Abstract

Although the world is called a global village in present age, yet the political system based on ethnicity is still persisting in certain forms. From the time immemorial, humans have either inherited identity or are bound to adopt one. Language and religion based ethnic identities are the dominant issues in the history and evolution of multi-ethnic countries of former Soviet States, Eastern Europe, Africa and South Asia. When the culture of a group residing within a particular locality is secure in a neighboring jurisdiction, the issue at stake is not necessarily the survival of a unique culture but the political, economical and cultural needs of particular individuals. A primary concern in the political systems of multiethnic countries is the fear of domination or exploitation of some ethnic groups and assimilation by the other ethnic group. The problem is real and exists only because with the emergence of the modern secular nation states, the ethnical considerations have been removed from public policy making by these states. Pakistan is among such countries which comprise of different ethnic nationalities. The inter-ethnic political competition has been in fashion from the very first day of Pakistan’s creation. Moreover, the ethnic leadership coupled with cultural sensitive intelligentsia play their pivotal role to enhance ethnic behavior particularly during political process. Pakistan is multiethnic, multicultural and multilingual Society like most of the developing countries in South Asia. From very first day of its inception, the aspirations of the people of Pakistan to live in peace and harmony and to have a modicum of material security have been unfulfilled. Much has been written about the history, facts and legitimacy of ethnic grievances and ethnic competition in Pakistan time and again. The post colonial state of Pakistan characterized by long direct military rules, and continuous military control, lack of democratic political culture and an immature and weak civil society had been pursuing a policy of creating a unitary state national identity of Pakistan by negating the existence of the multi ethnic and plural reality of the society. This has resulted in a culture of intolerance and undemocratic governance. Pakistan inherited a bureaucratic structure, made and trained to suppress the civil society, main purpose being to control rather than to organize for development. The role of religion in creating a separate political identity as justification for the creation of Pakistan has played havoc with the issue of national identity. A single-minded focus by successive governments on uniting the country under the elusive banner of an ‘Islamic’ state has bred provincial hostilities, encouraged religious discrimination, derailed the country’s democratic institutions and stifled secular debate. A democratic progressive Pakistan is tied with a Pakistani identity based on the facts of plurality of its being. Language and culture are closely linked to each other, and throughout history, they have grown in tandem; in the first instance, however, the rudiments of language were necessary for the establishment of culture. If culture can be likened to a living cell, then language is its DNA, encoding cultural information and making possible its transmission. Language is the source of culture, and in the end, it is also its essence. Language permits the organization, transmission, and evolution of culture, gradually changing as behavior changes.

INRODUCTION

Identity Crisis: A crucial challenge and goal for the new nation of Pakistan and the idea behind the Partition was the creation of its national identity, one that is different from that of Hindu India. Many successive governments, military rulers, and intellectuals since 1947 tried to define Pakistani cultural identity on principles ranging from Islamic shari’at to indigenous culture and language, but remained largely unsuccessful. In the process, however, South Asia’s history textbooks were rewritten to justify Pakistan, and cultural forms such as art, music, sculpture, dance, cinema, and even family and social rituals were questioned, not only for their possible Hindu origins, but also whether or not they are valid in Islam.

WHAT IS LANGUAGE?

Language is the unique possession of man. It is God’s gift to mankind. Without language human civilization as we know it would have remained impossibility. Language is ubiquitous. It is present everywhere-in our thoughts and dreams, prayers and meditations, relations and communications, and rituals. Besides being a means of communication, and a storehouse of knowledge, it is an instrument of thinking as well as a source of delight (e.g. singing). Language dissipates superfluous nervous energy, directs motion in others, both men and animals, and sets matter in motion as in charms and incantations, transfers knowledge from one person to another, from one generation to another. Language is also the maker and unmaker of human relationships. It is the use of language that makes a life bitter or sweet. Without language man would have remained only a dumb animal. It is our ability to communicate through words that makes us different from animals. Because of its omnipresence, language is often taken for granted. But many a time it has become the serious concern not only of linguists but also of philosophers, logicians, psychologists, scientists, and literary critics, to name a few.

DEFINITION OF LANGUAGE

Language is a very complex human phenomenon; all attempts to define it have proved inadequate. In a nutshell, language is an ‘organized noise’ used in actual social situations. That is why it has also been defined as ‘contextualized systematic sounds’ In the Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol.13, language is defined as “a system of conventional, spoken or written symbols by means of which human beings, asmembers of a social group and participants in its culture, communicate. “Language is a primarily human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of a system of voluntarily produced symbols.” Sapir. Language, 1912). According to Transformational Generative linguists like Noam Chomsky, language is the innate capacity of native speakers to understand and form grammatical sentences.

WHAT IS CULTURE?

Culture is an integral part of every society. It is a learned pattern of behavior and ways in which a person lives his or her life. Culture is essential for the existence of a society, because it binds people together. In the explicit sense of the term, culture constitutes the music, food, arts and

literature of a society. However, these are only the products of culture followed by the society and cannot be defined as culture. According to English anthropologist Edward B Taylor, culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. Culture is something that a person learns from his family and surroundings, and is not ingrained in him from birth. It does not have any biological connection because even if a person is brought up in a culture different from that in which he was born, he imbibes the culture of the society where he grows up. It is also not a hidden fact that some people feel the need to follow the beliefs and traditions of their own culture, even though they might be not subscribing to certain ideologies within.

Culture is a complex tool which every individual has to learn to survive in a society. It is the means through which people interact with others in the society. It acts in a subconscious way and whatever we see and perceive, seems to be normal and natural. Sometimes, other societies and people seem to be a little odd because they have a different culture from ours. We must remember that every society has a distinct culture that forms the backbone of the society. Culture does not remain stagnant; on the other hand it is evolving constantly and is in fact somewhat influenced by other cultures and societies. Every society has a different culture, where people share a specific language, traditions, behaviors, perceptions and beliefs. Culture gives them an identity which makes them unique and different from people of other cultures.

When people of different cultures migrate and settle in another society, the culture of that society becomes the dominant culture and those of the immigrants from the subculture of the community. Usually, people who settle in other nations imbibe the new culture; while at the same time strive to preserve their own. Although every society has a specific culture, there are certain elements of culture that are universal. They are known as cultural universals, in which there are certain behavioral traits and patterns that are shared by all cultures around the world. For instance, classifying relations based on blood relations and marriage, differentiating between good and bad, having some form of art, use of jewellery, classifying people according to gender and age, etc., are common in all cultures of the world. Culture is necessary to establish an order and discipline in the society. It is not only a means of communication between people, but also creates a feeling of belonging and togetherness among people in the society.

WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LANGUAGE AND CULTURE?

Language is the verbal expression of culture. Culture is the idea, custom and beliefs of a community with a distinct language containing semantics - everything speakers can think about and every way they have of thinking about things as medium of communication. Language and culture are NOT fundamentally inseparable. At the most basic level, language is a method of expressing ideas. That is, language is communication; while usually verbal, language can also be visual (via signs and symbols), or semiotics (via hand or body gestures). Culture, on the other hand, is a specific set of ideas, practices, customs and beliefs which make up a functioning society as distinct.

A culture must have at least one language, which it uses as a distinct medium of communication to convey its defining ideas, customs, beliefs, et al., from one member of the culture to another member. Cultures can develop multiple languages, or "borrow" languages from other cultures to use; not all such languages are co-equal in the culture. One of the major defining characteristics of a culture is which language(s) are the primary means of communication in that culture;

sociologists and anthropologists draw lines between similar cultures heavily based on the prevalent language usage. Languages, on the other hand, can be developed (or evolve) apart from its originating culture. Certain languages have scope for cross-cultural adaptations and communication, and may not actually be part of any culture. Language is heavily influenced by culture - as cultures come up with new ideas, they develop language components to express those ideas. THE RELATIONSHIP OF ETHINICTY AND POLITICAL SYSTEM Humans must interact socio-culturally and politically to survive. In interaction they create a web of relationship, ideas, beliefs and identity that governs these relationships. Political systems are an important institution related with human experience. Indeed, Fredrick Barth has defined ethnicity as “social organization of cultural difference”. It is naturally the cultural difference that matters as far as human history is concerned. Indeed, an understanding of ethnic processes is basic to an understanding of human history. The material progress, uneven development in socio-economic spheres, demographic changes, intended or unintended, results into identity consciousness of the privileged as well as the underprivileged ethnic groups in the multiethnic societies. In the case of multicultural society like Pakistan, the national as well as local political power structure often manifests the ethnic consciousness; sometimes this ethnic consciousness is even influenced by both political structures in reciprocal fashion. In fact, without language it is almost impossible to imagine the formation of an ethnic identity. Clifford Geertz advocates language and even dialect of language as the primordial source of ethnicity and ethnic identity.15 According to Charles Barber, “Language conflicts in certain situations are seen to lead to political tussles. One language may destroy another language. A language politically, culturally and economically powerful may dominate a state to such an extent that other minor or ethnical languages in the area suffer in consequence” PAKISTAN’S SOCIOLINGUISTIC SCENE: a Brief Historical Background At the time of its creation, Pakistan was divided into two wings: East Pakistan and West Pakistan. East Pakistanis were almost entirely Bengalis (Noman, 1990; Hananana, 2001), and West Pakistan was comprised of indigenous people like the Balochs, Pathans, Punjabis, Sindhis, Saraikies and diverse ethnolinguistic groups of Northern Areas (Kazi, 1987). There was no Urdu-speaking community, living in Pakistan at the time of its creation. The Bengalis with 55.6 percent of the population of Pakistan were in majority (Rahman, 2002). At the time of Partition, there were 34 million people living in the areas which became Pakistan (Curtis and Blondel, 1993). Over 10 million emigrated from India to newly created Pakistan. Out of these migrants, 100,000 Urdu speaking migrants from Bihar in India went to East Pakistan. All the Punjabis based in East Punjabi went to West Pakistan and settled in the province of Punjab. The rest of the migrants, all Urdu speaking , went to West Pakistan and settled in almost all urban centers of Pakistan specially Karachi, Hyderabad, and Sukkhar and took the administrative and political control of Pakistan. Unlike in the case of India, Pakistan’s rulers were not indigenous. The figures above make it clear that it was the Bengalis who should have ruled Pakistan based upon one-man-one-vote formula. Since the Bengalis were in majority, it was their democratic right to rule newly created Pakistan. Bengali rule would have meant the ascendancy of the Bengali language, inter alia. Thus, to thwart the Bengalis, the Punjabi leaders joined hands with the Urdu speaking (Cohen, 2004; Khan, 2005), and despite the declarations that Pakistan would be a democracy, the government, which was comprised of the Urdu

Speaking and their Punjabi supporters, did not hold the promised elections. The constitution was not drafted, and the ruling elite continued to run Pakistan’s affairs provisionally on the 1935 constitutional package which the British had given to India as colonial rulers (Masud, 1978; Khan, 2005). THE LANGUAGE PLANNING IN PAKISTAN Pakistan’s language planning can be likened to the fascist language planning in Italy in the first half of the 20th century. Throughout its history, the establishment has been interfering in the language issues and suppressed campaigns for linguistic rights of Balochi, Saraiki. Pashto and Sindhi in the name of national security, Islam, and the Pakistan ideology (Rahman, 1996). Writing about language planning in the Fascist Italy, Klein says, “in public education fascism attempted to create a policy of linguistic unification, which bordered on dialectophobia. . . the idea „one nation=one language‟ was created” (Klein, 1989: 39). This is what exactly happened when the government of newly created Pakistan claimed that Pakistan would be “one nation, one religion, and one language” (Zaidi, 2001), and “Islam is the raison d’être of Pakistan” (Husain, 2001: 9). Curiously, Pakistan’s language planning was done by no other person than the ruling Mohajir-Punjabi elite in order to sideline the Bengalis, Pashtoons, Sindhis and Saraikies to gain power through language. THE PROBLEM OF PAKISTANI CULTURE Pakistan is multiethnic, multicultural and multilingual society like most of the developing countries in South Asia. From very first day of its inception, the aspirations of the people of Pakistan to live in peace and harmony and to have a modicum of material security have been unfulfilled. Much has been written about the history, facts and legitimacy of ethnic grievances and ethnic competition in Pakistan time and again. The relationship of ethnicity and political system is even more important in the social life of humans because ethnicity is essentially a continuous, dynamic. The identities formed on common language base (primordial) and taking political forms (instrumental), causing ethnic competition and conflict. The factors contributing are sense of belongingness and security; the fear of being deprived of the resources; being powerless; and the superiority of ones culture and language over the other language THE MINDSET OF RULIING ELITE TOWARDS CULTURAL DIVERSITY For the highly centralized post colonial state of Pakistan that was in the process of creating a national identity, any talk of provincial rights and differences based on culture, language or ethnicity were anathema. These were considered as negating the very basis of Pakistani nationhood, which was based on religion and the Urdu language. The ruling elite , since the independence had tried to enforce the alien culture of the Urdu-speaking community by undermining and deliberately neglecting the local cultural diversity of West Pakistan There has been very little or no debate on indigenous cultures of Pakistan. Pleas for local indigenous cultures have never found a place in society (Ahmed, 1998). Only during the time of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (1972-77), a great deal of debate was allowed on local cultures (Raza, 1997). However, due to the lack of mature democratic political culture, even the populist government of Zufikar Ali Bhutto did not or could not make much headway in actualizing the political/administrative expression of that diversity in any meaningful way,, but once General Zia overthrew and hanged him, the very notion of indigenous cultures disappeared under the watchful eyes of the military and mullahs. The post colonial state of Pakistan characterized by long direct military rules, and continuous military control, lack of democratic political culture and an immature and weak civil society had been pursuing a policy of creating a unitary state national identity of Pakistan by negating the

