Geographic distribution and number of speakers

Saraiki (or the vernacular dialect cluster which is being standardised in writing under the name "Saraiki") is native to what is now the southwestern half of Punjab Province in Pakistan. The historical territory of this dialect cluster bounded to the north by the Salt Range (a mountain range south of the national capital of Islamabad), to the south by Sindh Province, to the west by a line west of the Indus River and near that river, and to the east by a north-south line well west of the metropolis of Lahore. In 1919, Grierson maintained that the dialects this area constituted a dialect cluster, which he designated "Southern Lahnda" within a putative "Lahnda language". Subsequent linguists have confirmed the reality of this dialect cluster, even while rejecting other aspects of Grierson's scheme of classification, including Grierson's name for it.^[7] Saraiki is also spoken in Sindh Province, particularly the north of that province; Sindhi is also spoken in that area.

According to the Indian census of 2001, Saraiki is spoken by about 70,000 people spread throughout northwest and north central India. They are Partition refugees and their descendants who reported speaking either "Multani" (56,096 persons) or "Bahawalpuri" (11,873).^[4]

The national census of Pakistan included Saraiki for the first time in the census of 1981.^{[citation needed]} (The four major languages of Pakistan are Punjabi, Pashto, Sindhi, and Saraiki, in descending order.) In that year, the percentage of respondents nationwide reporting Saraiki as their mother tongue was 9.83. In the census of 1998, it was 10.53 out of a national population of 132 million, for a figure of 13.9 million Saraiki speakers resident in Pakistan. Also according to the 1998 census, 12.8 million of those, or 92%, lived in the Province of Punjab.^[8] The next census of Pakistan will be conducted in October 2008.^{[citation needed]}

Classification within Indo-Aryan

Saraiki is part of a dialect continuum with Punjabi and Sindhi. Punjabi, Saraiki, and Sindhi are all members of the Indo-Aryan subdivision of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. By the strictly linguistic criterion of mutual intelligibility, Saraiki dialects form a common language with dialects uncontroversially recognized as Punjabi.^{[citation needed]} All the same, dialects of "Saraiki" are distinct from dialects of "Punjabi" in consonant inventory as well as in the structure of the verb.

The linguist George Abraham Grierson in his multivolume Linguistic Survey of India (1904-1928) considered the various dialects up to then called "western Punjabi", spoken north, west, and south of Lahore in what is now Pakistani Punjab, as constituting instead a distinct language from Punjabi. (The local dialect of Lahore is the Majhi dialect of Punjabi, which has long been the basis of standard literary Punjabi.) Grierson proposed to name this putative language "Lahnda", and he dubbed as "Southern Lahnda" the coherent dialect cluster now known as Saraiki. Investigators since Grierson have rejected the "Lahnda" proposal. The communities speaking these dialects historically did not constitute a single, self conscious ethnicity. Although Grierson noted that the name Siraiki (the spelling he used) is a Sindhi word meaning '[language] of the north' (sirô), Shackle asserts that this etymology is unverified and is merely the most plausible one advanced.^[9]

There is a tendency for some discussions of the Saraiki dialects and their emerging standard literary language to incorrectly include dialects or languages spoken farther north, in particular Hindko. This error is due to confusion between Saraiki (Grierson's "Southern Lahnda") and the larger category of Lahnda. While these dialects to the north of the Salt Range are considerably similar to Saraiki in linguistic structure, ever since Grierson they have been recognised as definitely distinct from dialects spoken south of the range. Furthermore, their territories are not involved in the Saraiki regionalist movement.

Dialects of Saraiki

The historical inventory of names for the dialects now called Saraiki is a confusion of overlapping or conflicting ethnic, local, and regional designations. "Hindki" and "Hindko" -- which means merely "of India" -- refer to various Saraiki and even non-Saraiki dialects in Punjab Province and farther north within the country, due to the fact they were applied by invaders from Afghanistan or Persia. One historical name for Saraiki, Jaṭki, means "of the Jaṭṭs", a northern South Asian ethnic group; but Jaṭṭs speak the Indo-Aryan dialect of whatever region they live in. Only a small minority of Saraiki speakers are Jaṭṭs, and not all Saraiki speaking Jaṭṭs necessarily speak the same dialect of Saraiki. Conversely, several Saraiki dialects have multiple names corresponding to different locales or demographic groups. In Pakistan, an additional source of confusion when tabulating dialects is evolving administrative boundaries. Provinces in Pakistan are divided into districts, and sources on "Saraiki" often describe the territory of a dialect or dialect group according to the districts. Since the founding of Pakistan in 1947, several of these districts have been subdivided, some multiple times. Until 2001, the territorial structure of Pakistan included a layer of Divisions between a Province and its Districts. The name dialect name "Ḍerawali" is used to refer to the local dialects of both Dera Ghazi Khan and Dera Ismail Khan, but "Ḍerawali" in the former is the Multani dialect and "Ḍerawali" in the latter is the Thaḷi dialect.

