region). Dakhni (also known as Dakani, Deccani, Desia, Mirgan) is spoken in Deccan region of southern India . It is distinct by its mixture of vocabulary from Marathi and Konkani , as well as some vocabulary from Arabic, Persian and Chagatai that are not found in the standard dialect of Urdu. Dakhini is widely spoken in all parts of Maharashtra , Telangana , Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka . Urdu
9024-662: The Lahore Fort , the archaeological excavations at Taxila , and the Rohtas Fort , among others. The name Punjab is of Persian origin, with its two combined words meaning ( پنج , panj , 'five' and آب , āb , 'water') and it was introduced and started to be widely used during the Mughal Empire rule over the region. It is considered to be the cognate of the Sanskrit words पञ्च , pañca , 'five' and अप् , áp , 'water', of
9212-849: The Langah Sultanate in Multan . The Sultanate included regions of southern and central Punjab and some areas of present day Khyber. A large number of Baloch settlers arrived and the towns of Dera Ghazi Khan and Dera Ismail Khan were founded. During the most of 15th century, the Khokhars and Gakhars tribes were in general revolt in the Pothohar region. Jasrath Khokhar was one of their major chiefs who helped Sultan Zain Ul Abideen of Kashmir to gain his throne and ruled over vast tracts of Jammu and North Punjab . He also conquered Delhi for
9400-817: The Maurya Empire and the Greco-Bactrian kingdom in 302 B.C.E. Menander I Soter conquered Punjab and made Sagala (present-day Sialkot ) the capital of the Indo-Greek Kingdom . Menander is noted for becoming a patron and converting to Greco-Buddhism and he is widely regarded as the greatest of the Indo-Greek kings. Islamic conquest Islam emerged as the major power in Punjab after the Umayyad caliphate led by Muhammad bin Qasim conquered
9588-451: The Musharraf -backed Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid) , for almost a decade. PML-N regained popularity in the 2008 general elections , when it was elected as the principal opposition party. It returned to power following the elections of 2013 , with Sharif elected as the prime minister for an unprecedented third term. The party, however, faced a major setback following the disqualification of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 2017. The situation
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#17327724762959776-443: The Muslim League struggled to revive itself, eventually losing control of East Pakistan in legislative elections to the Left Front . Internal disagreement over the party's direction, lack of a political program, motivation for public reforms, and inadequate administrative preparations and mismanagement all led to the public decline of the party. With the Socialist Party , the Muslim League struggled for its survival while facing
9964-446: The National Assembly of Pakistan . In spite of its limited mandate , Nurul Amin became the prime minister and vice-president of Pakistan – the only figure to have been appointed as vice-president. The PML government was short-lived and soon its government fell in the aftermath of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 . The PML-N is ideologically close to the military and holds common beliefs on national security . The list below shows
10152-426: The PPP , and another centrist party, the PTI . In an unofficial count, the party secured the qualified majority in the state parliament , the Punjab Assembly , and the Balochistan Assembly ; it is yet the only party to have secured respectable seats and representation on provisional assemblies of Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The leader of PML-N, Nawaz Sharif , won a third term as Prime Minister of Pakistan ,
10340-423: The PPP . Benazir Bhutto mounted pressure on President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, who dismissed the IDA government on 18 April 1993. The PML-N appealed to the Supreme Court , which then restored Sharif's government on 26 May. The country's armed forces and the military leadership attempted to negotiate with Sharif and get him to step down. This culminated in the resignation of Nawaz Sharif, and President Ghulam Ishaq Khan
10528-425: The Pakistan Muslim League , later called Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-e-Azam) (or PML-Q), which became allies of then president Pervez Musharraf . In 2001, the Muslim League (Nawaz) formally adopted the name of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), also known as PML(N). As a result of the Kargil War with India , the PML-N government had generated frustration within the party and a secret splinter group inside
10716-424: The Pakistan People's Party (PPP). The general elections of 1988 marked the emergence of the Pakistan People’s Party's as the single largest political party, with its election to 94 of 237 seats in the state parliament . The IDA occupied 55 seats, but an influential leader, Nawaz Sharif , chose to serve the Chief Minister of Punjab Province . With Benazir Bhutto elevated to the post Prime Minister of Pakistan ,
10904-455: The Pakistan People’s Party , the Pakistan Muslim League (N) is also responsible for increasing Pakistan's nuclear deterrent as well as boosting the nation's nuclear power growth, first establishing the Chashma Nuclear Power Plant expansion as part of its nuclear policy. The party has been long advocated for broader and stronger relations with the United States , China , the United Kingdom , European Union , Singapore , Malaysia , and
11092-406: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan People's Party (PPP), it is one of the three major political parties of the country. One of several continuing factions of the original Muslim League , the seeds of the party were sown following the 1985 elections when the Prime Minister of Pakistan Muhammad Khan Junejo organised the supporters of President Zia-ul-Haq 's dictatorship into
11280-423: The Provincial Assembly , and also largest in the Center. Maryam Nawaz (daughter of Former PM Nawaz Sharif) became the first female Chief Minister of Punjab . Upon the creation of Pakistan and departure of the British Crown in 1947, the All-India Muslim League (AIML) became the Muslim League , which was now led by Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan . After the assassination of Prime Minister Ali Khan ,
11468-428: The Punjabi elite of Pakistan, have adopted Urdu as a mother tongue and identify with both an Urdu speaker as well as Punjabi identity. Urdu was chosen as a symbol of unity for the new state of Pakistan in 1947, because it had already served as a lingua franca among Muslims in north and northwest British India . It is written, spoken and used in all provinces/territories of Pakistan , and together with English as
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#173277247629511656-498: The Republican Party and Awami League . The martial law imposed in 1958 eventually outlawed all political parties in the country. The foundation and ground base of the PML-N lies with the Pakistan Muslim League , which was founded in 1962 as an enriched conservative project derived from the defunct Muslim League. The PML was presided over by Fatima Jinnah , who actively participated in presidential elections held in 1965 against Muhammad Ayub Khan . After Fatima Jinnah 's death,
11844-501: The Soan Valley of the Pothohar , between the Indus and the Jhelum rivers , where Soanian culture developed between 774,000 BC and 11,700 BC. This period goes back to the first interglacial period in the second Ice Age , from which remnants of stone and flint tools have been found. The Punjab region was the site of one of the earliest cradle of civilizations , the Bronze Age Harrapan civilization that flourished from about 3000 B.C. and declined rapidly 1,000 years later, following