existence of the multi ethnic and plural reality of the society. This has resulted in a culture of intolerance and undemocratic governance. THE RELATIONSHIP OF ETHNICITY AND POLITICAL SYSTEM Humans must interact socio-culturally and politically to survive. In interaction they create a web of relationship, ideas, beliefs and identity that govern these relationships. Political system is an important institution related with human experience. It is naturally the cultural difference that matters as far as human history is concerned. Indeed, an understanding of ethnic processes is basic to an understanding of human history. The material progress, uneven development in socio-economic spheres, demographic changes, intended or unintended, results into identity consciousness of the privileged as well as the underprivileged ethnic groups in the multiethnic societies. In the case of multicultural society like Pakistan, the national as well as local political power structure often manifests the ethnic consciousness; sometimes this ethnic consciousness is even influenced by both political structures in reciprocal fashion. In fact, without language it is almost impossible to imagine the formation of an ethnic identity. Clifford Geertz advocates language and even dialect of language as the primordial source of ethnicity and ethnic identity. According to Charles Barber, “Language conflicts in certain situations are seen to lead to political tussles. One language may destroy another language. A language politically, culturally and economically powerful may dominate a state to such an extent that other minor or ethnical languages in the area suffer in consequence”. THE LANGUAGE ECOLOGY OF PAKISTAN One main consideration in language ecology is about languages having their own niches, which means different languages have their places, though their functions may vary. The notion of language niches implies the acknowledgement of the existence, in whatever degree, of all the languages which exist in a given language ecology. In Pakistan’s language ecology, languages other than Urdu are tolerated, and not accepted or encouraged. Baart and Sindhi say that Urdu is given “official patronage at the cost of other Pakistan languages” (Baart and Sindhi, 2003: 26). There are over 50 languages spoken in Pakistan with their speakers ranging from 2,000 to 300,000 (Rahman, 2002), but Pakistan’s censuses have historically asked the respondents only about the main languages. People either have to identify one of the main languages as their own, or they have to write “Other”. In Pakistan non-Urdu languages are only tolerated comes from the facts that apart from Pashto and Sindhi which are taught at the lower levels in the KPK and Sindh provinces, no indigenous language is allowed to be taught in schools (Rahman, 2000 and 2003). Ironically, than one can do an MA/Phd in Saraiki (Zaidi, 2001), but one cannot read a word of it in schools, all in the name of Islam, unity of the country, and national security (Rahman, 2002) THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF SARAIKI WASAIB

"Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past." George Orwell Nothing more would have explained importance of History of Saraiki Wasaib for Saraikies as explain these two sagacious lines of George Orwell. It is must for all Saraikies to read History of Saraiki Wasaib and analyze those factors which led to dismal and deplorable condition of 50 million Saraikies living in Pakistan. Unfortunately, Saraikies today are not master of their destiny, they cannot make any decision effecting their collective lives. Due to lack of control over decision making process, along with anything else they do not have any history of their own. Intentional efforts are being made to deface this 50 million strong true Pakistani nation and give it a false label of a Punjabi. History being a memory of nations is a major source for all nations, which reminds them of their past, it explains them lot of things and provides justification for whole range of issues. History only is the mechanism by which nations could understand

their present and formulate their future line of action. Thus in order to deface any group and deny its existence it becomes imperative for a dominant group to corrupt and to send to oblivion the history of depressed group. That is what Punjabis have done with Saraikies. Saraikies are not aware of what happened to their land in past , they are not alive to the fact that for centuries their areas served as battle grounds and they were denied rights in their own home. If Saraiki do not look back into history, it is impossible for them to understand reasons for their current miserable plight. If History of Seraiki Wasaib was written and all the Saraikies had access to it , Punjabis definitely would have find it difficult to keep this nation enslaved and Seraiki province would have appeared on the political map of the world quite a long ago. Multan is mother of all Saraiki areas, because in past they all were part of it and parted from it during long course of history. Today we find some Saraiki areas incorporated in Punjab, while others are part of KPK , Baluchistan and Sindh. In past they were part of one single administrative entity called Multan. Multan in history existed as an independent state, a province, a division and now as a district. It is one of the few living cities of the world which have their origin in pre-historic times. There are countless references about Multan in ancient and medieval history. Medieval historian describe Multan as province of Sindh, during Ghaznavid period it was a separate province, it existed as independent state under Nasir-u-Din Qabacha. Then during Sultanate era it was a province which owed its allegiance to Delhi. It became independent state under Langhas; later on it became province of Mughal era. Although Multan was biggest and hence most important province of Mughal empire, but it is the period when question was put on its territorial integration. It lost it significance to great extent when Lahore gained importance. During the centuries which followed Multan kept losing its territories and its grip on its peripheral areas became weak. It lost lot of area in south to Daudaputras when they established State of Bahawalpur. In west and north-west Dera Ghazi Khan and Dera Ismail Khan came into existence and at times remained independent of influence from Multan. Finally, the Sikh Invasions of 19th century snatched identity of Seraiki Wasaib from it and labeled the whole Wasaib as Punjab. However it is interesting to note that Multan remained a separate province in Mahara Ranjeet Singh's Punjab. Punjab is phenomenon of yesterday. Although Punjabi speakers existed from time unknown but there was no Punjab, as there is no Seraiki Wasaib today, but that does not mean Saraikies never existed. It has its origin in early part of 19th century when short lived Sikh rule was established as a result of rise of Sikh Religious Nationalism and conquests made thereafter. The areas what now are called Pakistani Punjab and Indian Punjab were brought under Sikh dominion (there were some other territories which now are separate provinces of Haryana, Himachal, Some a Dera Ismail Khan Division were incorporated into KPK in 1901). However Sikh rule proved to be short lived and after British takeover the Sikh dominion became part of British Empire. This is the point where Multan's separate identity as an administrative unit was merged with that of erst-while unknown Punjab. Before British take over Punjab was an independent state and Multan was its province. When Punjab became province of British Empire, status of Multan was reduced to that of a division. The British Bureaucrats and Civil servants, who although did great a job of writing extensively about history, culture, geography, geology etc. of the areas under their control. But they overlooked some facts and considered Seraiki as a dialect of Punjabi. Although some Punjabi intellectuals of that time who wrote about Punjabi language, considered Seraiki as a separate language. Similarly, today even, Sikhs do not include Seraiki areas in the definition of Punjab.

Seraiki people never remained politically or culturally a part of Punjab except the rule of Ranjit Singh, the only and last Punjabi ruler in early 19th century. It has been rather vice versa. The period of Sikh subjugation was very hard and tragic for Seraiki people. Sikhs plundered and looted the beautiful cities and forts. The farmlands and bazaars became desolate due to deteriorated law and order situation and heavy taxes. Seraiki poetry and folk literature of this period is gloomy, and introvert. The term "Sikha

Shahi" is still used as a synonymous of misadministration, injustice and highhandedness. Eventually Saraikies welcomed the British take over this area in 1849.

Since then and after the independence the whole Seraiki speaking area is politically, economically and culturally being ruled and dictated from Lahore. Even the so-called enlightened intellectuals of Punjab deliberately call Saraiki people as Punjabis and their language as a dialect of Punjabi.

During the British period a lot of research work was made about this language by the new administrators, as it was their need to understand the people and get firsthand knowledge of their culture and language. All the research work was collected in the farm of printed material, which can be found in the records of Bible House, Church Missionary Society London, India office Library and in the record rooms of local revenue departments. First Seraiki translation of "The New Testament was printed under the auspices of Baptist Missionary Society of Calcutta in "Devnagri “script in early 19th century. Richard Burton, and intelligence officer of Sir Charles Napier learned Seraiki language to do research on Seraiki.

Administrators of different Saraiki districts compiled Settlements Reports and District Gazetteers, which contained detailed information about the history, culture and language of Seraiki people. Mr. Brien Assistant Commissioner and settlement officer of Muzaffar Garh district compiled "Glossary of Multani Language" which was published in 1881. He was assisted by Maulvi Abdul Rehman Muzaffargarhvi and Qazi Ghulam Mustafa of Ahmed Pur Jhang. Sir James Wilson and his assistant Hari Krishan Kaul wrote "Grammar and dictionary of Multani, which was published in 1899. Mr. Skemp ICS collected Saraiki stories, which were compiled and printed in 1917 as "Multani Stories" in Roman Characters with English translation. In recent times, Dr. Christopher Shackle, a teacher of School of Oriental and African studies of London University got his PhD degree on his thesis "Seraiki and Saraiki literature" . His other work "A century of Saraiki studies in English is also worth reading.

After the independence, India has divided its part of Punjab into three provinces of Haryana, Himachal and Punjab but Pakistani Punjab not only included the independent state of Bahawalpur in it but also other non-Punjabi areas. Seraiki speaking area is strategically situated in the center of Pakistan. Saraikies have been peace-loving people but purposely and blatantly being denied of their very identity, which may not do any good in future. Today Saraikies are in control of Punjabis and reading history written either by Punjabis or by the people who don’t belong to this area. So we are told the we always were part of Punjab and Saraiki is just a dialect of Punjabi. It infact is a political wickedness, by doing so they are userpingour economic and political rights. They want to deprive us of our history and identity, because only in this way they will be able to maintain their unholy dominance on us. Because who controls the past, controls the future. THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE SARAIKI LANGUAGE The language which is now called Saraiki has been given various names in the past. Western linguists used name like ‘’Belochki’ (Burton 1849) ‘Multani’ (O, Breien: 1881), Uchi (Bomford 1895), Jataki (Juke 1900), Lahnda (Grierson 1919), Lahndi (Smirnov 1975) and Siraiki (Shackle 1972) for it. Native speakers had called it by the names of the areas where it was spoken. The word "Sarāiki" originated from the word “Sauvira” , a state name in old India. By adding adjectival suffix "-ki" to the word "Sauvira" it became "Sauvirāki". The consonant 'v' with its neighboring vowels was dropped for simplification and hence the name became "Sarāiki". Although George Abraham Grierson reported that "Sirāiki" (that was the spelling he used) is from a Sindhi word sirō, meaning 'of the north, northern. The name "Saraiki” was formally adopted in the 1960s by regional social and political leaders who undertook to promote Saraiki ethnic consciousness and to develop the vernaculars into a standardized written language.

Saraiki is the only local language of Pakistan , which is indigenous to all the provinces and dates back to the 5 the century BC (Gardezi, 1996) or according to other sources 1400 A.D. (Rahman) but Bakhsh wrote his book on Siraiki in 1200 A.D. which proves that the language existed a long time back. This language was found to be prevalent and surviving in the archaic centers of the Indus Civilization i.e. Mohenjo-Daro, Kot Deji, Taxila, Harappa, Dderawar and Multan (Ahsan, 1990). In Pakistan it was recognized as a separate language in the 1981 census during the regime of General Zia-ul-Haq (Feroz). Saraiki is a member of the Indo-Aryan language family (Refer Appendix A). Since it belongs to the Northwestern Zone languages, has 85% lexical similarity with Sindhi and 68% with Dhatki, Odki and Sansi (Baart, 2001). It is written in Perso-Arabic script. It is spoken in Pakistan, India and United Kingdom (Baart, 2001). Saraiki is an Indo-Hittite, and therefore an Indo-European language, with its original pre- Islamic word-hoard deriving largely from the three stages of Vedic. Sanskrit and Prakrit it also retains a puzzling and fascinating. Smaller hoard of words and formations that have no analogues in Aryan speech and are in all probability carry over from the older Indus Valley forms of speech. Saraiki in its present geographical setting in the Indus valley had begun to evolve as a language of common discourse, distinct from the Magadhan Prakrit as early as the 5th century BC.

References to a local speech, which is neither Prakrit or Sanskrit nor the more recent imports of Farsi and Arabic, but is Hindi, and is spoken in the Indus Valley speech area begin to appear in the accounts of the Central Asian historians of the 10th and the 11th centuries. By the time we come to the middle sections of the Sikh Scripture, the Adi Granth. We come across a substantial body of verse in Saraiki. In these sections dating back to late 15th early 16th century, a clear evidence of the Seraiki poetical imagination begins to surface. Written references to Multani as a distinct speech community are found in an authoritative Farsi text of Emperor Akbar's period (1542-1606 AD), according to which the province of Lahore is also placed in the 'Multani' speaking belt.

Despite the ancient roots of the Saraiki language and its oral literary tradition, rather a small body of 'written' literature in the language has survived. At the core of the Saraiki literary imagination lies, the fundamental oral imperative which, paradoxically is also the secret of its vitality and survival. It is this imperative which explains the extraordinary urgency and emotive drive as well as the unusual synergetic capacity that are the characteristic marks of the Saraiki poetics and Seraiki imagination.

