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76-695: In the Pashto language , Zhob means "oozing water". Linguistically, the name is Irano-Aryan in origin and compares etymologically to those of the Little Zab and Great Zab rivers in the Tigris Basin . The Zhob River originates in the Kan Mehtarzai range (Tsari Mehtarzai Pass) near Muslim Bagh . It passes about 4 km west of the city of Zhob . As a tributary of the Gomal River , which it joins near Khajuri Kach,

152-453: A royal decree of Zahir Shah formally granted Pashto the status of an official language, with full rights to use in all aspects of government and education – despite the fact that the ethnically Pashtun royal family and bureaucrats mostly spoke Persian. Thus Pashto became a national language , a symbol for Pashtun nationalism . The constitutional assembly reaffirmed the status of Pashto as an official language in 1964 when Afghan Persian

228-450: 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

304-788: A hand-mill as being derived from the Ancient Greek word μηχανή ( mēkhanḗ , i.e. a device). Post-7th century borrowings came primarily from Persian and Hindi-Urdu , with Arabic words being borrowed through Persian, but sometimes directly. Modern speech borrows words from English, French , and German . However, a remarkably large number of words are unique to Pashto. Here is an exemplary list of Pure Pashto and borrowings: naṛә́i jahān dunyā tod/táwda garm aṛtyā́ ḍarurah híla umid də...pə aṛá bāra bolә́la qasidah Punjab (Pakistan) Punjab ( / p ʌ n ˈ dʒ ɑː b / ; Punjabi , Urdu : پنجاب , pronounced [pənˈd͡ʒɑːb] )

380-597: A promoter of the wealth and antiquity of Afghanistan's Pashto culture." 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 . The Pashtun literary tradition grew in

456-538: 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

532-522: A variety very similar to it, while others have attempted to place it closer to Bactrian . However, neither position is universally agreed upon. What scholars do agree on is the fact that Pashto is an Eastern Iranian language sharing characteristics with Eastern Middle Iranian languages such as Bactrian, Khwarezmian and Sogdian . Compare with other Eastern Iranian Languages and Old Avestan : Zə tā winə́m /ɐz dɐ wənən/ Az bū tū dzunim Strabo , who lived between 64 BC and 24 CE, explains that

608-421: Is "one of the primary markers of ethnic identity" amongst Pashtuns. A national language of Afghanistan , Pashto is primarily spoken in the east, south, and southwest, but also in some northern and western parts of the country. The exact number of speakers is unavailable, but different estimates show that Pashto is the mother tongue of 45–60% of the total population of Afghanistan . In Pakistan , Pashto

684-496: Is a province of Pakistan . With 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

760-567: Is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family , natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan . It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa . It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani ( افغانی , Afghāni ). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns , it is one of

836-472: 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

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912-609: 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

988-541: Is spoken by 15% of its population, mainly in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and northern districts of Balochistan province. It is also spoken in parts of Mianwali and Attock districts of the Punjab province , areas of Gilgit-Baltistan and in Islamabad . Pashto speakers are found in other major cities of Pakistan, most notably Karachi , Sindh, which may have the largest Pashtun population of any city in

1064-504: Is taught poorly in schools in Pakistan. Moreover, in government schools material is not provided for in the Pashto dialect of that locality, Pashto being a dialectically rich language. Further, researchers have observed that Pashtun students are unable to fully comprehend educational material in Urdu. Professor Tariq Rahman states: "The government of Pakistan, faced with irredentist claims from Afghanistan on its territory, also discouraged

1140-617: 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

1216-652: 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

1292-578: 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

1368-700: 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

1444-821: 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

1520-780: 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

1596-712: 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

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1672-614: 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

1748-593: The 1930s, a movement began to take hold to promote Pashto as a language of government, administration, and art with the establishment of a Pashto Society Pashto Anjuman in 1931 and the inauguration of the Kabul University in 1932 as well as the formation of the Pashto Academy (Pashto Tolana) in 1937. Muhammad Na'im Khan, the minister of education between 1938 and 1946, inaugurated the formal policy of promoting Pashto as Afghanistan's national language, leading to