12032-399: The de jure legal status and de facto political status of Urdu, how much Urdu is used as language of instruction and chosen by students in higher education, and how the maintenance and development of Urdu is financially and institutionally supported by governments and NGOs. In India, although Urdu is not and never was used exclusively by Muslims (and Hindi never exclusively by Hindus),
12220-461: The 10th century, the tribe of the Gakhars / Khokhars , formed a large part of the Hindu Shahi army according to the Persian historian Firishta . Ghaznavid The Turkic Ghaznavids in the tenth century attacked the regions of Punjab. Multan and Uch were conquered after 3 attacks and Multan's ruler Abul Fateh Daud was defeated, famous Sun Temple was destroyed. This attack ended the 3 centuries of Islamic rule over Punjab. Ghaznavids overthrew
12408-439: The 18th century and two similar standard forms came into existence in Delhi and Lucknow . Since the partition of India in 1947, a third standard has arisen in the Pakistani city of Karachi . Deccani , an older form used in southern India , became a court language of the Deccan sultanates by the 16th century. Urdu has a few recognised dialects, including Dakhni , Dhakaiya , Rekhta , and Modern Vernacular Urdu (based on
12596-421: The 1950s (particularly those in East Pakistan , where Bengali was the dominant language), challenged the idea of Urdu as a national symbol and its practicality as the lingua franca . The significance of Urdu as a national symbol was downplayed by these disputes when English and Bengali were also accepted as official languages in the former East Pakistan (now Bangladesh ). Urdu is the sole national, and one of
12784-479: The 1960s, the Urdu lobby and eventually the Urdu language in Pakistan has been associated with religious Islamism and political national conservatism (and eventually the lower and lower-middle classes, alongside regional languages such as Punjabi, Sindhi, and Balochi), while English has been associated with the internationally oriented secular and progressive left (and eventually the upper and upper-middle classes). Despite governmental attempts at Urduisation of Pakistan,
12972-418: The 1970s. In the former Jammu and Kashmir state , section 145 of the Kashmir Constitution stated: "The official language of the State shall be Urdu but the English language shall unless the Legislature by law otherwise provides, continue to be used for all the official purposes of the State for which it was being used immediately before the commencement of the Constitution." Urdu became a literary language in
13160-578: The 1979 Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan and subsequent arrival of millions of Afghan refugees who have lived in Pakistan for many decades, many Afghans, including those who moved back to Afghanistan, have also become fluent in Hindi-Urdu, an occurrence aided by exposure to the Indian media, chiefly Hindi-Urdu Bollywood films and songs. There have been attempts to purge Urdu of native Prakrit and Sanskrit words, and Hindi of Persian loanwords – new vocabulary draws primarily from Persian and Arabic for Urdu and from Sanskrit for Hindi. English has exerted
13348-399: The 2008 general election, demanding a restoration of the judges sacked under the emergency rule put in place by President Pervez Musharraf , and the removal of Musharraf as president. After the assassination of Benazir Bhutto , Sharif announced that the PML-N would boycott the polls, but after some time and conversations with the co-chairman of the PPP, Asif Ali Zardari , Nawaz announced that
13536-470: The 2023 census, the population of Punjab, Pakistan was 127,688,922. With 124,462,897 adherents, Muslims comprise the largest religious group, with a Sunni Hanafi majority and a Shia Ithna 'ashariyah minority, forming approximately 97.75 percent of the population. The largest non-Muslim minority is Christians with 2,458,924 adherents, forming roughly 1.93 percent of the population. Hindus form 249,716 people, comprising approximately 0.20 percent of
13724-594: The Capital was relocated to Delhi and named Shahjahanabad and the Bazar of the town was named Urdu e Muallah. In the Akbar era the word Rekhta was used to describe Urdu for the first time. It was originally a Persian word that meant "to create a mixture". Amir Khusrau was the first person to use the same word for Poetry. Before the standardisation of Urdu into colonial administration, British officers often referred to
13912-596: The Delhi region of India the native language was Khariboli , whose earliest form is known as Old Hindi (or Hindavi). It belongs to the Western Hindi group of the Central Indo-Aryan languages. The contact of Hindu and Muslim cultures during the period of Islamic conquests in the Indian subcontinent (12th to 16th centuries) led to the development of Hindustani as a product of a composite Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb . In cities such as Delhi,
14100-481: The English liked to use the name "Moors" for Urdu: I have a deep knowledge [ je possède à fond ] of the common tongue of India, called Moors by the English, and Ourdouzebain by the natives of the land. Several works of Sufi writers like Ashraf Jahangir Semnani used similar names for the Urdu language. Shah Abdul Qadir Raipuri was the first person who translated The Quran into Urdu. During Shahjahan's time,
14288-835: The Great , in 518 BCE crossed the Indus and annex the regions up to the Jhelum River . Taxila is considered to be site of one of the oldest education centre of south asia and was part of the Achaemenid province of Hindush. One of the early kings in Punjab was Porus , who fought the famous Battle of the Hydaspes against Alexander the Great . The battle is thought to have resulted in a decisive Greek victory; however, A. B. Bosworth warns against an uncritical reading of Greek sources who were obviously exaggerative. Porus refused to surrender and wandered about atop an elephant, until he
14476-524: The Greek army. This was perhaps the largest army faced by the Greeks in the entire Indian subcontinent. During the siege of the city's citadel, Alexander leaped into the inner area of the citadel, where he faced the Mallians' leader. Alexander was wounded by an arrow that had penetrated his lung, leaving him severely injured. The city was conquered after a fierce battle. The region was then divided between
14664-636: The Heathens, or from the Persians, or other Nations. In 1715, a complete literary Diwan in Rekhta was written by Nawab Sadruddin Khan . An Urdu-Persian dictionary was written by Khan-i Arzu in 1751 in the reign of Ahmad Shah Bahadur . The name Urdu was first introduced by the poet Ghulam Hamadani Mushafi around 1780. As a literary language, Urdu took shape in courtly, elite settings. While Urdu retained
14852-720: The Hindu Shahis and consequently ruled for 157 years, gradually declining as a power until the Ghurid conquests of key Punjab cities of Uch, Multan and Lahore by Muhammad of Ghor in 1186, deposing the last Ghaznavid ruler Khusrau Malik. Following the death of Muhammad of Ghor in 1206, the Ghurid state fragmented and was replaced in northern India by the Delhi Sultanate and for some time independent sultanates ruled by various Sultans. The Delhi Sultanate ruled Punjab for
15040-597: The IDA nominated Abdul Wali Khan as a compromise candidate for opposition leader in the state parliament. Within 20 months, tales of bad governance and corruption plagued the Pakistan People’s Party's government. Finally, in 1990, President Ghulam Ishaq Khan charged the PPP government with corruption and lack of governance and dismissed the National Assembly and the first Bhutto government. The PML-N
15228-405: The Indian government do not actively support the preservation of Urdu in professional and official spaces. Because the Pakistani government proclaimed Urdu the national language at Partition, the Indian state and some religious nationalists began in part to regard Urdu as a 'foreign' language, to be viewed with suspicion. Urdu advocates in India disagree whether it should be allowed to write Urdu in