For a variety of reasons, Saraiki has never been the language of the politics and religious elite and priesthood who, since they were often foreigners, at various times, chose the so called classical languages such as Sanskrit, Arabic, Farsi, and later on, English and Urdu as their mode of written communication. As emperors, monarchs and sundry adventurers of Hellenic, Central Asian, Iranian, Turkish, Arab and British origin contended for power in the plains of the Indus Valley, turning them into bloody battlefields, the Saraiki speech community resisted domination, fiercely at times, guarding the integrity of the mother tongue by refusing to succumb to the allure of the latest variety of the 'imperial' speech. As a consequence, the Saraiki speech community failed to develop a political and therefore linguistic power base of its own.

For those who did establish themselves as rulers, it was not advantageous to adopt the language of the ruled as the written medium of formal education, religious ritual and discourse, state administration, business and commerce. To do that would demystify their claims to superiority,

wisdom and divine rights to rule. It is interesting to note as a significant aside, that when Sikhs ruled Punjab in the first half of the 19th century, they too retained Persian as the court language, despite the fact that their mother tongue was Punjabi, with script of its own.

Thus Saraiki never got the chance to grow within the formal precincts of the academy, the temple, the mosque, the court or the monastery. To this day, each generation of Saraiki speakers has learned the language by hearing the lullabies of mothers at home, speaking to playmates in yards and alleys and by listening to the elders, story tellers and folk singers. It has preeminently been the tongue of the truly creative living the language of essential human affections .This free and open environment of growth makes Saraiki a natural language endowed with its characteristic qualities which have fascinated many an outside observer. It has been called a 'sweet' language which objectively means that it has a mix of acoustic phonemes that strike the ear of the listener with soothing and rhythmic sounds with no sharp breaks. The’d’ and’t’ sounds are uttered softly as in French. Its syntax is simple and flexible which makes it an excellent medium for composing metered and rhymed poetry. Its vocabulary is rich and self-sufficient in giving expression to the range of wants and experiences of ordinary workers, craftsmen, traders, farmers pastoralists, caravan travelers boatmen and women. Seraiki vocabulary and imagery is also a profuse reflection of' the surrounding natural environment.

Saraiki is the most widely spoken language in Pakistan and the first language of more than 80 million people in the subcontinent. Saraiki 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 Saraiki speaking areas are Southern Punjab, Northern Sindh, South East Balochistan and Dera Ismail Khan Division of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa. The most common names previously associated with Saraiki language were Riasiti, Bahawalpuri, Multani Lahnda and Thalochari. The common dialects of Saraiki language are Derawali, Khatki, Jangli and Jataki.

CLASSIFICATION OF SARAIKI’S DILECTS 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. Saraiki belongs to the Indo-Aryan branch of Indo-European. According to global recordings languages these are also Saraiki. 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.

Dialect group Sub dialect Where spoken Alternate names Notes

Saraiki

Saraiki Multan, Lodhran, Vehari, Bahawalpur, Muzaffargaṛh, Rahim Yar Khan Districts

Bahāwalpurī/Riyāsatī, both names in use in Bahawalpur District.

According to Masica, the two names Bahāwalpurī and Riyāsatī are locally specific names for the Mūltānī dialect group, possibly specific dialects within the group. According to Shackle, they instead denote a distinct dialect group. Also according to Shackle, the Bahawalpur District of Punjab Province (i.e., within its 1976 boundaries) is split between Multani in the north and Bahawalpuri in the south, with the dialect of Bahawalpur city being of blend of these two.

Ḍerāwālī[17]

Dera Ismail Khan District, Dera Ghazi Khan District, Rajanpur District, Derawal Nagar (Delhi)

According to Masica, this use of the name Ḍerāwāl is to be distinguished from its use as an alternate name for a different dialect group (see following row).

Thaḷī Saraiki

Jhang, Sargodha,Bhakkar District, Layyah, Khushab, Muzaffargarh, Mianwali Districts (Punjab Province); Tank Districts (Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa)

Thaḷochṛi in Jhang District; Jaṭkī;Hindkō, Hindkī, Ḍerāwāl west of the Indus River, the last referring to the vicinity of Dera Ismail Khan

Named after the Thall Desert, a region bordered by the Indus River to the west and the Jhelum and Chenab Rivers to the east.

Sindhī Saraiki northern part of Sindh

Province

Sirāikī dialect which has some features of the Sindhī language. Sindhi Saraiki is widely spoken in Kashmore,Jacobabad, Shikarpur, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allahyar, Sobho Khan Mastoi, Kamal Khan Mastoi, Thatta, Sujawal, Dadu and Ghotki. Initerier sindh 40% of papulation speak sindhi Saraiki.

Jhangī

Local Jhang, Faisalabad, Gujrat, Gujranwala Districts

Cināwaṛī, Cinhāwaṛī(from the name of an area on the right bank of the Chenab River)

Jhangī may actually be closer to the Punjabi language. Gujrat District is not to be confused with Gujarat State in India.

Jāng(a)lī ,Rachnavi

Jangal Bar tract of Faisalabad District and all regions encompassing the formerMontgomery District

Dialect of Jhangochi spoken by the pastoral tribes of the mentioned areas, such as the Kharals, Wattus, Johiyas, who used to rear cattle and sheep in the jungles, before irrigation of the region.

Kacchṛī Kacchṛī is named for alluvial desert plain of Kacchī, SW of Jhang town

Niswānī North Jhang District Sub dialect or local name of Jhangī as spoken by a tribe, the Niswānā, as of 1919.

FEATURES

Saraiki and Sindhi both have somewhat similar consonant inventories. This inventory includes phonemically distinctive implosive consonants, which makes Sindhi and Saraiki unusual among the Indo-European languages (and not just among the Indo-Aryan languages). Phonology

Vowels

Saraiki has three short vowels, seven long vowels and six nasal vowels.

Consonants:-

Bilabial Labiodental Dental Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal

Stops and affricates

Voiceless p pʰ t̪ t̪ h t tʰ t͡ ʃ t͡ ʃʰ k kʰ ʔ

Voiced b bʱ d̪ d̪ʱ d dʱ d͡ ʒ d͡ ʒ ɦ ɡ ɡʱ

Implosives ɓ ɗ ʄ ɠ

Nasals m mʱ n nʱ ɳ ɲ Ŋ

Fricatives

Voiceless f s ʃ X h

Voiced v z ʒ ɣ

Trills r rʱ

Flaps ɽ ɽʱ

Laterals l lʱ

Semivowel j

INFLUENCE OF OTHER LANGUAGES ON SARAIKI Saraiki is mainly s spoken in the areas, which was the cradle of the Indus Valley civilization .Before the arrivals of Aryans, the Dravidians had been flourishing here for centuries .After the arrival of Aryans invaders, the Dravidians influenced the invaders and that the Dravidians were subdued and enslaved but it

may assumed that the language of the native Dravidians influenced the invaders and that the Dravidians element in Saraiki are attributable to the natives who had been living here before the Aryans. For thousands of years, the languages of the Aryans developed without outside influence. Arabic was the first outside invader in the linguistic scenario of the Subcontinent. With the arrival of the Arabs in 711 CE, the people of the Subcontinent started converting to Islam and the monopoly of Sanskrit as a religious language faced a challenge from Arabic. With the beginning of the second millennium CE, the Persian-Speaking Afghans, Turks and Iranians continuously attacked the Subcontinent and for the next one thousand years, they ruled the Indian subcontinent. In 1857, the Persian speaking rulers were defeated at the hands of the British and the Subcontinent became a British colony. English began to influence the languages of the region. The influence of Sanskrit and Persian on Saraiki has almost stopped, but those of Arabic and English, one being the language of religion and the other being that of international media still continues. THE RELATIONSHIP OF SARAIKI & SINDHI Sindhi is a language which is genuinely the sister language of Saraiki. For centuries the Saraiki Wasaib remained the part of Sindh. In those days, the variant of the Sindhi language spoken in the northern areas of was called ‘Siroki’ which means ‘northern’. But in the 8th century CE, the Saraiki Wasaib seceded from Sindh and became a separate state called ‘Multan’ (Mehar 1967).So, the ‘Saraiki’ variant of Sindhi flourished and developed into separate language.

SARAIKI-PUNJABI CONTROVERSY

The Saraikies strongly feel the resentment at Punjabis’ not recognizing Saraiki as a language in its own right and relegating it to the status of a dialect of Punjabi. Punjabis on their part see the activities of Saraiki enthusiasts as, treacherously weakening the integrity of Punjab and impeding its proper re-identification under the aegis of a single provincial language. Saraikies complain of three types of encroachments by Punjabis, namely on Saraiki linguistics, poetry, and folk music. They are quite bitter about the inclusion of works of Khwaja Farid (who is a Saraiki poet) in the M.A. syllabus of Punjabi which claims him to be a Punjabi poet. As for the claims on other classical poets, Shackle observes that the famous Sufi poets of the region like Shah Hussain Sultan, Bahu or Bullhe Shah were eclectic in their choice of diction from different dialects to suit their metre and rhyme so in this sense their works to some extent are open to claims from Seaiki as well as from Punjabi.

Confusion has also arisen over the name of the Punjab province. Anything belonging to the Punjab province and presented as Punjabi, like literature, culture, heritage might be interpreted as representing not Punjab the region but Punjabi language and this is unacceptable to the identity conscious Saraikies because they believe that, when reference is made to Punjabi culture it doesn’t refer to administrative unit but to cultural unit…you are being deprived of your social, cultural and linguistic identity legally and officially. Some writers tend to take Saraiki as a dialect of Punjabi, The explanation lies either in the fact that they are not adequately informed, or in their desire to exaggerate the importance of Panjabi’. Lahndi [Saraiki] and Sindhi are the sister languages which have a near relation …with Punjabi’. While comparing Saraiki with Punjabi, points to a great difference existing even between the sub-dialects of Punjabi merging into Saraiki which he terms Western Punjabi. Both Saraiki and Punjabi despite having grammatical,

phonological and phonetic differences share many morphological, lexical and syntactic features and are mutually intelligible Saraiki differs radically from the Punjabi of Lahore area in tone and consonant sounds. Saraiki activists make the most of these differences to assert their separate linguistic identity. The emphasis on the difference from the Punjabi language also means an escape from the clutches of the all-inclusive label of Punjabi which activists fear would swallow their own culture and identity. The Saraikies emphasize their differences from Punjabis in order to stress their specific cultural and ethnic identity and it would be counterproductive for them to accept Saraiki as a dialect of Punjabi.

THE SARAIKI SCRIPT There are three writing systems for Saraiki, though very few Saraiki speakers—even those literate in other languages — are able to read or write their own language in any writing system. The most common Saraiki writing system today is the Persian script, which has also been adapted for use on computers. Saraiki has a 42-letter alphabet including 37 of the Urdu alphabet and five letters unique to Saraiki. The Devnagri and Gurumukhi scripts, written from left to right, were used by Hindus. Though not used in present-day Pakistan, there are still emigrant speakers in India who know the Devnagri or Gurumukhi scripts for Saraiki. In the process of creating a distinct identity of Saraiki language, Saraiki activists have also paid attention to creating a standard Saraiki script and orthographic norms. Orthographic and linguistic standardization of Saraiki seems more connected with the politics of identity and antiquity’. The emphasis was on the creation of markers which would reflect the independent status of Saraiki sounds. Although Saraiki shares four implosive sounds with Sindhi, care was taken so that the Saraiki script and the representation of these symbols should be different from that of Sindhi so that the Sindhis should not lay any claims over Saraiki literature as theirs’. Various primers have been published from time to time between 1943 and 2001 by a number of people. For example, Ansari, Bhatti, Gabool & Faridi, Kalanchvi & Zami, Mughal, Pervaiz, Qureshi, Rasoolpuri, Sindhi, Siyal, each proposing a different system of representing the distinctive Saraiki sounds. Several collective efforts after the partition have also been made to standardize the Saraiki script. However, despite the claims of the Saraiki language planners on the agreement and use of a standard Saraiki script, writings with modified diacritics are still common, with increasing trend of using only agreed marks.

Saraikies arrround the World IN INDIA

According to the Indian census of 2001, Saraiki is spoken in urban areas throughout northwest and north central India by a total of about 3 million people, the descendants of emigrants from the Saraiki Wasaib after the partition of India in 1947. Saraiki is also spoken in Faridabad, Ballabhgarh, Palwal,Rewari,Sirsa, Fatehabad, Hisar, Bhiwani, Panipat districts of Haryana, some area of Delhi like Derawalnagar,Lajpatnagar,Inderpuri,Camp . Kalkaji and Ganganagar district,Hanumangarh and Bikaner districts of Rajasthan. It is spoken at low scale in Utrakhand and U.P. Saraiki is mainly known as Multani and Bahawalpuri in India. IN AFHANISTAN There is no listing for Saraiki or its other variants in the Afghanistan entry in Ethnologue(1997). However, it is knowns as Kandahari and is mainly spoken by Hindu .Hindus have always lived in Afghanistan.The word Kandh in Seraiki means wall. Kandahar used to have many walls. The Hilmand river flowing in that area was labelled "Rud-e-hind-wa-sind" by Arabic manuscripts. Before the influx of Pashtoons the inhabitants of Kandahar spoke Seraiki. The Pashtoons labelled

their language "Jataki". The language spoken by Afghan Hindus in Kandahar known as Kandhari is probably "Jataki".

GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF SARAIKI SPEAKING AREAS IN PAKISTAN AND ARROUND THE WORLD

Saraiki is a language of great antiquity in Pakistan. It served as "Lingua Franca" among the people living around .It also remained the language of commerce and trade until recent times. Today over eighty million people of South Punjab and Dera Ismail Khan region of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa province speak Saraiki as their first language. It is widely spoken and understood as a second language in other areas of Punjab, Northern and Western Sindh down to the suburbs

of Karachi, and in Kachhi plain of Baluchistan. Punjab

Saraiki is home to the districts of, but not limited to, Mianwali, Bhakkar, Khushab, Layyah, Muzaffar Garh, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur , Multan, Vehari, Lodhran, Mailsi, Khanewal, Sahiwal, Bahwalpur, Bahawalnagar, Rahimyar Khan, Sadiqabad. Thal and Cholistan deserts also are homes of Saraiki language. These areas are called as Saraiki Wasaib according to Saraiki literature.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Saraiki is native language in the districts of Dera Ismail Khan ,Tank and partially in Lakimarwat in the adjacent areas of Mianwali.

Sindh In Sindh Saraiki is widely spoken in Kashmore, Jacobabad, Shikarpur, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allahyar, Sobho Khan Mastoi, Kamal Khan Mastoi, Thatta, Sujawal, Dadu and Ghotki.

Balochistan

Saraiki is widely spoken in Naseerabad Division of Balochistan. It is also the second language of many in the Suleiman Mountains including Loralai, Musa Khel and Barkhan adjoining Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur districts of Saraiki Wasaib.

THE GEOGRAPHIC UNITS OF SARAIKI WASAIB The Saraiki Wasaib is mainly consist of the following geographic regions:-

• Rohi or Cholistan, between the Sutlej and Indian Border. • Thal between the Indus and the Jhelum River from Salt Range to Kot Mithan • Damaan, land between the Indus and Kohe Suleiman. • The alluvial plain around Multan and up to Chiniot in Jhang district.

1. Rohi

Rohi is an ancient and local name for the Cholistan Desert. It is presumed that when the lush green Hakra Valley was converted into a vast and extensive ocean of sand, then the fertile and prosperous valley would have been buried in the sand dunes. When River Hakra was lost under the soil, then this barren and desolate desert would have been named as Rohi; and it is possible that the vast land deprived of fertility, sterile with sandy soil became a land unable to sustain its natives. This region has been credited with various credentials of Rohi, Thal, Maro and Cholistan. The central part of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization had already been the carrier of the glory of the Dravidian Civilization centuries ago. The archaeologists divide the primeval civilization of Indus Valley into three periods, the initial is called as the pre-Harrappan period, which extends from 4000 to 3000 BCE, the second is known as the developed era and extends from 2500-2000 BCE, to the last stage of the Harrappan period up to 1800 BCE. When the renowned archaeologist of Pakistan, Dr Rafiq Mughal evaluated the excavated clay pottery and other antiques from the surface of the scattered reminiscences found at the archaeological site of Ganweri Wala in Cholistan Desert, he identifies the material to be contemporary to the third and fourth underground layer of the Moenjodaro ruins. This great breakthrough forced the archaeologists to determine the pre-Harrappan as the age of Hakra civilization. A fact which indicates that the birthplace of the great civilization of the Indus Valley which is three to four periods older than Moenjodaro and this great and ancient civilization of the Hakra was born in this region and then flourished. This is the reason that the maximum reminiscent of the developed Indus Valley have been discovered from this area. The statue of dancing girl found in Moenjodaro, its nexus with the Katha Kali dance of the Dravidian civilization and such seals with the imagery of ancient musical instruments are ample proof of the fact that the society existing at that time was very fond of fine arts like dance, music and melodies. The rendering of songs and the melodies were immersed in the soul of that society. According to the conclusions of the renowned researcher Ain-ul- Haq Fareed Koti, the melodies of Mani Puri have been greatly influenced by the Dravidian impacts; following which history adopted a new course and the ancient civilization of Indus Valley was converted into the Aryan civilization and an entirely different culture overwhelmed this part of the world. The newly arrived Aryans gradually made this soil their abode and on this place of Rohi, right in the middle of the area of the Indus Valley civilization extended over thousands of square miles, was compiled the most ancient Rig Veda. The author of Indian Vedic, Madam Z. A. Ragussun, mentions that determining of this area as Punjab is not correct because this is the central region; where on one side Shatadur or Sutlej would flow and on the other two sides Sapatsindhu or Indus River and Sarswati or Hakra used to flow. With this irreversible witness, the place of composition and compilation of Rig Veda is clearly determined and this is the region where the most ancient literature was created in the form of Vedas and in the praise and admiration of the rivers flowing around Bahawalpur, i.e., Sutlej or Shatadur, Indus or Sapatsandhu and Hakra or Sarswati, the Aryans composed a number of religious songs and melodies. They also mentioned the tale of their magnificence and rendered eulogies based on their grandeur. Sarswati flows and produces noise and tumult. It provides us food and is like an impregnable Fortress for us, a citadel of brass like a warrior Who has been causing his chariot to run fast and similarly the Sindhu stream flows swiftly and leaves behind other ravines. Sarswati is the most sacred of all tributaries and brings wealth and welfare for the world.

The people who are inhibited on its banks are blessed with milk and honey through its water. Similar verses and melodies are also found in praise of River Indus. The glittering, brilliant, majestic, invincible has been blessed with more quantity of water than other ravines and it is elegant like a beautiful mare. (Vedic Hind -Chap 7, pp: 203-204) The fact is quite amazing for us that even centuries ago there was the awareness about the eternity of a masterpiece of an eulogy or melody which can survive for centuries, even if flowing rivers dry up. As we go through these lines now, we see that Biyas and Sutlej have been enshrouded in coffins of sand while a quotation of a poet of thousand years ago, or the melody of an elapsed period provide the remembrance of the truth of the text of the article. Civilizations are thus reflected and survive in poetry. The question arises that when centuries ago the Saraswati or Hakra was lost and the land converted in a desolate and an uninhabitable desert, whether the pieces of music and poetic art also perished along with the fertility and prosperity of the area? Where the cultural heritage was lost, what was the elegance of Hakra Valley? Whether it is possible to discover the marks of the distant past in this vast and extensive desert or Rohi which would have references to ancient times?

2. Thal Desert The Thal desert is situated in Punjab, Pakistan. It is vast area mainly between the Jhelum and Sindh rivers near the Pothohar Plateau. Its total length from north to south is 190 miles, and its maximum breadth is 70 miles (110 km) while minimum breadth is 20 miles. This region is divided into the districts of Bhakkar, Khushab, Mianwali, Jhang, Layyah, and Muzaffargarh. Its part in Jhang is on the left bank of the river Jhelum. Geographically, it resembles the deserts of Cholistan and Thar.main town of Thar are Roda Thal, Mankera, Hyderabad Thall, Dullewala, Mehmood Shaheed, Shah Wala, Shahi Shumali, Piplan, Kundiyan, Koat Aazam, Sarauy Muhajir,Jiasal, Rang Pur, Aadhi Koat, Jandan Wala, Mari Shah Sakhira,Noor Pur Thal, Kapahi, Goharwala. The majority local population of Thal Desert is Saraiki Speaking. Main tribes of people living in this dessert region include the Saigra, Khokhar, Cheenna(Jutt), Sandhila (jutt),Naich,Aheer,Bhachar,Johiya,Mammak,Chhina,Tiwana,Sial,Baghoor,Awans,Rahdari,Uttra,Mehr,Waghra,Aulakh,Kajoka, Bhuttaand and Pushia, 3. Damaan Damaan is wide belt of land in southern part of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa Province, which is 40 miles wide and 220 miles long and includes Dera Ismail Khan, Tank, Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur. On the western side it embraces the Sherani mountain range and Suleiman range in the south-west. It lies in the dry temperate zone, about 31 degrees north of equator and 70 degrees east of Greenwich. Therefore its climate is dry and extremely warm. The summer is exceptionally longer and lasts about seven to eight months with temperature approaching 50 degrees Celsius in June. The winter is short and spring very brief. Mean rainfall of the area is also quite low. The overall climatic conditions are somewhat semi-desert.

The rest of the District (Dera Ismail Khan) is divided between the kachi or Indus riverain and the dâmaan, a great plain stretching between it and the hills. The dãman, or ‘skirt of the hills,’ is a term applicable in its strict sense only to the tract inhabited by Pathn tribes stretching immediately beneath the hills, while the rest of the plain up to the kachi, which is inhabited by Saraiki people, is the makkalwad; but the latter term is now disused, and the whole area from the hills to the kachi is called the dâmaan. It is a level plain without trees and grass, and except where cultivated is unbroken save by a few scattered bushes. In places even these do not grow, the soil being a firm, hard clay into which water does not sink readily, though after continuous rain it is turned into a soft, tenacious mud, and the country becomes impassable. Such soil is locally called pat. The dâmaan is intersected by numerous torrents, which flow from the eastern slopes of the Suleiman range and form deep fissures in its level expanse. For the greater part of the year these torrents are almost dry, carrying but slight streams of clear water which disappear long before they reach the Indus, but after rain they become roaring torrents bringing down water discolored by heavy silt. But for these streams the dâmaan would be a desert, but by arresting their flow and spreading them over the barren levels, the cultivators transform the whole face of the country; and the richly cultivated fields, with their embankments planted with tamarisk trees lying against the background of blue hills, give the tract in places quite a picturesque look. The kachi or Indus riverain is a narrow strip of alluvial land beneath the old bank of the Indus, partly overgrown with tamarisk and poplar jungle and tall Saccharum grass. Damaan was once a wilderness and a desolate palce. The great Mughal King Babar travelled through Damaan on his way to Kandhar (Afghanistan) but his journey was not immediately noticed by his famous rival Sher Shah Suri. This was because Damaan at that time was mostly unexplored territory but conditions changed gradually over the years and the wilderness was finally converted to a thickly populated area as described below. Damaan was once a wilderness and a desolate palce. The great Mughal King Babar travelled through Damaan on his way to Kandhar (Afghanistan) but his journey was not immediately noticed by his famous rival Sher Shah Suri. This was because Damaan at that time was mostly unexplored territory but conditions changed gradually over the years and the wilderness was finally converted to a thickly populated area as described below. Damaan owes its history to Dera Ismail Khan, the capitol of the region. D.I.Khan was part of group of towns called Derajat which was divided into upper Derajat and lower Derajat. D.I.khan was the headquarters of upper Derajat. Damaan was inhabited on the eastern side along the river Indus by the Baloch tribes that migrated from south (Dera Ghazi Khan, Punjab). A Baloch Chief Sohrab Khan is reported to have entered the area in the closing years of 15th century with his two sons Ismail Khan and Fateh Khan and other people belonging to Baloach Tribes. His son Ismail was the founder of the town so the place is after his name—Dera Ismail Khan. The fertile land of Dera Ismail Khan was ocuupied by several tribes of which four were the major ones. These were Nutkani, Jaskani, Kulachi and Hoat Baloch. The Hoat was the powerful of the four tribes.

Baloch enjoyed a total independent rule of the area for the next 300 years. In about 1750 Ahamd Shah Durani conquered the Baloch dynasty and the Baloch era finally ended. While Ismail Khan founded Dera Ismail Khan on the eastern side of Damaan, the western side saw Pathan tribes moving down from the Suleiman Range and inhabiting the plain at about the same time, though both the groups (Pathan and Baloch) remained independent throughout. Incidentally the Pathan tribes who occupied the territory were also four as were Baloch on the eastern side. They were Tatour, Marwat, Katti Khel and Mian Khel with Marwat being the biggest of the four. However, Kattikhel was actually a sub-tribe of Marwat and they was Lords or Khans of the Marwat and the rest were basically general public. Kattikhel were also much less in number than the main Marwat tribe. Since they were Khans, they were treated as a separate tribe. These tribes lived in total harmony and they distributed the food, crops and water equally among themselves. Saraiki Wasaib Problems Culturally, there is not one but three Punjabs, excluding the one on the Indian side. If we don’t consider religion and its influence on community and identity formation, Indian Punjab would culturally and linguistically be a part of Central Punjab in Pakistan.

Apart from the familiar commonalities that are found among the ancient lands and peoples of the Indus, their languages and social structures are very different. So are the patterns of leadership, elite formations and power relationships in society. Saraiki Wasaib, much like other parts of the country, no longer represents any ethnic cohesion. The ethnic-linguistic mix has greatly changed with migration from the other Punjabs since canal colonisation. And the pattern of migration through various land acquisition schemes, particularly after the absorption of the State of Bahawalpur into Punjab, has continued.

Powerful civil bureaucrats with political roots in Central Punjab have allotted hundreds of thousands of acres state land to relatives, friends, and to those who could bribe them. This pattern continues in Cholistan and Thal (Layyah). Fake land claims by the migrants from India at the time of Pakistan’s creation, which continued to be entertained for decades, were another factor that robbed a great majority of local (Seraiki) landless peasants of their rights to own land.

In some areas, migration has even changed the historical demographic balance, particularly in major cities and towns of Southern Punjab. The region today represents a complex mosaic of linguistic and ethnic groups, including Baloch, Punjabis, Seraikis, Mohajirs and Pashtuns. The latter are in smaller numbers as a residual social class of the Pathan rulers of the Derajat (Dera Ghazi Khan and Dera Ismail Khan) and the Multan state before its conquest by Ranjit Singh.

Social characteristics of a region, complex as they are in Saraiki Wasaib, are important to understanding which social groups control resources — land, political power and social influence — and how they affect social relations and development patterns.