1824-470: 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

1900-805: The 8th century, and they use the writings found in Pata Khazana . Pə́ṭa Xazāná ( پټه خزانه ) is a Pashto manuscript claimed to be written by Mohammad Hotak under the patronage of the Pashtun emperor Hussain Hotak in Kandahar ; containing an anthology of Pashto poets. However, its authenticity is disputed by scholars such as David Neil MacKenzie and Lucia Serena Loi. Nile Green comments in this regard: "In 1944, Habibi claimed to have discovered an eighteenth-century manuscript anthology containing much older biographies and verses of Pashto poets that stretched back as far as

1976-814: 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

2052-515: 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

2128-699: 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

2204-517: The Pashto Movement and eventually allowed its use in peripheral domains only after the Pakhtun elite had been co-opted by the ruling elite...Thus, even though there is still an active desire among some Pakhtun activists to use Pashto in the domains of power, it is more of a symbol of Pakhtun identity than one of nationalism." Robert Nicols states: "In the end, national language policy, especially in

2280-662: The Pathan community in the city of Kolkata , often nicknamed the Kabuliwala ("people of Kabul "). Pashtun diaspora communities in other countries around the world speak Pashto, especially the sizable communities in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia . Pashto is one of the two official languages of Afghanistan, along with Dari Persian . Since the early 18th century, the monarchs of Afghanistan have been ethnic Pashtuns (except for Habibullāh Kalakāni in 1929). Persian,

2356-468: 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

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2432-407: 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

2508-495: 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

2584-653: The Society's annual meeting in 1927. In 1955, Pashtun intellectuals including Abdul Qadir formed the Pashto Academy Peshawar on the model of Pashto Tolana formed in Afghanistan. In 1974, the Department of Pashto was established in the University of Balochistan for the promotion of Pashto. In Pakistan, Pashto is the first language around of 15% of its population (per the 1998 census). However, Urdu and English are

2660-587: The Zhob forms a part of the Indus River Basin . The Zhob River is used to irrigate the land in northern Balochistan along with the Gomal River , making the fertile soil available for agriculture. Although in the 1960s and 1970s degradation of the channel of the Zhob decreased the irrigable acreage. Along the Zhob River there are located the ancient sites of Rana Ghundai , Periano Ghundai , Rehman Dheri , along with

2736-472: 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

2812-501: The backdrop to weakening Pashtun power following Mughal rule: Khushal Khan Khattak used Pashto poetry to rally for Pashtun unity and Pir Bayazid as an expedient means to spread his message to the Pashtun masses. For instance Khushal Khattak laments in : "The Afghans (Pashtuns) are far superior to the Mughals at the sword, Were but the Afghans, in intellect, a little discreet. If

2888-695: The commission and publication of Pashto textbooks. The Pashto Tolana was later incorporated into the Academy of Sciences Afghanistan in line with Soviet model following the Saur Revolution in 1978. Although officially supporting the use of Pashto, the Afghan elite regarded Persian as a "sophisticated language and a symbol of cultured upbringing". King Zahir Shah (reigning 1933–1973) thus followed suit after his father Nadir Khan had decreed in 1933 that officials were to study and utilize both Persian and Pashto. In 1936

2964-562: 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 ,

3040-410: The different tribes would but support each other, Kings would have to bow down in prostration before them" Pashto is a subject–object–verb (SOV) language with split ergativity . In Pashto, this means that the verb agrees with the subject in transitive and intransitive sentences in non-past, non-completed clauses, but when a completed action is reported in any of the past tenses, the verb agrees with

3116-443: The eighth century. It was an extraordinary claim, implying as it did that the history of Pashto literature reached back further in time than Persian, thus supplanting the hold of Persian over the medieval Afghan past. Although it was later convincingly discredited through formal linguistic analysis, Habibi's publication of the text under the title Pata Khazana ('Hidden Treasure') would (in Afghanistan at least) establish his reputation as

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3192-559: 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

3268-447: The field of education in the NWFP, had constructed a type of three tiered language hierarchy. Pashto lagged far behind Urdu and English in prestige or development in almost every domain of political or economic power..." Although Pashto used as a medium of instruction in schools for Pashtun students results in better understanding and comprehension for students when compared to using Urdu, still

3344-399: The government of Pakistan has only introduced Pashto at the primary levels in state-run schools. Taimur Khan remarks: "the dominant Urdu language squeezes and denies any space for Pashto language in the official and formal capacity. In this contact zone, Pashto language exists but in a subordinate and unofficial capacity". Some linguists have argued that Pashto is descended from Avestan or