Shackle 1976 has proposed a tentative classification of Saraiki dialects into six "varieties", wherein variety is defined as a group of dialects. (Shackle's scheme really involves just five "varieties", since he himself observes that Shahpuri, spoken in Sargodha District and parts of neighboring districts, is in truth not a kind of Saraiki, but instead a dialect of Punjabi with Saraiki features.) The precise geographical distribution of these dialect groups is unknown. The six are dubbed Central (i.e., Multani); Southern (i.e., Bahawalpuri, spoken primarily in Rahim Yar Khan district and in Bahawalpur District south of the city of Bahawalpur); Sindhi (spoken in Sindh province by emigrants); Northern (Thaḷi); Jhang; and Shahpuri.

A list of names in use at one or another time during the 20th century for Saraiki dialects and dialect groups is compiled in the table below. The dialect names are spelled in the standard Anglicized spelling. 'C' and 'ch' both resemble English 'ch'; 'c' represents an unaspirated sound, 'ch' an aspirated. A macron over a vowel indicates a long vowel.

Seraiki is the most widely spoken language in Pakistan and the first language of more than 40 million people in the subcontinent. Seraiki is the 61st largest language out of more than 6000 languages in the world. It has a very rich culture and is the representative language of Sindh Valley Civilization. The main Seraiki speaking areas are Multan, Bahawalpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Dera Ismail Khan and most parts of Sargodha division. Seraiki is also spoken widely in Sindh and Baluchistan provinces of Pakistan. It has many sweet dialects and is considered as the language of love.

Seraiki is the language of love and literature. Rich cultural context and diversity of expression in the language have enabled Seraiki poets and prose writers to produce literature masterpieces. Seraiki poetry has different themes. Love for beloved and love for land can be identified as major ones. Sufi poets have used this language not only to speak to people but also to God. Seraiki people have a natural flair for poetry and literature. Most of the Seraiki literature is unrecorded for the reason that no formal patronage has been provided to poets and writers. Before the inception of Pakistan, Seraiki was written in Devnagri script and converting to Arabic/ Persian script resulted in the loss of a substantial part of literature.

During last two centuries, Seraiki motherland has produced a lot of legendary poets. Khawaja Ghulam Farid, Sachal Sarmast and Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai are some of famous Seraiki poets which are known world wide for their universal message of love.

Writing System

There are two writing systems for Saraiki. One is a variant of the Arabic script, which is in vogue today. Very few Sairaiki speakers are literate in their own language, however, although some may be able to write other languages. However, the Hindus, especially the traders, wrote in a script called Laṇḍâ, which was written from left to right.It is no longer used in present-day Pakistan, but there are still people of the generation that learned the script before the partition of India, when they had to flee, settle, and assimilate in different regions and linguistic territories of India and other places of the world.

SeraikI Movement by petition

Seraiki is the largest spoken language in Pakistan (first language of more than 45 million people). Seraiki is also the representative language of ancient Indus valley civilization of India-Pakistan.

Seraiki area has been a seperate administrative region for centuries (before the British rule in India) and has a separate cultural identity from Punjabi culture. However after the independence of Pakistan in 1947, Seraiki area was made a part of Punjab province.

Unfortunately, Seraiki area (also called South Punjab) has been severally neglected in last 60 years and no significant work has been done to preserve Seraiki language or culture. There is few or no representation of Seraiki language and culture on the national media (despite the fact that Seraiki is the most widely spoken language in Pakistan). Administratively, Seraiki districts are far away from the capital of Punjab i.e. Lahore and this makes it difficult for the Seraiki people to access the provincial resources.

Punjab is also the largest province in the country and it will be more efficient from adminitrative points of view to divide this large province into two relatively smaller provinces (Seraikistan and upper Punjab).

The objective of this petition is to demand a new province for Seraiki people of Pakistan. Seraikistan will consist of Sargodha, Multan, DG Khan and Bahawalpur divisions (alongwith some adjoining areas of other districts) and Multan will be the provincial capital due to its central location. A separate TV station and introduction of Seraiki language as a complulsory subject in the schools in Seraikistan province are a part of this demand.