The ever-expanding towns of Saraiki Wasaib represent a very complex picture of ethnicity and culture, provide a common space for all and an opportunity for liberation from feudal bondage for the peasant as well as the middle income agriculturalist.

Although all cities of Punjab have been rotting for decades under massive political and bureaucratic corruption, the towns of Southern Punjab have suffered the most.

Just visit any town, including Multan, the seat of some of the ruling families of the region: the dust, smog and litter will hit you in the face. You will see broken potholed roads, leaking sewage and constant construction under special programmes by prime ministers, presidents and hordes of provincial and federal ministers from the region.

The villages and rural areas of the region are worse than the towns. At least in the towns, there might be some functioning public schools and a few colleges, but not in most of the rural areas. There is at least one ghost degree-college that this writer has observed in one of the southern districts. In town colleges, teachers do not attend classes or lecture regularly. The teachers of natural sciences run private academies and don’t devote themselves to teaching at the colleges.

The same is true of government hospitals where even the poor patients needing some surgery are driven to private clinics run by doctors on the payrolls of government hospitals. There might be a few noble exceptions to this practice that robs both state and society, but what this writer has witnessed over several visits to the region is heartbreaking.

What hurts more is that the ruling classes of the region continue to be elected by the same helpless peasantry that is hauled to the polling station every time to confirm political legitimacy on their lords. Democracy therefore has to go a long way to make the ruling classes accountable to anyone — the law, institutions or the common voting citizen. But this is the only route to progress; we have tried all others.

Great difference is visible in the quality of education delivery and some other social services among the rural areas of Southern Punjab between the native and the settler communities. The settler or migrant communities fare much better in terms of quality of education, particularly in areas where they have demographic strength.

The native villages that we have observed in more than one district of the region have seen very little or no development: their schools are dysfunctional or most of the teachers are absent; basic health centres have no doctors; and roads break down within a few months of their construction. This is no fiction; it is a cruel reality that is very visible in so many areas.

How do we explain these troubles of Saraiki Wasaib?

They are primarily because of feudalism, semi-tribal social structure and monopoly of landowning families over political representation. This class has misused its power and continues to do so. There appears to be an unbreakable nexus between the civil bureaucrats heading different government departments at the district level and the elected representatives both of local governments and the members of provincial and federal legislatures.

Again, with few exceptions, they have joined hands to misappropriate development funds by spending very little on projects and pocketing most of the money. During the Musharraf years, Saraiki Wasaib witnessed greater plunder than perhaps any other region of the country. Transparent and fair accounting and auditing, including quality checks of public works programmes in the region, would reveal the scale of this plunder.

Has any thing changed under the new elected government of Punjab?

No. Sadly, nothing has really changed in Southern Punjab. We have the same number of ghost schools — mostly girls’ schools — absentee teachers and doctors, and poor quality of public works.

Punjab as whole and Saraiki Wasaib in particular has been in constant decline as a result of poor governance and an ineffective system of accountability. Regrettably, the greatest number of poor, landless and miserable people live in Southern Punjab. These are perfect conditions for alienation and driving people towards hopelessness and desperate actions.

Accountability of both corrupt bureaucrats and public representatives — past and present — may gradually restore some trust in governing institutions. The new rulers of Punjab need to understand the troubles of Saraiki Wasaib and take remedial actions. Some of these actions are doable, like better governance through efficient and reliable service delivery. For change in social and power relations, we’ll have to wait till true democracy takes root.

SARAIKI LANGAUGE AS IDENTITY Language is intrinsically connected with ethnic identity and it interweaves the individual’s personal identity with his or her collective ethnic .Among the multitude of markers of group identity, like age, sex, social class and religion, language is considered essential to the maintenance of group identity. The issue of language and identity is extremely complex: the terms language and identity are open to discussion and their relationship fraught with difficulties .In the mainstream perspective, language is not seen as an, essential component of identity. But language and ethnicity are seen as negotiable commodities to the extent that they hinder a person’s security and well being.’ From the early 1980s, however, this notion has been challenged and different studies have shown the importance of language for many ethnic minorities .Ethnicity is defined as a sense of group identity deriving from real or perceived common bonds such as language, race or religion’ and ethnic identity is defined as allegiance to a group … with which one has ancestral links. Further more for the continuation of a group some sense of boundary must persist. This can be sustained by shared objective characteristics (language, religion, etc.)’. Two theories regarding language and ethnicity are quite relevant here, the Instrumentalist and the Primordialist theory of ethnicity. According to the instrumentalist theory of ethnicity, language-based ethnicity is meant to pursue political power. This theory holds that the leaders, who aspire for the power to obtain a larger share of goods, consciously choose language as a symbol of group identity. Mobilizing the masses in the name of ethnicity in terms of language and culture can fulfill their desire for power. The Instrumentalists see languages as instruments, tools only, and mother tongues…in no way…special’ and for them Language is socially constructed learned (or acquired) behavior, possible to manipulate situationally, almost like an overcoat you can take on and off at will . The Primordialist theory of ethnicity, on the other hand, states that people form ethnic groups to resist being assimilated in the other culture because of their deep, extra-rational, and primordial sentiments for their language or other aspects of identity. For primordialists, the mother tongue is more like your skin and later languages like the overcoats. Primordial arguments are often labeled by the instrumentalists as emotional, romantic, and traditional, and pre-rational or irrational’. In the light of these two theories it will be seen whether the Saraikies’ awakening was motivated by instrumental or sentimental reasons or both or whether something else was the cause of this phenomenon.

WHY SARAIKI IDENTITY

Central Punjab saw a massive mobilization of people at the time of the construction of canals under a scheme that the British started in 1886. A huge number of Punjabis from central Punjab were settled in the western parts of the Punjab province, mainly the present day Saraiki Wasaib. Later, the 1947 partition of India had a disharmonizing effect in the Saraiki region linguistically as the non-Saraiki speaking population replaced the Saraiki speaking population. Even after the main migration of 1947, the internal migration of the people of Punjab to the Saraiki areas, which had already seen a large cultural and linguistic upheaval in the late 19th century, continued. In the 1950s, under the Thal irrigation scheme, hundreds of thousands of acres of barren land were allotted to Punjabi speaking migrants for cultivation. This too brought a feeling of deprivation among the Saraikies living in the districts of Muzaffargarh, Layyah and Bhakkar. Such factors gave rise to a local versus migrant or local versus Punjabi division which replaced the existing Hindu versus Muslim division. This sense of injustice and deprivation was echoed for the first time on the floor of the National Assembly in 1963 when Makhdoom Sajjad Hussain Qureshi said, Saraiki is spoken in 10 districts of West Pakistan and so far there is no provision for a radio station at Multan. There is no road link between Karachi and Multan and Lahore. This strip of 800 miles lying as it is, without any modern means of communication.

Independent studies show a wide gulf between the development of infrastructure between the Saraiki districts and the rest of the Punjab. After Multan, the most developed Saraiki district Rahim Yar Khan is rated in terms of infrastructure at number twenty-seven, which is even lower than the lowest developed district among non-Saraiki districts which comes at number twenty-one. Several comparative studies carried out by independent economists of the development of districts place most of the districts of the Saraiki speaking areas lower on the basis of development indicators than those of the Punjabi speaking areas of the upper Punjab. The same is the case with opportunities for technical and professional education: in seventeen Saraiki districts there are only two medical colleges as opposed to eight in the fifteen districts of upper Punjab. Although predominantly an agricultural region, there is no Agricultural University in the Saraiki belt. Agricultural, Engineering, Information, Medical, Naval, Textile, Veterinary and Women’s universities have all been set up in the upper Punjab-the non-Saraiki region This sense of deprivation continues even today which is expressed from time to time at different forums. Saraiki nationalists jokingly call Lahore, the capital of Punjab, Lahore a Punjabi phrase which means bring more’. This sense of injustice and deprivation led the Saraikies to use the Saraiki language as the most powerful symbol to assert their separate identity, the basic reason was deprivation either economic or lack of identity’ THE QUEST FOR SARAIKI IDENTITY

“People will redefine themselves when circumstances make it desirable or when circumstances force it on them”. Dorian

Pakistan is a heterogeneous country with ethnic, linguistic and regional diversity and socio-economic disparities. Pakistan's track record in accommodating these identities and discontinuities in the national mainstream has been rather disappointing. A monolithic notion of national identity and an authoritarian political and economic management could not accommodate the demands for political participation and economic justice by these identities and interests.

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 years 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 under development 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 nationalist 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.

Saraikies like other nationalist constituencies have also been approached on the basis of nationalist rhetoric to fall in line behind “nationalist 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 Saraiki question. Describing the unique identity of Saraiki people in contemporary Pakistan is a larger than life enterprise. Despite an intense desire among Saraikies 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 Saraikies and try to assess their position in relation to a despotic or pluralistic political discourse.

Saraikies have many unique features which separate them from all other language, geography and ethnicity based "nationalities" in Pakistan. In the first place Saraikies 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 neighboring countries. Secondly, Saraikies constitute second largest linguistic group in each province of Pakistan. Unlike other nationalities they are spread all over Pakistan. Saraiki 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. Saraiki towns and urban centers have a good mix of Saraiki and non Seraiki speaking people and non Saraikies living in Saraiki areas are accepted as Saraikies 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 Saraiki towns are home to Sufi shrines, universities, colleges, radio stations, seats of power, trading centers and cultural heritage. Religious Seraiki religious leaders, zakirs and khatibs are spread all over Pakistan. Saraiki poetry and music is popular among non-Seraiki speaking as well. Saraiki have found respectable representation in civil and armed services of Pakistan and small and corporate business sector.

All these characteristics set Saraikies 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. Saraikies 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.

When Urdu was declared national language, thus resulted in the resulted in resentment against this status of Urdu. Inview of these developments the Saraikies scholars and nationalist have released to promote and protect and promote Saraiki language and culture. They relished that they have distinct a language of their own. They also have a geographical habitat which is different from much of the rest of Punjab. Its Rohi, Thal, Damaan have been celebrated with deep love by poets from Khwaja Fareed to Dilshad Kulanchvi and evoke feelings not shared by their Punjabi neighbors. While jhummar is a popular folk dance in Saraiki area, Punjabis are enthused by altogether different steps and movements of bhangra and ludhi. Unlike Punjabis who comfortably settled in Canada and parts of the US as early as in late 19th century and joined the British Army to fight wars in far off lands around the same period, the Saraikies have led till a few decades back a somewhat sedentary life. The tendency is described in the proverb: Safar-e-Multani ta ba Eidgah i.e, the Multani hardly travels beyond the Eidgah, constructed by a governor of the later Mughal era in 18th century on what in those days comprised the boundary of the city. The living culture of the communities carries influences of the inherited ancient civilizations and historical past which flourished in this region and has permeated their present day culture and its expressions. Cultural zones of the Saraiki Wasaib within these two districts are discernable which have

infused the living culture of communities influencing their lifestyle, value system and world view; giving the South Punjab region a distinct cultural identity reinforced through their shared language, Saraiki. The earliest, dating back to 3800 BCE, is that of the Cholistan desert, the Rohi made famous by the region’s premier Sufi Saint Khawaja Ghulam Fareed. Although the built assets are contained within the desert yet its intangible expressions of poetry and oral narratives, song and dance is embedded within the culture of the region, in particular Bahawalpur. The influences of the material culture of the ancient people of the Hakra Valley Civilization can still be found in the pottery making traditions and in the motifs and designs which continue to be used. Multan has retained a separate identity for hundreds of years before and after the Muslim rule. Under the Moghuls too it had its own governor. It was first amalgamated into Punjab under Ranjit Singh who was out to unify and extend Punjab through diplomacy, cunning and conquest in early 19th century. While Ranjit occupied Multan, Bahawalpur remained an independent state till it was made a part of One Unit and at the latter’s demise in 1970 merged with Punjab on orders from General Yahya Khan amid widespread protests. A number of protestors demanding a separate status for Bahawalpur were awarded lashes by a military court. Saraiki people are different in their food habits, dress, folk dances, games, amusements, mindset and psyche. They love their homeland and are often reluctant to leave their birthplace contrary to Punjabis and Pashtoons. Other reasons that compelled the Saraiki intellectuals and politicians to promote identity were the foremost being a sense of domination of Punjabi Establishment. Having better access to bureaucracy and army, Punjabis acquired vast tracts of Saraiki land in Cholistan and Thal during and after the Zia era. This was the latest but by no means the only instance of domination. Many army officers awarded land in Cholistan also hail from Punjab. This has sent a wave of resentment among thousands of local landless and small cultivators. The Saraiki middle class reacted to the threat to their language and identity and set out to develop an ethno-national consciousness in order to resist the assimilation of their ethnic group and language. The efforts towards this cause were directed towards creating a Saraiki identity. Initially this was done to counter the fear of identity extinction and to get rid of the misleading’ label of Punjabis. These endeavors have been termed as the Saraiki movement’.