15416-575: The JIT investigation, and based on NAB's investigations, the court sentenced Nawaz Sharif to 10 years of imprisonment in relation to the Avenfield Apartments case. The sentence also extended to his daughter Maryum Nawaz, and Son-in-Law Retired Captain Safdar, who were given 7 years and 1 year imprisonment respectively. On 29 September 2022, a Pakistani court quashed the conviction of Maryam Nawaz,
15604-541: The Muslim League's financial expenses. It was at this time that the party was revived and joined the anti-Bhutto PNA with Pir Pagara , an influential Sindhi conservative figure, as its elected president. After the martial law of 1977, the party reassessed itself and saw the rise of the powerful oligarch bloc led by Zahoor Illahi , who was the main PML leader. After the 1984 referendum , President Zia-ul-Haq had become
15792-590: The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation , as well as India . In 1999, the party's government successfully signed the Lahore Declaration with India. The Pakistan Muslim League (N) remains sceptical about the country's role in the war on terror , although it is firmly opposed to religious extremism and terrorism in all its manifestations. While it remains a strong supporter of the United States' financial and fiscal policies, it remains undecided about
15980-615: The PML was led by Nurul Amin , a Bengali leader, who deepened its role in West Pakistan . On a nationalist and conservative platform , the party engaged in political campaigns against the leftist Pakistan People's Party and the Bengali nationalist party, the Awami League , in the general elections held in 1970 . It managed to secure only two electoral seats in the East Pakistan parliament and only ten in
16168-542: The PML-N government effectively dismissed general Jehangir Karamat (see Dismissal of General Jehangir Karamat ), which ruined its public ratings, but marked a perception of the civilian control of the military. This type of power politics and the repeated dismissals of military leaders soured the party's relations with the Pakistan Armed Forces and its public ratings gradually went down. Despite its heavy public mandate, serious disagreements appeared within
16356-408: The PML-N. During the 2002 Pakistani general election , the PML-N performed poorly, only winning 9.4% of the popular vote and gaining seats for only 14 out of 272 elected members, the worst defeat since its inception in 1988. Hashmi was removed from the party's presidency after his controversial remarks towards the country's armed forces . In an indirect party election, Shahbaz Sharif was elected as
16544-468: The Punjab is Punjabi , representing the largest language spoken in the country. The Punjabi language is spoken in the form of many dialects across the province including Majhi , Multani , Pothwari , Thali , Jhangvi , Dhanni , Shahpuri , Derawali , Riasti and others. Many of these dialects are grouped together in the form of varieties such as Saraiki in the south consisting of southern dialects including Multani, Derawali and Riasti; and Hindko in
16732-407: The Punjab, including the establishment of a new system of education. During the independence movement , many Punjabis played a significant role, including Madan Lal Dhingra , Sukhdev Thapar , Ajit Singh Sandhu , Bhagat Singh , Udham Singh , Kartar Singh Sarabha , Bhai Parmanand , Choudhry Rahmat Ali , and Lala Lajpat Rai . After Independence At the time of partition in 1947, the province
16920-500: The Punjabi homeland formed a province of British India, though a number of small princely states retained local rulers who recognized British authority. The Punjab with its rich farmlands became one of the most important colonial assets. Lahore was a noted center of learning and culture, and Rawalpindi became an important military installation. Most Punjabis supported the British during World War I , providing men and resources to
17108-665: The Yellow Cab Scheme, The National Debt Retirement Programme (NDRP), the Sasti Roti Scheme, and the Nandipur Power Project . More recently, an international newspaper published the Panama papers , naming Sharif's sons as among people who created offshore companies. Nawaz Sharif is accused of using corruption money to grow his assets in his business ventures and Ittefaq Group . Also, Nawaz Sharif
17296-445: The absorption of vocabulary from various regional Pakistani languages, while some Urdu vocabularies has also been assimilated by Pakistan's regional languages. Some who are from a non-Urdu background now can read and write only Urdu. With such a large number of people(s) speaking Urdu, the language has acquired a peculiar Pakistani flavor further distinguishing it from the Urdu spoken by native speakers, resulting in more diversity within
17484-407: The ancient language Old Hindi began to acquire many Persian loanwords and continued to be called "Hindi" and later, also "Hindustani". An early literary tradition of Hindavi was founded by Amir Khusrau in the late 13th century. After the conquest of the Deccan , and a subsequent immigration of noble Muslim families into the south, a form of the language flourished in medieval India as
17672-476: The area or has caused it to rain so hard that floods have resulted. June and July are oppressively hot. Although official estimates rarely place the temperature above 46 °C, newspaper sources claim that it reaches 51 °C and regularly carry reports about people who have succumbed to the heat. Heat records were broken in Multan in June 1993, when the mercury was reported to have risen to 54 °C. In August
17860-508: The conservative forces under Sharif had a chance to form a national government for the first time in the history of Pakistan . With Sharif taking office, his ascendancy also marked a transition in the political culture of Pakistan – a power shift from control by the traditional feudal aristocracy to the growing class of modern and moderate entrepreneurs. For the first time, Sharif launched privatisation and economic liberalisation policy measures, and his economic team actually implemented some of
18048-563: The country joined hands after the dissolution of Islamic Democratic Alliance , under the leadership of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif . The party's platform is generally conservative , which involves supporting free markets , deregulation , lower taxes and private ownership . Although the party historically supported social conservatism , in recent years, the party's political ideology and platform has become more liberal on social and cultural issues ; however, members have been accused of using Islamist populist rhetoric. Alongside
18236-509: The country as the Indus River and its four major tributaries Ravi , Jhelum , Chenab and Sutlej flow through it. The province forms the bulk of the transnational Punjab region , divided in 1947 among Pakistan and India. The government , legislature , and other institutions of the province are based in the capital, Lahore. The province is represented in the federal parliament through 173, out of 336, seats in National Assembly ,
18424-438: The country's elected president. During the 1985 general election , a new PML-N emerged on the country's political scene. The party had supported the presidency of Zia-ul-Haq and won his support to appoint Mohammad Khan Junejo to the office of Prime Minister. Nawaz Sharif had won the favour and support of President Zia-ul-Haq, who approved his appointment as Chief Minister of Punjab Province in 1985. The modern history of
18612-479: The country, and he was recently revealed by the Panama Papers to have been involved in hiding money in offshore accounts and companies. The Pakistan Muslim League (N) policies include conservative liberalism , environmental conservation , and most importantly, economic liberalism . Throughout its history, the Pakistan Muslim League (N) has emphasised the role of free markets and individual achievement as
18800-599: The court language of various Indo-Islamic empires . Religious, social, and political factors arose during the European colonial period that advocated a distinction between Urdu and Hindi, leading to the Hindi–Urdu controversy . According to 2022 estimates by Ethnologue and The World Factbook , produced by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Urdu is the 10th-most widely spoken language in