3420-517: 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

3496-541: 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

3572-643: 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 ,

3648-426: The literary language of the royal court, was more widely used in government institutions, while the Pashtun tribes spoke Pashto as their native tongue . King Amanullah Khan began promoting Pashto during his reign (1926–1929) as a marker of ethnic identity and as a symbol of "official nationalism" leading Afghanistan to independence after the defeat of the British Empire in the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919. In

3724-406: 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

3800-405: The native elements of the lexicon are related to other Eastern Iranian languages . As noted by Josef Elfenbein, "Loanwords have been traced in Pashto as far back as the third century B.C., and include words from Greek and probably Old Persian". For instance, Georg Morgenstierne notes the Pashto word مېچن [mečә́n] Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script ( help ) i.e.

3876-553: The nearby site of Gumla, which go before 3000 BC. 32°04′N 69°51′E  /  32.067°N 69.850°E  / 32.067; 69.850 This Balochistan location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article related to a river in Pakistan is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Pashto language Pashto ( / ˈ p ʌ ʃ t oʊ / PUH -shto , / ˈ p æ ʃ t oʊ / PASH -toe ; پښتو , Pəx̌tó , [pəʂˈto, pʊxˈto, pəʃˈto, pəçˈto] )

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3952-515: 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

4028-499: 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

4104-399: 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

4180-542: 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

4256-465: The possessed in the genitive construction, and adjectives come before the nouns they modify. Unlike most other Indo-Iranian languages, Pashto uses all three types of adpositions —prepositions, postpositions, and circumpositions. *The retroflex rhotic or lateral, tends to be a lateral flap [ 𝼈 ] at the beginning of a syllable or other prosodic unit, and a regular flap [ ɽ ] or approximant [ ɻ ] elsewhere. In Pashto, most of

4332-438: 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

4408-457: 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

4484-425: 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

4560-428: 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

4636-512: 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

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4712-572: 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

4788-444: The subject if it is intransitive, but with the object if it is transitive. Verbs are inflected for present, simple past, past progressive, present perfect, and past perfect tenses. There is also an inflection for the subjunctive mood . Nouns and adjectives are inflected for two genders (masculine and feminine), two numbers (singular and plural), and four cases (direct, oblique, ablative, and vocative). The possessor precedes

4864-417: The tribes inhabiting the lands west of the Indus River were part of Ariana . This was around the time when the area inhabited by the Pashtuns was governed by the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom . From the 3rd century CE onward, they are mostly referred to by the name Afghan ( Abgan ). Abdul Hai Habibi believed that the earliest modern Pashto work dates back to Amir Kror Suri of the early Ghurid period in

4940-418: The two official languages of Afghanistan alongside Dari , and it is the second-largest provincial language of Pakistan , spoken mainly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the northern districts of Balochistan . Likewise, it is the primary language of the Pashtun diaspora around the world. The total number of Pashto-speakers is at least 40 million, although some estimates place it as high as 60 million. Pashto

5016-411: The two official languages of Pakistan. Pashto has no official status at the federal level. On a provincial level, Pashto is the regional language of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and north Balochistan . Yet, the primary medium of education in government schools in Pakistan is Urdu. The lack of importance given to Pashto and its neglect has caused growing resentment amongst Pashtuns. It is noted that Pashto

5092-422: 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

5168-414: 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

5244-435: 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

5320-416: The world. Other communities of Pashto speakers are found in India , Tajikistan , and northeastern Iran (primarily in South Khorasan Province to the east of Qaen , near the Afghan border). In India most ethnic Pashtun (Pathan) peoples speak the geographically native Hindi-Urdu language rather than Pashto, but there are small numbers of Pashto speakers, such as the Sheen Khalai in Rajasthan , and

5396-453: 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,

5472-484: 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

5548-565: Was officially renamed to Dari . The lyrics of the national anthem of Afghanistan are in Pashto. In British India , prior to the creation of Pakistan by the British government, the 1920s saw the blossoming of Pashto language in the then NWFP : Abdul Ghafar Khan in 1921 established the Anjuman-e- Islah al-Afaghina (Society for the Reformation of Afghans) to promote Pashto as an extension of Pashtun culture; around 80,000 people attended

5624-400: 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

5700-513: 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

5776-432: 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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