THE SARAIKI MOVEMENT

The Saraiki movement was the combination of the phenomenon of language planning and efforts to establish a collective identity to convince the Saraikies and others of the status of Saraiki as a separate language distinct from Punjabi. It also aimed to establish Saraikies as a separate nationality by invoking shared awareness of the local past among the people living in different cities and towns of the Saraiki region speaking different dialects of the Saraiki language Consensus on the name Saraiki for all the dialects spoken in the Saraiki region was a part of this reaction, The process of the creation of a Saraiki identity in Saraiki Wasaib involved the deliberate choice of a language called Saraiki, as a symbol of this identity’. Language was chosen as a unifying symbol because an ethnic language serves its speakers as an identity marker…language is the only one [behavior] that actually carries extensive cultural content’ and also because the leaders of ethnic movements invariably select from traditional cultures only those aspects they think will serve to unite the group and will be useful in promoting the interests of the group as they define them. The two aims of the Saraiki movement namely; to assert the language’s separate identity and to secure for its increased official recognition’. One important objective was to establish Saraikies as a group and to create an awareness of a collective sense of identity among them. Initially the emphasis of the writers was to prove the language’s antiquity and determine its status as a distinct language and not a dialect of Punjabi.

Like many such movements, the Saraiki movement also started in the name of cultural revival and promotion. The articulation of the economic conflict with the upper Punjab which was given later came to the forefront after the language identity was established. The factors like geographical, cultural and linguistic differences with Punjabis and the settlement of Punjabis in Saraiki areas before and after the partition on their own do not account for the need of Saraikies to assert their separate identity through the Saraiki movement in the 1960s. What really lay behind it was the lack of development of the Saraiki region which was not voiced in the first phase; ethno-nationalism is generally a response to perceived injustice.

SARAIKI WRITTINGS

Since the start of the consciousness raising efforts about common ethnic language in the 1960s, the number of Saraiki publications has increased. Most of the writings from the 1960s to the 1980s were political in nature and are tarnished’ with the ethnopolitical aims of the writers .Even though the number of publications has increased in the last and present decade, the Saraiki intellectuals themselves admit that there is not much readership, except perhaps for the works of some renowned contemporary poets, especially of the revolutionary poet Shakir Shujaabadi which sell like hot cakes’. Although writings in all the regional languages are suffering’ from lack of readership due to similar reasons, in the case of Saraiki there are two added reasons. Firstly, most of the writers bring in colloquial phraseology in their writings and secondly, many writers, in their zeal to prove the antiquity of Saraiki language and to promote its Indo-Aryan feature, tend to use more Sanskrit words instead of the more common Arabic/Persian words.

OUTCOME OF THE SARAIKI MOVEMENT

The Saraiki movement has been successful at some levels and gave a sense of pride and collective identity among the Saraiki speakers. Now the Saraikies are counted as one of the five indigenous nationalities and Saraiki as a distinct language at some official and unofficial levels. Saraiki was also included in the question about languages in the censuses of 1981 and 1998. Despite all this, however, the symbol of language which came out as the most powerful symbol in this movement has not yet acquired much evocative power. The Saraiki movement helped to give a collective name Saraiki’ to different dialects and made people embrace this name for their collective identity.

RATIONALE FOR THE SARAIKI PROVINCE.

Should or should not, Saraiki province be created? This subject is a hot potato these days with people opposing and supporting the idea. This article is an attempt to address the issue.

In any historical perspective,heritage,culture,ethnic & linguistic background must be ascertained through the lay of the land,the people and the language spoken.Dialects do undergo slight changes with passage of time,with the imposition of alien languages.However the shell,the basic grammar and the element of our mother Lhandha, a term awarded to our Sindhi by the linguists,has remained the same,as is evident,and will be explained subsequently.

We, the old residents of IVC {Indus Valley Civilization} have been in fold of Islam,if seen,as in whole,since about 800 years or so.Like the pride of a race leads to the invention of a royal progeny,similarly the pride of present Muslim tribe in IVC though much older then Islam,and its inception has the perpetual inducement to escape from the admission of an idolatrous ancestry.The major reason why most claim an Arab ancestry.

The conversion to islam resulted in a disavowing and erasing of the descent from a pagan past,and thus we lost our script,as well the glory.As these records tied the old tribes to the now idolatrous religion,hence they adopted the perso-arabic script,and the tilt to Arab ancestry.The language of men of letters was firstly Arabic,later came the Persian.All old records perished in the change.

Before entering the Islamic fold we had been equally staunch Buddhist.But by then Buddhism was in its dying throes,and had lost its force as the way of life. It had even by then absorbed the serpent worship,which existed till late in our northern areas,and now claimed the Buddha as a God !

Whereas, Buddha himself never claimed Divinity himself,nor did the subsequent patriarchs ,who lasted for the next 1000 years or so.

In the post Islamic period the new indifferent muslim population,recently converted,and alien Arab rulers,as well the zealous new Iranian converts who spearheaded the Arab record making,keeping our past enimity alive,with them bundled Buddhism,Jainism and the new faith of Brahmanism,in one scope or head of idolatrous religion,and so never took interest in our past records,or studied our script.This lapse permitted the ever vigilant Brahman,to claim our past as his,so started the,new record making of the history in reverse,which continues,and stories of Vedic scriptures etc.

Language lives on, it remains a living and growing form, as long as children learn it from their mothers it lasts, thus survive the old languages, and await their revival, at one time or the other as one sees. Hence the old term” Mah-Dar-e-Zaban” mother is the door to the tongue. Political or social reasons may establish a particular form of speech in a dominant position, as we see in the case of recent influx of Urdu & English. Introduced in our courts between 1850-54 by the British, superseding the Persian & Arabic. The oblique objective was to break the old indigenous, educational system, Maktab, Madressah, Ausaf & the Dar ul Al’lum.

With reference to our old Lhandha script in which Saraiki too was written, as were other languages by the non-Muslims, who hated the perso-arabic script, Guru Nanak,the Prophet of Sikhs, never wrote himself, his disciples preserved, his quotes and sayings,orally but, Bhai Bala,communicated the same to his second Guru. Angat,who wrote the punjabi in our Lhandha script, because as yet, ”Gurmukhi’{which means, mouth of the Guru} ,was in its development stages.Third and the fourth too used our Lhandha script, All these books and records as such existed till late 19th century and were inspected by Dr.Lietner himself at Goindwal, near Amritsar.[page-iii/iv,The History of Indigenous Education in Punjab till 1882, by Dr.G.W.Lietner.1882}.

The fact remains our script now only exists in the Archives/record rooms. However the language spoken by tens of million, still survives, Therefore it must be given a chance for resurgence at all costs to thus bloom once again.

It was only in the post period after the annexation of The Sikh state, that the Punjab geographic term was imposed on us, by the new alien lot; the British.

As per the record of the Punjab Administration Report for 1854/55,para.188,the total population of the new entity till then was,12,717,821,it had 26,216 villages,2124 small towns, with population between 1000-5000; 76 towns,with-5000-10,000,31-cities,with 10,000-50,000;and Only four 1st class cities,namely;Peshawar-53,294,Multan-55,999,Lahore-94,153 & Amritsar-122,184.

Later by 1881census, the population with immigrations from other areas arose to 15,631,386 and as well the villages to 26,848.

Thus we find thanks to the Sikh rule and repeated past invasions from west and other epidemics like influenza and cholera, the bubonic plagues and famines, the region was totally depopulated. Hence the new canal colonies and the movement of Punjabi speakers in our regions, from our East. Rendering our local people as vagabond tribes and criminal tribes too, reduced our numbers.

Even today with the massive multi-ethnic mix, that we have, we find the footprints, of Saraiki spread all along western and Eastern tracts of the Sindh river .From Mianwali down to Ghotki and kashmore and further west till Jacobabad, and from Rahimyar Khan along Sutlej to its the upper reaches of Pak-pattan, as well along the Chenab, till the regions west of Jauharabad, the lands of Thal, crossing the Indus and till eastern Bannu, and lower till Tank, and Barkhan.

A large chunk by any standards. The very apex centre of our state.

Reverting back to the Saraiki, one of the present principle dialects of our mother language Lhandha, It no doubt has been corrupted by the vicissitudes of the time but should one study it closely we find it has with stood the onslaughts very bravely, and retained her honor well.

On the dialect of Saraiki or the old Jatki/ Multani, a dictionary was published by A.Jukes in 1900,and the author states on pages-iii-iv of the book commenting on the difference between Punjabi and our ‘Jatki’ and quotes ,that, Dr.H.Martin,the man who had earlier proofread the Punjabi Dictionary of ”Bhai Maya Singh’ before its publication in 1895 was also asked to proofread the Jatki Dictionary of Jukes, and had found only two words common !

All Lhandha dialects remain mutually intelligible, hence cannot be under any yardstick be termed as separate languages.

Even with a passage of time and over 110 years gone by i.e after Jukes Dictionary, and a massive infusion of loan words,we still see, that our Saraiki retains its character. Two main official dictionaries of the Saraiki exist ,the first published by ”Bahauddin Zakaria University Multan in 2007,authored by Sardar Sa’ad d’Ullah Khan Khetran, the other by Shaukat Mughal, published by Saraiki Adabi Board, in 2010:The Shaukat tu Lughat’. I have studied both, separating each loan word of the Foreign languages, which were found to be Arabic,Farsi,Hindi-Urdu,Punjabi,Turki,Balluchi,Pushto,sansktric,English etc.

Briefly stating,the dictionary of Sardar Sad’ullah as a case study we find that,it has in total 38,979 words ,in which the loan words of above quoted alien languages are Arabi-2948,Farsi-1353,Turki-09,Balluchi-60,English-585,Urdu-267,and leaving aside other, of Punjabi, just 36 words.

The point to remember is expunging all these loan words and substituting them from our own current different dialects of Lhandha, is a easy Job !

The major reason why all of our Lhandha dialects are mutually intelligible, is because, of the geographic boundaries of our old suba of Multan, even within the last 1000 years as stated by Syed Ali Hajwari in his book,” Kashaf al Mahjoob’ that when he came to Lahore it was a Qasba of the Multan Suba, the Old Lahore was never a city on the trade routes, both major passed,one above her and the other below, via Multan, and through the Sanghar Pass, in the Roh-e- Sulaman Range, from its eastern most range, it crossed Bar-khan, Chacha,Choti-ala,Duki,Harnai,and from Pisheen,it went towards, Zabul or later Ghuzz’nih,or Beyond further north, and one went towards Herat,or lower towards Zahdain and further beyond.

The fact remains, till the transportation from kachchi plains of the Saraiki speakers by Naseer l ,the Barrohi Khan of Kalat and also from the Duki and to its east, as these tribes had been loyal to the Kalhora’s, the Wardens of the Central western Marches ,and refused passage to Nadir Shah ,in early 1739 AD. Thus the axe fell on them and they were pushed towards the Trans-Cis Indus regions supplemented by the Balluchi and the ruling Barrohi clans.

Should we study the last Administrative Boundaries of Multan, which had Saraiki, as the language spoken, and Persian being that of writings, as per the custom in vogue, in all Muslim empires then? Using the same Perso-Arabic Script, The North Eastern part of Multan Suba was a

peaked intrusion in Lahore Suba{ West of Tihara,Southof Kasur,West of Bhatindha, and Bhatnair},and touching on the lower side Dehli Suba, below which, came Ajmer Suba, to south of the Multan Suba was,’ Thatta Sarkar’ administrated from Multan.

To west, due to chaotic conditions in Persia, around 1700 AD, the Barrohi,who were the Forward Wardens of the Mughal Empire had lately been attacking Qandahar Fort, and had extended the Mughal boundaries of Suba Multan much further into the old Qandhar Suba.

The stress being that SARAIKI was the main dialect spoken! It would be out of scope here to go in details of the dialects spoken in the Thatta Sarkar. The Punjabi geographic entity was thrust on us after 1849,that being the extension of the old headquarters of the British when they moved in here !

Later came in bulk the Punjabi speakers, in the Nine Canal Colonies, though the original Sikh and Hindu left after 1947.However the refugees from the British East Punjab were allotted lands in the same colonies.

It has taken years, from the, Imposition of 1871 ACT, that our original” Bar” people, named as” Jangali’, residents, now emerge from the Stigma of being till 1947, in the Classification, of Criminal tribes and the Vagabond lot!

Now a very brief glance at the term Punjab. At or about the Arab invasion and later the Hakra was the main river of this region, the feeders being the other 4 i,e Sutlej,Chitang,Sarsuwati and the Ghagghar.It is these 5 rivers which are the ‘Punj’ and Ab’ in Farsi,means the rivers. And the language thus is Punjabi. However now a look, as to how it came in being, These five rivers area had been from remote times the meeting ground of two very different and distinct languages, The Western” Lhandha’,and the Eastern, of the Ganga-Jumna Do-aba,the old Midland, the parent of western Hindi, as the new terms go, defined by the linguist of the 19th century. Which gave birth to Punjabi?

Lastly it is this term Punjabi, which is becoming the cause of much rift within our STATE.

And hence, this short paper explaining who the actual Punjabi is!

It should be kept in mind that we the old tribes have always given refuge to those who came in our fold, from West, South West, East or South East. But, it is time the immigrants allow us to retain our rights as well. And revive our past !

This I feel is not asking for much?