During last two centuries, Seraiki motherland has produced a lot of legendary poets. Khawaja Ghulam Farid, Sachal Sar Mast and Shah Latif are some of famous Seraiki poets which are known world wide for their universal message of love.

Quest for Seraiki Identity

Recent quest for Seraiki identity was triggered off with the separation of eastern wing of united Pakistan and dissolution of One Unit in West Pakistan. At this time a secular rationale for creation of "new"� Pakistan as continuation of Indus Valley Civilization and wheeler's five thousand year's of Pakistan caught the attention of politicians, intellectuals and political analysts. For the first time in Pakistan's history the tradition of forging national unity on the basis subduing various cultural, linguistic and social identities under state patronized identity was openly debated. Due to rapid urbanization during the past decades and emergence of middle class in urban centers of present Pakistan people from various regions, ethnic groups and diverse political leanings and ideologies started discussion on various components which constituted their social, cultural and political identities. They also started questioning the centralized political system which imposed serious restrictions on the expression, growth and harmonious development of these identities.

An important component of this debate on national and sub national identities was the question whether expression and growth of diversity strengthened or undermined national unity. Events that followed provided significant evidence that it is not expression of diversity but the ability to deal with diversity and draw on its strengths that determined the outcome of freedom of expression in this regard. The debate and struggle on this viewpoint still continues and people are very intelligently drawing conclusions from this debate. Defining cultural and national identities and articulating the rights of people with distinct identities is a very challenging and demanding task. However, the quest for articulating these identities and their legitimate rights has become very complex and complicated. The factors contributing to this complexity are underdevelopment of various regional language, extreme variations in the dialects of local languages, dominance of oral over written linguistic tradition, rapid movement of ethnic and linguistic groups outside their hinterland and permanent settlement in other linguistic and cultural landscapes, multi cultural and linguistic character of Pakistani cities and geographic regions, lack of serious research on cultural and regional inequalities, a strong desire in certain political tendencies to play the œnationalist� card as a short cut to power and dominance of desperation and rhetoric in our political culture. Due to these factors we have emotionally charged and substantially weak and unpopular expression of nationalist politics in Pakistan.

Seraikis like other nationalist constituencies have also been approached on the basis of nationalist rhetoric to fall in line behind œnationalist parties. However, nationalist politics in Seraiki area has been moving in circle and not moved forward at all. Part of the reason for this failure is lack of a deeper understanding of Seraiki question. Describing the unique identity of Seraiki people in contemporary Pakistan is a larger than life enterprise. Despite an intense desire among Seraikis to find an expression for their unique position in contemporary Pakistan little research and discussion has taken place in this regard. The purpose of this paper is to describe some unique social, cultural and historic characteristics of Seraikis and try to assess their position in relation to a despotic or pluralistic political discourse. I am trying to raise some questions and not to answer them. The purpose is to encourage a serious debate and not to close the debate by providing a "final"� answer.

Seraikis have many unique features which separate them from all other language, geography and ethnicity based "nationalities"� in Pakistan. In the first place Seraikis are the only group who live inside the borders of contemporary Pakistan. All other major national groups are spread across the border between Pakistan and its neighbouring countries. Secondly, Seraikis constitute second largest linguistic group in each province of Pakistan. Unlike other nationalities they are spread all over Pakistan. Seraiki is spoken by people living along the river valleys of Indus and its tributaries and occupy centre stage in what can be called cradle of Indus Civilization. Seraiki towns and urban centres have a good mix of Seraiki and non Seraiki speaking people and non Seraikis living in Seraiki areas are accepted as Seraikis by local people. Seraiki land lords are among the biggest land holding land lords in Pakistan and have been important share holders of power under various political dispensations. Major Seraiki towns are home to Sufi shrines, universities, colleges, radio stations, seats of power, trading centres and cultural heritage. Religious Seraiki religious leaders, zakirs and khatibs are spread all over Pakistan. Seraiki poetry and music is popular among non-Seraiki speaking as well. Seraiki have found respectable representation in civil and armed services of Pakistan and small and corporate business sector.

All these characteristics set Seraikis apart from all other nationalities in Pakistan. Their interests like their national identity are not strengthened by politics of separation and creating a Seraiki province but by forging unity among its people inhabiting the entire landscape of contemporary Pakistan. Seraikis are the true descendents of Indus Valley Civilization and a connecting thread to contemporary Pakistan. Their identity is destined to be linked with rediscovery of deeper inner unity among various linguistic, ethnic and cultural groups in Pakistan. It should not be reduced to fit in with narrowly defined political interests based on ignorance of Seraiki history and culture.