18988-473: The daughter of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, in a corruption case that had seen her sentenced to seven years in jail. A two-judge panel found there was no evidence to prove the prosecution case that Maryam Nawaz abetted any corruption in buying high-end apartments in London. Urdu language Urdu ( / ˈ ʊər d uː / ; اُردُو , pronounced [ʊɾduː] , ALA-LC : Urdū )
19176-415: The early 21st century an increasing percentage of Indian Muslims began switching to Hindi due to socio-economic factors, such as Urdu being abandoned as the language of instruction in much of India, and having limited employment opportunities compared to Hindi, English and regional languages. The number of Urdu speakers in India fell 1.5% between 2001 and 2011 (then 5.08 million Urdu speakers), especially in
19364-465: The elections Shehbaz Sharif was elected as the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly of Pakistan , while his son Hamza Shahbaz was elected as Leader of the Opposition of Punjab (Pakistan) . PML-N became part of the opposition alliance Pakistan Democratic Movement , successfully moved No-confidence motion against Imran Khan and removed him from office on 10 April 2022, and Shehbaz Sharif became Prime Minister of Pakistan . Subsequently,
19552-575: The emperor. Mongol invasion The 15th century saw the rise of many prominent Muslims from Punjab. Khizr Khan established the Sayyid dynasty , the fourth dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate after the fall of the Tughlaqs. In 1398, Timur attacked the Punjab region. After his invasion, Khizr Khan established the fourth dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate. According to Richard M. Eaton , Khizr Khan
19740-414: The exalted camp . Earlier it was known as Hindvi, Hindi and Hindustani . Urdu, like Hindi , is a form of Hindustani language . Some linguists have suggested that the earliest forms of Urdu evolved from the medieval (6th to 13th century) Apabhraṃśa register of the preceding Shauraseni language , a Middle Indo-Aryan language that is also the ancestor of other modern Indo-Aryan languages. In
19928-517: The first time this had happened in the history of the country. The 2018 Pakistani general election was majorly contested between PML-N and PTI . While PML-N retained its position in central Punjab it faced major setbacks in southern and northern Punjab. It obtained 64 seats in the National Assembly of Pakistan and 165 seats in the Punjab assembly. While it does not have mentionable shares in Sindh , Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan Assembly . After
20116-529: The grammar and core Indo-Aryan vocabulary of the local Indian dialect Khariboli, it adopted the Nastaleeq writing system – which was developed as a style of Persian calligraphy. Throughout the history of the language, Urdu has been referred to by several other names: Hindi, Hindavi, Rekhta, Urdu-e-Muallah, Dakhini , Moors and Dehlavi . In 1773, the Swiss French soldier Antoine Polier notes that
20304-524: The hill station of Fort Munro in Dera Ghazi Khan. Most areas in Punjab experience extreme weather with foggy winters, often accompanied by rain. By mid-February the temperature begins to rise; springtime weather continues until mid-April, when the summer heat sets in. The onset of the southwest monsoon is anticipated to reach Punjab by May, but since the early 1970s, the weather pattern has been irregular. The spring monsoon has either skipped over
20492-546: The hot and barren south to the cool hills of the north. The foothills of the Himalayas are found in the extreme north as well, and feature a much cooler and wetter climate, with snowfall common at higher altitudes. The province is home to over half the population of Pakistan , and is the world's second-most populous subnational entity , and the most populous outside of India and China . Languages of Punjab, Pakistan (2023 Census) The major native language spoken in
20680-480: The independence movement. But after the 1947 Partition , when it was chosen as the national language of Pakistan to unite all inhabitants with one linguistic identity, it faced serious competition primarily from Bengali (spoken by 56% of the total population, mostly in East Pakistan until that attained independence in 1971 as Bangladesh ), and after 1971 from English. Both pro-independence elites that formed
20868-491: The language as " Moors " or "Moorish jargon". John Gilchrist was the first in British India to begin a systematic study on Urdu and began to use the term "Hindustani" what the majority of Europeans called "Moors", authoring the book The Strangers's East Indian Guide to the Hindoostanee or Grand Popular Language of India (improperly Called Moors) . Urdu was then promoted in colonial India by British policies to counter
21056-458: The language in the Perso-Arabic script in courts and government offices, though Hindus continued to employ the Devanagari script in certain literary and religious contexts. Through the late 19th century, people did not view Urdu and Hindi as being two distinct languages, though in urban areas, the standardised Hindustani language was increasingly being referred to as Urdu and written in the Perso-Arabic script. Urdu and English replaced Persian as
21244-575: The language of Bollywood films tend to contain a large number of Persian and Arabic words and thus considered to be "Urdu" in a sense, especially in songs. India has more than 3,000 Urdu publications, including 405 daily Urdu newspapers. Newspapers such as Neshat News Urdu , Sahara Urdu , Daily Salar , Hindustan Express , Daily Pasban , Siasat Daily , The Munsif Daily and Inqilab are published and distributed in Bangalore, Malegaon, Mysore, Hyderabad, and Mumbai . Outside South Asia, it
21432-883: The language. In India, Urdu is spoken in places where there are large Muslim minorities or cities that were bases for Muslim empires in the past. These include parts of Uttar Pradesh , Madhya Pradesh , Bihar , Telangana , Andhra Pradesh , Maharashtra ( Marathwada and Konkanis), Karnataka and cities such as Hyderabad , Lucknow , Delhi , Malerkotla , Bareilly , Meerut , Saharanpur , Muzaffarnagar , Roorkee , Deoband , Moradabad , Azamgarh , Bijnor , Najibabad , Rampur , Aligarh , Allahabad , Gorakhpur , Agra , Firozabad , Kanpur , Badaun , Bhopal , Hyderabad , Aurangabad , Bangalore , Kolkata , Mysore , Patna , Darbhanga , Gaya , Madhubani , Samastipur , Siwan , Saharsa , Supaul , Muzaffarpur , Nalanda , Munger , Bhagalpur , Araria , Gulbarga , Parbhani , Nanded , Malegaon , Bidar , Ajmer , and Ahmedabad . In
21620-440: The law and order situation came under the PML-N's control and economic recovery was also secured. A number of constitutional amendments were made to make the country a parliamentary democracy. In May 1998, the PML-N government led by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ordered six nuclear tests, in response to Indian nuclear tests. The tests were extremely popular and PML-N's image and prestige rose to a record level at home. However, in 1998,
21808-503: The leaders of the party and started their political career through the Muslim League. The party became an integral part of the nine-party alliance, PNA , against the PPP , and campaigned against the PPP in the 1977 general elections . They campaigned on a right-wing platform and raised conservative slogans in the 1977 general elections. The PML, including Sharif and Hussain, were a conglomerate of diverse views and had provided large capital for
21996-475: The leadership of Nawaz Sharif . In 1993, the alliance dissolved and the party assumed its current shape, branding itself as the "Nawaz" faction of the Pakistan Muslim League, in contrast to the " Junejo " faction. After its foundation, the PML-N, along with the People's Party , dominated the two-party political system of Pakistan . However, after the 1999 coup , the party was eclipsed by its own splinter faction,