CULTURE OF SARIKI WASAIB

THE SARAIKI CUTLURE The culture of the Saraiki speaking people residing in Pakistan and outside Pakistan. The region where Saraiki is spoken in Pakistan is part of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization and has been centre of culture and trade in Indian Sub-continent. It has been centre of Islamic mysticism after 712 C.E. SUFIISIM There is a saying in Persian that Multan is the 'City of Saints, Sufis and Beggars' (Gard, Garma wa Goristan). It is one of the main cities in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The city has been a focal point for many religions, in particular becoming a central abode for Sufism, the mystical side of Islam. The city has attracted Sufi saints from far places of the globe. Today, Multan is known as the 'City of Sufis'. Shaikh Amin bin Abdul Rehman, who has introduced the Idrisiyya sufi order in Pakistan, lives at 381-A, Shah Rukn-e-Alam Colony, New Multan, where a four-storey mosque adjacent to his residence is visited by people from all over the country. THE TANGIBLE AND INTANGIBLE HERITAGE OF SARAIKI WASAIB The UNESCO –Norway joint program has revealed an invaluable cache of built and intangible cultural assets. Just in two districts Bahawalpur and Multan of Saraiki Wasaib 130 and 137 built assets were identified respectively by the communities while 126 and 95 intangible assets were mapped. Ranging from the natural landscape of Cholistan, worthy of being recognized as a World Natural Heritage Site, the identified Built Assets fall distinct categories of palaces, forts, religious establishments including shrines, mosques, Hindu temples and gurdwaras as well as public institutional buildings, heritage premises/structures within and outside walled cities including British period interventions. A considerable number of vernacular heritage buildings and adobe structures were also mapped. There were also significantly outstanding clusters of premises/streets/ quarters of historic and archeological value in various towns as well as walled towns. The markers of the historicity and antiquity of the region are many, from the Hakra/ Harrappa sites to the Buddhist remains at Sui Vehar, unprotected archeological mounds and thulls, Sultanate and Mughal period buildings and those of the Princely State of and the British period. THE ARCHITECTURE OF BAHAWALPUR T he rich culture and architecture of the erstwhile State of Bahawalpur constitutes the features of the rule of the Nawabs and their State Architectural Style that evolved because of their inclination towards Europe. These architectural edifices in the form of residential palaces, official durbars, public libraries and hospitals, exhibits a comfortable yet European dominated amalgamation of completely different styles of architecture. This chapter is a story of how this unique architectural blend came into existence, prospered and was promoted under the rule of the Abbassi Nawabs and eventually got sealed into dilapidation. The evolution of this State Architectural Style is visibly distinguishable if the architectural similarities between these buildings are considered, from the perspective of the period in which they were built and the social and political history of the time in which they were erected. With this, four different periods are discernable. The First Era consists of the period before and of the reign of Ameer Muhammad Bahawal Khan Abbassi I (r.1746- 1749) and the only structure surviving from this era is the much renovated old haveli known as the Sheesh Mahal. The Second Era is that of the reign of Ameer Sir Sadiq Muhammad Khan Abbassi IV (r.1866-1899) which is dominated with imperial palaces. The Third Era comprises of the rule of Ameer Muhammad Bahawal Khan Abbassi V (r.1899-1907) and his famous Durbar Mahal. In the end, the Fourth Era constitutes of the reign of the Ameer Sir Sadiq Muhammad Khan Abbassi V (r.1907-1954) and the main feature of this era was the coming of the railways, public sector buildings, a much Europeanized Gulzar Mahal (1906-1909) and the post-independence itihad (unity) with Pakistan (1947).

THE RICH INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE Juxtaposed with the tangible is the immensely rich intangible cultural heritage of the communities which cover an entire gamut of craft making traditions and the performing and literary arts. Folk poetry and music traditions of Saraiki Wasaib are very strong and much appreciated, nourished and loved by the communities. For many this is a major form of entertainment reflective in the impromptu gatherings around poetry and singing arranged in the villages. The large repertoire of folk poetry and songs can be classified as marriage songs, lullabies, harvest songs and river songs of the tribes inhabiting the banks of the River Sutlej. Dhuras, kafis, vars, mayas, are some of the prevalent forms entrenched in the village culture. Sufiyana Kalam is a regular feature at the shrines throughout Saraiki Wasaib and most have a couple of musicians regularly performing using a harmonium and dhol. Folk dances like the Dareec with its variations (Kankhari, Jaunj Chari) and jhummar with its variations (dakian wali, kharawen, daudi, dhamaal etc.) are still found throughout the Saraiki Wasiab although separately danced by men and women. The agni (fire) dance of Cholistan continues with the Hindu tribes. Marasis, the traditional clan providing entertainment in the Punjab villages are found throughout the districts although due to their low status most of the younger generation is leaving their traditional work. THE CRAFTS OF SARAIKI WASAIB The extant crafts of Saraiki Wasaib are many ranging from the building decorative crafts such as naqaashi, sheesha kari, kashki kari, lacquered ceilings and cut brick work to the textile crafts and others. Embroideries, rallis, chunris, block printing and to a limited extent organic dyeing still prevails and is widely produced in the villages. The Saraiki khussa is much appreciated throughout the country and is constantly innovated with new designs reaching the urban markets. Hand woven products such as carpets, falasis, chaddars and susi cloth continues to be skillfully crafted. A whole range of others include camel bone products, earthenware pottery, paper craft, camel skin products, naqaashi and lacquered wooden boxes, lacquer work and palm leaf and straw work products. The craft traditions, although many have survived, are now driven through market demands thus losing their traditional fineness and skills. Some are endangered with few artisans who know the traditional skills while some others are known to have been lost. A lot of these crafts are village based and practiced by women, for some of whom this provides the only means to supplement. Ornamentation of buildings is an integral part of the traditional architectural vocabulary of Saraiki Wasaib as can be seen in the Sultanate period buildings and further in those of the later periods. Constructed primarily as load bearing brick structures making use of cut and molded bricks, the buildings were embellished with naqaashi (fresco, fresco secco, wall paintings), sheesha kari (mirror work), kashikari (tile work) and lacquered naqaashi wooden ceilings, intricate wooden jallis, carved wooden doors and ventilators and stucco tracery which were some of the crafts used for the purpose. The extant funerary structures and mosques of the Sultanate period best exemplify the decorative building arts which were prevalent from at least the 11th and 12th centuries in Multan and those which were inspired by these and built later in Multan and in other parts of Saraiki Wasaib. Attributed largely to the influence from Persia and Central Asia as a consequence of the third Muslim invasion of Sind and Multan in the 8th century CE and the subsequent interventions of the Afghans, these structures are a testimony to the exquisite craftsmanship that the Multan artisans had achieved. THE VIBRANT HERITAGE OF THE TRADITIONAL TEXTILE CRAFT OF SARAIKI WASAIB The Traditional Crafts of Saraiki Wasaib create a very colorful and vibrant picture embodying the culture and lifestyle of the people of this region. Crafts are the expression of the diverse and colorful traditions of

the sub-cultural groups inhabiting the vast region, which gives each its distinct identity while providing objects, which still continue to be of use to the communities. These crafts are created by hand, usually with a great deal of skill and mastery which the artisan has acquired through centuries of family involvement. These creations are rightly known as the Traditional Crafts as they uphold the age old techniques and designs employed by the artisans in the creation of these unique items. Hand Embroidery Hand Embroidery is a prevalent craft throughout the two districts and found in all villages. It is an art in which designs or patterns are stitched on the fabric with needle or an ar (awl). Few of the stitches/tankas, which are popular, are Kacha Tanka, Katcha Pucca Tanka, Aari Tank, Salma Sitra, Gota Kinari, Chicken Kari, Tar Kashi, Banarsi Tanka, Shadow Work or Machi Tank and Shisha Booti Palm Leaf Weaving Palm Leaf weaving is done with the dried leaves of date-palm known as ‘Khajji’ locally. Date palm is considered to be the third major fruit of the country and abundantly grown in Saraiki Wasaib. It is used to make various items such as baskets, ropes, hand fans, prayer mats etc. Products are either utilitarian objects or for decorative purposes only and prepared by women in their free time. They have come up with many innovative designs in colorful dyed palm leafs. The color range is still restricted to a few colors, yellow, green, red, shocking pink which is because these appear to be more popular colors. In the beginning color was not used but the weave produced a variety of patterns which is still made in some villages. Chunri Making Chunri/Bhandhini Making or the art of tie and dye is a famous craft of the Saraiki speaking region as well as Sind. Bahawalpur ranks high as a center of chunri making and villages like Abbass Nagar are known centers of this craft. Chunri is also made in DG Khan and Multan however the vibrant Bahawalpur chunri is most sought after. Ralli (Rindhi) Making: Ralli is thought to have its origins in the need to strengthen old clothes which were stitched together with finely done running stitches for utilitarian household use and then started being a treasured item for a variety of products, especially prepared for trousseau and special use. Ralli making is synonymous with the Cholistani desert, where it is widely practiced. It is an intricate method of creating traditional quilts although it is found in other parts of the region as well. In Cholistani desert ralli is also called rindhi or gindhi. The women of Cholistan make these rallies for their daughter’s trousseau. They say that the day their daughter turns ten years old they start making the rallies for their dowry. Various kinds of rallies are created for different occasions in her married life, the most intricate being for the marriage day. Sons too get their share of rallis for their married life. Ghoghoo Ghora : The Ghoghoo Ghora or a toy horse is a traditional craft and one of the oldest in Pakistan. Traditionally Ghoghoo Ghora was made in terracotta with hole in its back. When air is blown in it the Ghoghoo Ghora would make a sound and that is how the toy horse got its name. It has been part of our cultural heritage for a longest period. Ghoghoo Ghora’s made of terracotta have been found in the Indus Valley sites and considered to be children’s toys. It remains as a part of the rural culture of Saraiki Wasaib. The design of the toy horse varies from place to place. Over a period of time the Ghoghoo Ghora material has also evolved. Ghoghoo Ghora’s are made by the khanabadosh (gypsy tribes), who are nomadic and roam around in the region.

Block Printing

Block printing has been done for many centuries in Saraiki Wasaib. Karor Pacca in District Lodhran is a known center of this craft produces sufficient for the demand of the market. The designs for the blocks are selected or made on paper. After that wood is selected on which the block master/carver carves the design. The block carving is a very intricate job and must be perfectly prepared since the quality of the product will depend on the block itself. Due to lack of buyers most block printers have left the craft and started doing other work. Blue Pottery The blue pottery of Multan is famous all over the world. It is considered as one of the hallmark of Multani crafts. The Sultanate period monuments in Multan and elsewhere in the region bear testimony to the skills of the Multani Kashigars (tile makers). It is believed that the craft of making blue tiles came to Multan from Central Asia in 12th Century during the rule of the Ghaznavids and the Delhi Sultanate. The exquisite kashikari at the Shrines of the Sufi Saints of Multan, Shah Rukh-e-Alam, Baha’ud din Zakariya and the Ismali Saint Shah Shams-ud-din Sabzwari are some examples of the high quality of the tile work that the kashigars of the time had achieved. “But later, due to a lack of patronage, standards began to decline, until the craftsmen started switching over to other work. However, there are still handful of craftsmen who are sticking to their ancestral trade” Camel Skin Lamp The camel skin lamp is a very important handicraft item of Multan city, in this the skin of camel wash washed, than clean and than shaped as desired, after being shaped the lamp was painted with clours and it looks very nice, this painting on the lamp reflects the culture of multan, the camel skin is not only use for making lamps but it is also used for making many types of decorative items these item look very beautiful. Brass Handicrafts Brass handicrafts are every where in Pakistan in Multan.The brass work is very time consuming and hard work to do. brass handicrafts from Pakistan is not as much as it must be but now they are in demand flourishing industry the brass work is not like as much locally but it is exported to other countries of the world Multan has some historical type of brass work where other cities has other kinds of art on brass. The art of brass vary by cities all over Pakistan but some items match with each other. Camel Bone Camel bone handicrafts are one of the interesting and attractive handicrafts of Pakistan. These handicrafts express the ability of crafts man that they show on camel bone the camel is the animal of desert and is available in desert areas .camel is also known as the cruise of desert Multan and its surrounding is consist of desert. So the camel bones are easily available local people eat the meat of camel and these bones are easily available and there is not restriction on camel bones craft as it is on Elephant bones . The camel bones craft is the handicraft of Multan and its surrounding peoples and it is available easily in Multan. Hand Knotted Carpets Hand knotted carpets are very attractive and beautiful piece of art .the hand-knotted carpet export from Pakistan is about 90 million us dollars hand knotted carpets are actually the product of Persia,and Afghanistan but in the past years of history this came in Indo-Pak sub continent .these workers set here and made carpets before Pakistan, at first in Pakistan they mostly made in homes in swat, Sindh and

Baluchistan but now there are many industries of hand knotted carpets in all over Pakistan these industries are in Lahore Gujranwala Karachi, hand knotted carpets are made up of artificial silk, wool, camel wool, goat wool. SARAIKI CUSINE Sohanjrraan (Moringa oleifera) is one of the most famous vegetable dish Rohi and Thal , while Sohbat is famous dish of Damaan in Wasabi. .

SARAIKI LITRATURE

Saraiki is the language of love and literature. Rich cultural context and diversity of expression in the language have enabled Saraiki poets and prose writers to produce literature masterpieces. Saraiki 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. Saraiki people have a natural flair for poetry and literature. Most of the Saraiki literature is unrecorded for the reason that no formal patronage has been provided to poets and writers. Before the inception of Pakistan, Saraiki was written in Devnagri script and converting to Arabic/ Persian script resulted in the loss of a substantial part of literature.