22184-641: The leadership of the Muslim League in Pakistan and the Hindu-dominated Congress Party in India had been educated in English during the British colonial period, and continued to operate in English and send their children to English-medium schools as they continued dominate both countries' post-Partition politics. Although the Anglicized elite in Pakistan has made attempts at Urduisation of education with varying degrees of success, no successful attempts were ever made to Urduise politics,
22372-466: The legal system, the army, or the economy, all of which remained solidly Anglophone. Even the regime of general Zia-ul-Haq (1977–1988), who came from a middle-class Punjabi family and initially fervently supported a rapid and complete Urduisation of Pakistani society (earning him the honorary title of the 'Patron of Urdu' in 1981), failed to make significant achievements, and by 1987 had abandoned most of his efforts in favour of pro-English policies. Since
22560-530: The length and breadth of Pakistan. He also embarked on a train march from Lahore to Peshawar as part of his campaign to oust Benazir. During this time, the party was among the closest to the civil bureaucracy and the Pakistan Armed Forces , and had close ties and influence in the Pakistan Armed Forces' appointments as well as their military strategies. The Pakistan Muslim League (N) struck its remarkable, biggest, and most notable achievement in
22748-672: The likes of Meher Ali Shah , Baba Farid , Bari Imam and Sultan Bahu , spread across the province. Guru Nanak , the founder of Sikhism , was born in the town of Nankana Sahib , near Lahore. Punjab is also the site of the Katas Raj Temples , which feature prominently in Hindu mythology . Several of the World Heritage Sites listed by UNESCO are located in Punjab, including the Shalimar Gardens ,
22936-406: The lower house; and 23, out of 96, seats in Senate , the upper house. Punjab is Pakistan's most industrialized province, with the industrial sector comprising 24 percent of the province's gross domestic product. It is known for its relative prosperity, and has the lowest rate of poverty among all Pakistani provinces. However, a clear divide is present between the northern and southern regions of
23124-404: The main languages of instruction, although the people from differing provinces may have different native languages. Urdu is taught as a compulsory subject up to higher secondary school in both English and Urdu medium school systems, which has produced millions of second-language Urdu speakers among people whose native language is one of the other languages of Pakistan – which in turn has led to
23312-457: The majority population in the city of Karachi , however. Many newspapers are published in Urdu in Pakistan, including the Daily Jang , Nawa-i-Waqt , and Millat . No region in Pakistan uses Urdu as its mother tongue, though it is spoken as the first language of Muslim migrants (known as Muhajirs ) in Pakistan who left India after independence in 1947. Other communities, most notably
23500-608: The media prior to the operation's launch. Thousands of MQM activists were killed, its leadership arrested, and its head, Altaf Hussain , fled to exile in the UK. During his second term as prime minister (1997–1999), Nawaz Sharif again launched an operation against MQM, who were again in alliance in Sharif's government, on accusations of assassinating Hakeem Said . Due to MQM's militant activities and sectarian killings in Karachi, Nawaz Sharif
23688-560: The military operations on its western frontier to curb militancy, with many PML-N intellectuals regarding the War on Terror as a campaign against Islam. During its previous tenure from 1997 to 1999, the PML-N government took a series of measures to control terrorist groups by establishing the Anti Terrorism Courts . The PML-N's leadership remains an avid supporter of Indian-held Kashmir , and numerous times it had made it clear that
23876-403: The most Urdu-speaking states of Uttar Pradesh (c. 8% to 5%) and Bihar (c. 11.5% to 8.5%), even though the number of Muslims in these two states grew in the same period. Although Urdu is still very prominent in early 21st-century Indian pop culture, ranging from Bollywood to social media, knowledge of the Urdu script and the publication of books in Urdu have steadily declined, while policies of
24064-564: The most alive language and moving ahead with times" in India. This phenomenon pertains to the decrease in relative and absolute numbers of native Urdu speakers as opposed to speakers of other languages; declining (advanced) knowledge of Urdu's Perso-Arabic script, Urdu vocabulary and grammar; the role of translation and transliteration of literature from and into Urdu; the shifting cultural image of Urdu and socio-economic status associated with Urdu speakers (which negatively impacts especially their employment opportunities in both countries),
24252-515: The new international border that cut through the province. This rapid demographic shift was primarily due to wide-scale migration but also caused by large-scale religious cleansing riots which were witnessed across the region at the time. According to historical demographer Tim Dyson , in the eastern regions of Punjab that ultimately became Indian Punjab following independence, districts that were 66% Hindu in 1941 became 80% Hindu in 1951; those that were 20% Sikh became 50% Sikh in 1951. Conversely, in
24440-608: The next three hundred years, led by five unrelated dynasties, the Mamluks , Khalajis , Tughlaqs , Sayyids and Lodis . Tughlaqs Ghiyath al-Din Tughlaq, the former governor of Multan and Dipalpur founded the Tughlaq dynasty in Delhi and ruled the subcontinent region. Earlier, he served as the governor of Multan and fought 28 battles against Mongols from there and saved Punjab and Sindh regions from advances of Mongols and survived. After his death, his son Muhammad Tughlaq became
24628-737: The nonconfidence movement was launched in the Provincial Assembly of Punjab on 16, April 2022, and Hamza Shahbaz became Chief Minister of Punjab. Shah Muhammad Shah The major function of the General Council Meeting (or Central Working Committee) is to elect presidents and secretaries, while it is also responsible for promoting PML-N activities. The GCM's meetings are generally held at the Jinnah Convention Centre in Islamabad . Nawaz Sharif
24816-507: The northwest consisting of a group of northwestern dialects. Saraiki and Hindko varieties of the language have been separately enumerated from Punjabi (general) in Pakistani censuses from 1981 and 2017, respectively. Pashto is also spoken in some parts of Punjab, especially in Attock , Mianwali and Rawalpindi districts. Religion in Punjab, Pakistan (2023 Census) According to
25004-461: The official languages in northern parts of India in 1837. In colonial Indian Islamic schools, Muslims were taught Persian and Arabic as the languages of Indo-Islamic civilisation ; the British, in order to promote literacy among Indian Muslims and attract them to attend government schools, started to teach Urdu written in the Perso-Arabic script in these governmental educational institutions and after this time, Urdu began to be seen by Indian Muslims as
25192-526: The officially recognised languages in India and also has the status of "additional official language" in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh , Uttar Pradesh , Bihar , Jharkhand , West Bengal , Telangana and the national capital territory Delhi . Also as one of the five official languages of Jammu and Kashmir . India established the governmental Bureau for the Promotion of Urdu in 1969, although
25380-438: The ongoing Hindi–Urdu controversy and modern cultural association of each language with the two religions has led to fewer Hindus using Urdu. In the 20th century, Indian Muslims gradually began to collectively embrace Urdu (for example, 'post-independence Muslim politics of Bihar saw a mobilisation around the Urdu language as tool of empowerment for minorities especially coming from weaker socio-economic backgrounds' ), but in
25568-542: The oppressive heat is punctuated by the rainy season, referred to as barsat , which brings relief in its wake. The hardest part of the summer is then over, but cooler weather does not come until late October. In early 2007, the province experienced one of the coldest winters in the last 70 years. Punjab's region temperature ranges from −2° to 45 °C, but can reach 50 °C (122 °F) in summer and can touch down to −10 °C in winter. Climatically, Punjab has three major seasons: Weather extremes are notable from
25756-503: The party began during the 1988 parliamentary elections , when the Pakistan Muslim League, led by former prime minister Mohammed Khan Junejo , split into two factions: one was led by Fida Mohammad Khan and Nawaz Sharif , the then chief minister of Punjab Province , and the other by Junejo (who later founded the Pakistan Muslim League (F) ). In 1988, the Pakistan Muslim League (N) was founded and established by Fida Mohammad Khan , an original Pakistan Movement activist , who became
25944-418: The party united on a one-point agenda with all the opposition parties in 1999 to remove Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from office. This resulted in a military coup d'état . The Supreme Court validated the coup and gave General Pervez Musharraf three years to hold general elections. After deposing Sharif's government, the party split into several groups and its size shrunk as many of its members decided to defect to
26132-517: The party will "never compromise this long standing position on Kashmir dispute". Nawaz Sharif, during his first tenure as prime minister of Pakistan (1990–1993), launched a military operation against his own allies in government, MQM, for allegations against the Jinnahpur conspiracy . Later, the ISPR denied any knowledge of the Jinnahpur conspiracy and separatist maps, which were highly publicized in
26320-508: The party would run in the polls and began to rally in the Punjab areas. On 18 February 2008, after the polls were closed and the results had been announced, the PML-N gained 68 seats in the National Assembly, just behind the PPP. They announced that they would have discussions on forming a coalition with the PPP, which would get half the seats in the 342 seat Parliament. In a press conference on 19 February, Nawaz called for President Pervez Musharraf to step down. Nawaz and Zardari agreed on forming
26508-496: The party's declarations. The PML-N's provincial government in Punjab Province came under intense media, opposition, and public anger after failing to counter the 2011 dengue fever outbreak due to its apathy and the inadequacy of steps taken to enforce environmental awareness and regulations. Recently, the prestige of PML-N has suffered after the government's Health and Environment ministries failed to properly inspect
26696-400: The party's founding president, whilst Nawaz Sharif became its first secretary-general. The party is not the original Muslim League , but is accepted as its continuing legal successor. At the time of the 1988 elections, the PML was part of the eight-party Islamic Democratic Alliance (IDA), which had contained the right-wing conservative mass as one entity against the left-wing circles, led by
26884-482: The party's new president, and the party's leadership shifted its base to London, England. In 2006, the party signed a cooperative declaration with its rival Pakistan People's Party to outline and promote a new democratic culture in the country. Known as the Charter of Democracy , the document was signed by Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto in London, and they announced their opposition to Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz . In
27072-412: The party's presidency was handed over to Javed Hashmi , and the party began to reassert itself in the coming elections. They campaigned all over the country and competed in the 2002 general elections for the state parliament. The election polls announced the victory of the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) and the liberals, MQM , with PML-Q retaining the majority in the state parliament and brutally defeating
27260-415: The party. Finally, the 1999 coup d'état ended the PML-N's government. Controversially, in 1999, the party was significantly divided, further affecting Nawaz Sharif's trial in military court . No massive protests were held by the party; its leaders remained silent and remained supportive towards the military action against Nawaz Sharif. In 2001, the party was further divided by factionalism. Dissenters formed
27448-518: The position and prestige of English only grew stronger in the meantime. There are over 100 million native speakers of Urdu in India and Pakistan together: there were 50.8 million Urdu speakers in India (4.34% of the total population) as per the 2011 census; and approximately 16 million in Pakistan in 2006. There are several hundred thousand in the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, United States, and Bangladesh . However, Hindustani, of which Urdu
27636-584: The presidency and exiled him to the United States in 2008. However, before long, Nawaz Sharif announced his support for and leadership of the Lawyers' Movement to restore the suspended famed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in 2008. In 2011, the PML-N established a branch in Kashmir Province to participate in Kashmir's general elections. After returning to Pakistan, the PML-N contested
27824-460: The pressure on MQM further weakened Benazir Bhutto. The PML-N and Sharif himself were shocked when they learned the news of Benazir Bhutto's dismissal. An ironic aspect of this dismissal was that it was prompted by the then-President Farooq Leghari , a trusted lieutenant of Benazir, who sent her to the presidency as a safeguard for the PPP's government after the office was vacated by Ghulam Ishaq Khan. During that movement, Nawaz Sharif travelled through
28012-484: The previous emphasis on Persian. In colonial India, "ordinary Muslims and Hindus alike spoke the same language in the United Provinces in the nineteenth century, namely Hindustani, whether called by that name or whether called Hindi, Urdu, or one of the regional dialects such as Braj or Awadhi ." Elites from Muslim communities, as well as a minority of Hindu elites, such as Munshis of Hindu origin, wrote
28200-557: The primary factors behind economic prosperity, deregulation of all segments of the economic order, and the strong base of capitalism. In 1991, the PML-N's government established the National Highway Authority followed by inaugurating the M2 Motorways in 1997. The Pakistan Muslim League (N) generally opposes labour union management and large-scale workers' unions. The party holds that "prosperous agriculture
28388-791: The province, the Margalla Hills in the north near Islamabad , and the Salt Range which divides the most northerly portion of Punjab, the Pothohar Plateau , from the rest of the province. Sparse deserts can be found in southern Punjab near the border with Rajasthan and the Sulaiman Range. Punjab also contains part of the Thal and Cholistan deserts. In the South, Punjab's elevation reaches 2,327 metres (7,635 ft) near
28576-457: The province; with northern Punjab being more developed than south Punjab. Punjab is also one of the most urbanized regions of South Asia , with approximately 40 percent of its population being concentrated in urban areas. Punjabi Muslims , predominantly adhering to Sunni Islam , are natives of the province, comprising nearly 98 percent of the total population. Punjabis are the third-largest predominantly Islam-adhering Muslim ethnicity in
28764-576: The quality of medicines, resulting in major counterfeiting and environmental crises, which put the party's environmental and health policies in great doubt. The Pakistan Muslim League (N) is credited for ordering and authorizing the country's first nuclear tests (see Chagai-I and Chagai-II ) amid immense international pressure. It is also responsible for establishing the Pakistan Antarctic Programme as part of its science and technology strategy. Together with their main rival,
28952-425: The region in 711 AD . The city of Multan became a center of the Ismaili sect of Islam. After the Umayyads conquered the key cities of Uch and Multan, they ruled the far areas of Punjab and included Kashmir. Islam spread rapidly. In the ninth century, the Hindu Shahi dynasty originating from the region of Oddiyana replaced the Taank kingdom in the Punjab, ruling much of Punjab along with eastern Afghanistan. In
29140-428: The region. Contested by Marathas and Afghans, the region was the center of the growing influence of the Sikhs, who expanded and established the Sikh empire as the Mughals and Afghans weakened, ultimately ruling the Punjab and territories north into the Himalayas. The Sikh Empire ruled Punjab from 1799 until the British annexed it in 1849 following the First and Second Anglo-Sikh Wars . British Rule Most of
29328-403: The resignations. On 27 June 2008, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) won three and two by-election seats respectively, in the national parliament. Polls were postponed for the sixth seat in Lahore due to Nawaz Sharif 's eligibility contest. A court ruled he was ineligible due to an old conviction, amid a government appeal in the Supreme Court, which
29516-486: The same language, Hindustani (or Hindi-Urdu), share a core vocabulary and grammar . Apart from religious associations, the differences are largely restricted to the standard forms : Standard Urdu is conventionally written in the Nastaliq style of the Persian alphabet and relies heavily on Persian and Arabic as a source for technical and literary vocabulary, whereas Standard Hindi is conventionally written in Devanāgarī and draws on Sanskrit . However, both share
29704-512: The same meaning. The word pañjāb is thus calque of Indo-Aryan pañca-áp and means "The Land of Five Waters", referring to the rivers Jhelum , Chenab , Ravi , Sutlej , and Beas . All are tributaries of the Indus River , the Sutlej being the largest. References to a land of five rivers may be found in the Mahabharata , in which one of the regions is named as Panchanada ( Sanskrit : पञ्चनद , romanized : pañca-nada , lit. 'five rivers'). Earlier, Punjab
29892-410: The serious economic liberalisation and privatisation measures previous governments had merely talked about. Election results also showed liberals, the MQM , emerging as the third major party with 15 seats. For the first time in the history of the country, Sharif allowed foreign money exchange to be transacted through private money changers. While internationally acclaimed, his policies were condemned by
30080-572: The southwest, the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the west, and the Islamabad Capital Territory and Azad Kashmir in the north. Punjab borders Jammu and Kashmir in the north, and the Indian states of Punjab and Rajasthan to the east. The capital and largest city is Lahore which was the capital of the wider Punjab region since 17th century. Other important cities include Faisalabad , Rawalpindi , Gujranwala , Sargodha , Multan , Sialkot , Bahawalpur , Gujrat , Sheikhupura , Jhelum , Rahim Yar Khan and Sahiwal . The undivided Punjab region
30268-473: The splinter political bloc. Many of its most influential members, sponsors, and financiers came to defect to the new group that was sympathetic to Pervez Musharraf . This splinter group emerged as the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) , which registered itself as a political party with the Election Commission . Sharif was removed from the party's presidency and the position was handed over to Dr. Kalsoum Nawaz , wife of Sharif. With Nawaz Sharif exiled to Saudi Arabia ,
30456-583: The style of Urdu spoken on a day-to-day basis in Pakistan is akin to neutral Hindustani that serves as the lingua franca of the northern Indian subcontinent. Since at least 1977, some commentators such as journalist Khushwant Singh have characterised Urdu as a "dying language", though others, such as Indian poet and writer Gulzar (who is popular in both countries and both language communities, but writes only in Urdu (script) and has difficulties reading Devanagari, so he lets others 'transcribe' his work) have disagreed with this assessment and state that Urdu "is
30644-400: The time when documents were said to have been created. After hearing all arguments and based on evidence provided by the JIT, the Supreme Court of Pakistan announced its unanimous decision and disqualified the Prime Minister from holding public office, finding that he had been dishonest in not disclosing his employed in the Dubai-based Capital FZE company in his nomination papers. Stemming from
30832-408: The two languages' mutual intelligibility effectively decreases as the factor of formality increases. Urdu originated in the area of the Ganges-Yamuna Doab , though significant development occurred in the Deccan Plateau . In 1837, Urdu became an official language of the British East India Company , replacing Persian across northern India during Company rule ; Persian had until this point served as
31020-425: The two official languages of Pakistan (along with English). It is spoken and understood throughout the country, whereas the state-by-state languages (languages spoken throughout various regions) are the provincial languages , although only 7.57% of Pakistanis speak Urdu as their first language. Its official status has meant that Urdu is understood and spoken widely throughout Pakistan as a second or third language. It
31208-422: The war effort even though the Punjab remained a source of anti-colonial activities. Disturbances in the region increased as the war continued. At the end of the war, high casualty rates, heavy taxation, inflation, and a widespread influenza epidemic disrupted Punjabi society. In 1919 a British officer ordered his troops to fire on a crowd of demonstrators, mostly Sikhs in Amritsar. The Jallianwala massacre fueled
31396-524: The well-known breakaway factions and their relationships with the military, although many minor factions have existed throughout Pakistani history: The Pakistan Muslim League went into a political abyss after the death of Nurul Amin and during the PPP government of Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto . It made a strong comeback in response to Bhutto's nationalisation program in the 1970s. Influential young activists, including Nawaz Sharif , Javed Hashmi , Zafar-ul-Haq , and Shujaat Hussain , ascended as
31584-414: The western regions of Punjab that ultimately became Pakistani Punjab, all districts became almost exclusively Muslim by 1951. Punjab is Pakistan 's second largest province by area after Balochistan with an area of 205,344 square kilometres (79,284 square miles). It occupies 25.8% of the total landmass of Pakistan . Punjab province is bordered by Sindh to the south, the province of Balochistan to
31772-455: The world , with 230 million total speakers, including those who speak it as a second language . The name Urdu was first used by the poet Ghulam Hamadani Mushafi around 1780 for Hindustani language even though he himself also used Hindavi term in his poetry to define the language. Ordu means army in the Turkic languages . In late 18th century, it was known as Zaban-e-Urdu-e-Mualla زبانِ اُرْدُوئے مُعَلّٰی means language of
31960-435: The world, globally, after Arabs and Bengalis . Muhammad Iqbal , the National poet of Pakistan and one of the leading Islamic thought leaders and Islamic revivalists of the 20th century, who is also widely regarded as having animated the pulse for the Pakistan Movement , was born and raised in Punjab. Punjabi culture has been strongly influenced by Islamic culture and Sufism , with numerous Sufi shrines of
32148-410: Was accused of assassination, was tortured to death by law enforcement officers. The operation resulted in major unrest as the PMLN government tried to nab the criminal elements ravaging the city of Karachi. This was one of the prime excuses the military conjured up for illegally ousting Nawaz Sharif's government in 1999 through martial law. In 1999, Nawaz Sharif was allegedly involved in the hijacking of
32336-483: Was also removed from office. The PML-N gained national prominence in the 1993 parliamentary elections and occupied 73 seats in the state parliament. The party asserted its role as opposition to the Pakistan People’s Party. The PML-N charged Benazir Bhutto with corruption, stagnation, and endangering national security. The PPP also suffered due to internal factions, one of which was led by Murtaza Bhutto . The controversial murder of Murtaza Bhutto by Sindh Police and
32524-561: Was assured that the military was in control of the airport. The military forced the courts to convict Sharif and sentence him to life imprisonment in 2000. General Musharraf had initially decided to hang Nawaz Sharif but under pressure from the President of the United States Bill Clinton and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, he decided not to go through with the plan. In 2010, The Supreme Court of Pakistan overturned Nawaz' conviction, making him eligible to run for power again. PMLN has been accused of corruption in revolutionary economic schemes such as
32712-514: Was condemned to 10 years in lockup for money laundering, including his daughter Maryam Nawaz for 7 years. On 29 September 2022, Islamabad High Court overturned the corruption conviction of Maryam Nawaz and her husband Muhammad Safdar . Maryam Nawaz is now eligible to run for election. The Panama Papers case was a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of Pakistan that disqualified the incumbent prime minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, from holding public office for life. The Supreme Court of Pakistan
32900-564: Was elected President of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) in 2011. The General Council Meeting raises funds and coordinates campaign strategy, and it has local committees in every province and in most large cities, counties, and legislative districts, but these have far less money and influence than the national body. The Central Secretariat and the Parliament Lodges of the Pakistan Parliament play important roles in recruiting strong state candidates. Nawaz Sharif has been accused of corruption and involvement in smuggling large amounts of money outside
33088-411: Was forced to end the alliance with MQM for the benefit of the nation. An elected PMLN Sindh government in alliance with MQM was dismissed and President's rule was imposed. The operation launched a new era of bloodshed in Karachi and many party leaders from MQM were arrested. Imran Farooq (MQM second in command at that time) was forced to flee Pakistan and took political asylum in the UK. Fasih Jugu, who
33276-453: Was home to six rivers, of which five flow through Pakistan's Punjab province. From west to east, the rivers are: the Indus , Jhelum , Chenab , Ravi and Sutlej . It is the nation's only province that touches every other province; it also surrounds the federal enclave of the national capital city at Islamabad . Punjab's landscape mostly consists of fertile alluvial plains of the Indus River and its four major tributaries in Pakistan,
33464-425: Was intentioned as means of unification for Muslims in Northern India and later Pakistan, it adopted a modified Perso-Arabic script. Urdu continued its role in developing a Pakistani identity as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan was established with the intent to construct a homeland for the Muslims of Colonial India. Several languages and dialects spoken throughout the regions of Pakistan produced an imminent need for
33652-436: Was known as Sapta Sindhu in the Rigveda or Hapta Hendu in Avesta , translating into "The Land of Seven Rivers", with the other two being Indus and Kabul which are included in the greater Punjab region. The ancient Greeks referred to the region as Pentapotamía ( Greek : Πενταποταμία ), which has the same meaning as that of Punjab. It is believed that the earliest evidence of human habitation in Punjab traces to
33840-403: Was one of the most notable government offices to protect national conservation and forestry in the country. In 1997, environmental PSAs were regularly paid for by the government to enhance and promote environmental awareness among the public. However, the ministry's environmental policies remain a subject of ongoing controversy, often criticised for ignoring the health of the environment despite
34028-407: Was petitioned by opposition politicians Imran Khan and Sheikh Rasheed, in the aftermath of the Panama Papers leak, which uncovered links between the Sharif family and eight offshore companies. The Court ordered for a Joint Investigation Team to be formed for the inquiry into allegations of money laundering, corruption and contradictory statements made by the Sharif family. On 10 July 2017, JIT submitted
34216-452: Was referred to as "Moors", which simply meant Muslim, by European writers. John Ovington wrote in 1689: The language of the Moors is different from that of the ancient original inhabitants of India but is obliged to these Gentiles for its characters. For though the Moors dialect is peculiar to themselves, yet it is destitute of Letters to express it; and therefore, in all their Writings in their Mother Tongue, they borrow their letters from
34404-402: Was slated to hear the case on 30 June, thus postponing the vote in the constituency. The two parties also won 19 of 23 provincial assembly seats where by-elections were held. The results did not affect the 18 February general election results in which Benazir Bhutto 's PPP won 123 seats in the 342-seat National Assembly, and Sharif's party came second with 91, while Pervez Musharraf 's party came
34592-400: Was split into East and West Punjab. East Punjab (48%) became part of India, while West Punjab (52%) became part of Pakistan. The Punjab bore the brunt of the civil unrest following partition , with casualties estimated to be in the millions. Another major consequence of partition was the sudden shift towards religious homogeneity that occurred in all districts across Punjab owing to
34780-411: Was still part of the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IDA) and participated, under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif , in the 1990 general elections . The IDA competed against the leftist alliance, known as the People's Democratic Alliance (PDA), which had contained the Pakistan People's Party and the TeI . The elections resulted in the victory of IDA, with Nawaz Sharif becoming prime minister. Through IDA,
34968-414: Was the son of a Punjabi chieftain. He was a Khokhar chieftain who travelled to Samarkand and profited from the contacts he made with the Timurid society Later on, Delhi Sultanate, weakened by the invasion of Emir Timur , could not control all regions of the Empire and different local kingdoms appeared. Langah Sultanate In 1445, Sultan Qutbudin, chief of Langah , a Jat Zamindar tribe established
35156-402: Was worsened when Sharif and his daughter Maryam were sentenced to imprisonment on charges of corruption; however, their respective sentences were later suspended. The party lost both the center and provincial government of its stronghold Punjab , to PTI in the 2018 elections . In 2024, General Elections, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz emerged as the largest party in Punjab with 193 members in
35344-432: Was wounded and his force routed. When asked by Alexander how he wished to be treated, Porus replied "Treat me as a king would treat another king". Despite the apparently one-sided results, Alexander was impressed by Porus and chose to not depose him. Not only was his territory reinstated but also expanded with Alexander's forces annexing the territories of Glausaes, who ruled to the northeast of Porus' kingdom. The battle
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