The beloved's intense glances call for blood The dark hair wildly flows The Kohl of the eyes is fiercely black

And slays the lovers with no excuse My appearance in ruins, I sit and wait

While the beloved has settled in Malheer I feel the sting of the cruel dart My heart the, abode of pain and grief A life of tears, I have led Farid

-one of Farid's poems (translated)

SARAIKI LITRATURE Saraiki is the language of love and literature. Rich cultural context and diversity of expression in the language have enabled Saraiki poets and prose writers to produce literature masterpieces. Saraiki 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. Saraiki people have a natural flair for poetry and literature. Most of the Saraiki literature is unrecorded for the reason that no formal patronage has been provided to Saraiki poets and writers by the state as it is and has been provided to other languages. It has a very rich culture and is the representative language of Sindh Valley Civilization. Rich cultural context and diversity of expression in the language have enabled Saraiki 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. Saraiki people have a natural flair for poetry and literature. SARAIKI POETRY

During last four centuries, the Saraiki Wasaib has produced many notable poets. Khawaja Ghulam Farid, Sachal Sar Mast, Usman Faqir and Hazrat Pir Mitha are some of the famous Saraiki poets. Historically, the most celebrated poet in the Saraiki language is Khawaja Farid (1845–1901). His poems were written in a form of verse known as kafi, a form rooted in a tradition of singing of poetry.

Since the start of consciousness-raising efforts about common ethnic language in the 1960s, the number of Saraiki publications has increased. Most of the writings from the 1960s to the 1980s were political in nature and are colored by the ethnopolitical aims of the writers. Even though the number of publications has increased in the last and present decade, the Saraiki intellectuals themselves admit that there is not much readership, except perhaps for the works of some renowned contemporary poets, especially of the revolutionary poet Shakir Shujaabadi.

KHAWAJA GHULAM FARID (1845 - 1901):-

The most celebrated Seraiki poet of the past, who carried the tradition of the Sufi poetry into the dawn of 20th century, is Khawaja Farid (1845 - 1901). His poems are composed in the verse form known as Kafi, most widely used by the Sufi poets of the region. Had it not been for generations of folk singers, minstrels and kawals, who memorized and passed it on, much less of this poetry would have survived. The Kafi is specially designed for singing to the tunes of the prevalent musical system. Each Kafi is essentially a lyric comprising of unity of sound, imagery, feeling and subject matter. However, any one of these elements may be highlighted in a given Kafi. Thus a prominent English translator of Khawaja Farid's selected poems has compiled them into sections entitled 'faith and instructions 'love and distress," "desert and rains." Farid with his mastery over the language recreates in his Kafis superb images of nature, feelings of love and lovers' distress while reflecting at the same time on the metaphysics of existence and reality. The following lines of Kafi for example stress the oneness of all existence.

The world is but an idle dream It's shapes a film upon a stream If you would know reality Then listen carefully, mark and see That oneness is a mighty sea Where pluralism's bubbles team

The following lines of a Kafi show how Farid can skillfully combine onomatopoeic effects with a sensuous description of the beloved's charms that torment the one who is in love.

The beloved's intense glances call for blood The dark hair wildly flows The Kohl of the eyes is fiercely black And slays the lovers with no excuse My appearance in ruins, I sit and wait While the beloved (Maru) has settled in Malheer I feel the sting of the cruel dart My heart the, abode of pain and grief A life of tears, I have led Farid This had to be the script of my fate Folk tales and Legends

One can truly appreciate such lyrics of love and distress, if one knows the folk tales that have circulated in the region for centuries, and from which the Sufi poets draw their imagery and symbols. These tales have to do with young lovers prevented from uniting by false family and kinship values invariably ending in tragedies for one or both lovers who defy the cruel customs by exceptional acts of daring. In the lines of the Kafi quoted above there is a reference to Marv's love for her beloved who is forced to move to the distant city of Malheer. One of the most celebrated folktales in Seraiki and Sindhi has to do with Sassi love for Punnu which figures in as many as 66 Kafis composed by Farid. This story also has an intimate association with the Thar desert, because it is here that the final act of this high drama of love and passion unfolds. It may be in order to briefly sketch this folktale for the unfamiliar readers. According to legend, Punnu, the chieftain of a Baloch tribe from the city of Kech, arrives in the city of Bhambhore with his caravan, after crossing the Thar desert. Here lives Sassi, a maiden of renowned beauty and daughter of the king of Bhambhore. On seeing Punnu, she passionately falls in love with him and arranges a big feast in his honor. Punnu kinsmen who do not like this affair serve strong wine to the lovers to make them drowsy. As Sassi and Punnu retire to their bed of flowers, they fall fast asleep. Waiting for this moment, Punnu kinsmen quietly sneak in, carry the slumbering Punnu away to his camel and race back to Kech. When Sassi wakes up in the morning, she finds her beloved gone. Leaving all caution aside she runs to the desert on foot in pursuit of the caravan. By mid-day, when the desert sands heat up under the blazing sun, Sassi falls to the ground exhausted and is scorched to death while still calling for Punnu. A shepherd who had been watching the scene picks up her body and buries her in a desert grave. He lives at her graveside as a fakir for the rest of his life to tell the story of how Sassi perished in the pursuit of her beloved.

The basic legend is told and retold in rich detail in the oral tradition of local story tellers, folk singers and Sufi poets like Farid who read into it profound meanings regarding love, life, death and reality. The Sufi poet puts himself in the persona of the lover, invariably a woman like Sassi to represent her feelings and experiences in natural life setting. Farid as the master of his art speaks through the Sassi persona to portray vividly the desert, in which she died, with its great diversity of appearances, changing seasons and life forms. Note the following verse of a Kafi, for example: .

Where the desert grasses twist my love Ever-shifting shapes exist my love The crickets creak, the pigeons coo The foxes howl, the hyenas mew The geckoes puff, the lizards whoo The snakes and serpents hiss my love

In these surrounding rises the voice of Sassi. Oh, in this desert's blessed sight I'll die indeed but not take fright As for Punnu, he becomes for the Sufi a living and pervasive symbol of divine beauty. See Punnal's presence everywhere All mystics mark and hear know only he is here All else shall disappear

NOTEABLE POETS OF SARAIKI WASIAB Following are few of the major Saraiki poets, who have contributed to Saraiki poetry:-

• Khwaja Ghulam Farid A legend poet of Saraiki.His collection is Dewan-i-Farid • Sachal Sarmast His collection is Schal sarmat jo Saraiki Kalam • Shakir Shujabadi, author of Kalam-e-Shakir, Khuda Janey, Shakir Diyan Ghazlan, Peelay

Patr,Munafqan tu Khuda Bachaway,Shakir de Dohray etc. • Bedil Sindhi ,His collection Dewan-i-bedil • Mian Haider Ali Multani 1101 to 1199 AD • Hazrat Sheikh Abdullah Multani • Hazrat Hafiz Jamal (1160 to 1226 AD), a sufi poet • Baidel Sindhi (1814 to 1869 AD) • Gul Muhammad Shervi (1251 to 1315 AD) • Muhammad Mohsin Baikas (1859 to 1885 AD) • Hazrat Khawaja Aqil Jogi (1270 to 1311 AD) • Hazrat Majroh Shah • Molvi Latif Ali (1129 to 1209 AD) • Azmat Khan Budani ( ------- to 1580 AD) • Syed Akbar Shah (1885 AD) • Rohail Faqir • Faqir Bakhs Golo of Nasirabad Balochistan (1737 to 1823 AD) • Munshi Barat Ali Baloch • Abdul Hakeem Uchvi (1161 to 1218 AD) • Sadiq Faqir Somoro (1170 to 1265) of Tharparkar, Sindh • Khalifa Nabi Bakhs Laghari (1176 to 1259 AD) • Munshi Ghulam Hasaan Guamanr , the prominent poet was murdered by the British Raj • Muhammad Nawaz Khoshtar • Khalil Lashari • Ghulam Faqir Laghari of village Dhaki Dera Ismail Khan KPK (1820 to 1937 AD) • Munshi Kamal Khan Magsi of Dera Ismail Khan KPK • Faqir Muladad alias Chatou Sangi of Shikarpur Sindh( ---- to 1822 AD) • Mir Ali Murad Khan Talpur Majrooh (1815 to 1894 AD) • Mir Abdul Hussain Sangi of Hyderabad Sindh (1851 to 1914 AD) • Qazi Faqir Muhammad Qanih of Rohri Sindh ( 1862 to 1936 AD)

• Mir Nawaz Ali Alvi of Shikarpur Sindh (1851 to 1920 AD) • Chohar Lal Mast (a Hindu Pandit) • Faqir Waladinoo of Shikarpur Sindh • Mir Himat Ali Shah of Rohri Sindh • Molvi Ghulam Muhammad Khanzai • Molvi Mahmood Moulai of Dera Ismail Khan KPK • Saleh Muhammad Saleh of District Tank KPK (---to 1936 AD) • Khushi Ram of Dera Ismail Khan KPK (---- to 1939 AD) • Sohba Faqir • Mehmood Khatyanr of District Bharakhan, Balochistan (1852 to 1907AD) • Piaray Lala Jampuri (1727 to 1784 AD) • Sardar Koray Khan Jatoi (1800 to 1898 AD) of Muzafargharh • Sadiq Lali (1084 to 1179 AD) • Molvi Gul Muhammad Ashiq Multani (1858 to 1933 AD) • Mirza Quraban Ali Baig Qurban • Hamal Leghari His collection is Dewan-i- Hamal • Lutf Ali His book is Saifal Nama • Khurum Bahawalpuri His collection is Khiaban-i-Kurum • Safeer Leshari, his first collection is Vepray • Mumtaz Haider Daher His collection is Andharay-de- raat and Kashkool vich samandar • Ashoo Lal His first collection is Chhero hath nah murli' • Iqbal Sokdi • Bashir Ghamkhawr • Mustafa Khadim • Refat Abbas His collection are Parchhian ute Phul and Sangat Ved • Nasrullah Khan Nasir His two collections of Saraiki poetry are Ajrak' and Aoey Hoey • Jahngeer Mkhlis • Qais Faridi His collection is Nemro • Aman-ullah Arshad • Naseer Sarmad His first collection is Sojhla • Saeed Akhtar Sial • Bakht Fakir of Ahmad pur Lamma

PROMINENT SARAIKI WRITTERS Novelists:- • Ismail Ahmedani - probably the most celebrated novelist and fiction writer. Ahmedani

has done much to promote the Saraiki language as a language for modern fiction writing. He was awarded Khwaja Ghulam Farid award by the government of Pakistan on Chholian .Ismail Ahmedani died at Karachi on 6 June 2007 and buried in his home village of Rasoolpur.

• Habib Mohana-the young and most talented among the new writers , his novels “Jatti Chiri” and “Allah lahaysi Mounjhan”

Fiction Authors:- • Ismail Ahmedani.He is novelist and fiction write .His three books has been published.

Amar Kahani-Peet de Pandh-Chhulian. • Mussrat Kalanchvi She is fiction writer .His coolection of fictions Uchi Dharti Jhika

Asman has been published • Batool Rahmani She is fiction writer • Zafar Lishari He is fiction write and novelist.Nazoo and Pahaj are his novels • Ahsan Wagha He is fiction writer .His two collections has been published -Thal karen

darya- and Aadi Was • Hafeez Khan He is fiction writer .His book is veendi rut de sham • Dr.Ghazala Ahmedani She is fiction writer .Her book is Aj de Marvi • Aslam Aziz Durani He is fiction writer • Bast Bhutti He is fiction writer.His first collection has been published Linguists: • Mehr Abdul Haq, author of Multani zaban ka urdu se taaluq • Zami Bahawalpuri, author of Saraiki Lughat and Saraiki zaban ka irtaqa • Dilshad Kalanchvi, author of Saraiki lisaniat • Ahsan Wagha, M.Phil thesis The Saraiki language-Its growth and Development • Shaukat Mughal His books are Saraiki dian khas awazan di kahani.Saraiki

Muhawaray.Saraiki Masadir.Saraiki parhoon te Saraiki lekhoon and others Critics:- • Sadique Taher, writer of the collection of articles Wewaray • Javed Chandio, writer of a critical work on Khwaja Ghulam Farid

Dances of Saraiki Wasaib

Folk dance Jhoomer means moving in ecstasy. This dance was started from Multan and Baluchistan. This amazing form of dance also includes all the musical elements and this is why people enjoy dancing it on all the happy occasions. This is usually danced by Saraiki people. Different steps of this dance copy the movements of different animals. Sutlej Jhoomer, Byas Jhoomer, Multani Jhoomer , Damaan Jhoomer and Chenab Jhoomer are some of the different varieties of this dance. NOTEABLE PERSONALITEIS OF MUSIC &ART

Late Badro Multani, a singer of 1920s Ameran Begum Late Pathany Khan , the folk and classical singer Late Ustad 1Attaullah Khan Esakhelvi , number 1 artist with most recorded album on the planet Abida Parveen,a Great sufi singers Rahat Multanikar of Multan Late ustad Muhammad Juman of Sakkhar Late Ustad Muhammad Yousaf of Hyderabad Mansoor Malangi

Sanam Marvi of Sindh Ghulab Chandio of Sindh Talib Hussain Dard Mohan Bhaghat of Rahim Yar Khan Jala Chandio of Sindh Zarina Baloch of Sindh Zahida Perveen of Bahawalpure Gul Bahar Bano of Multan Aashiq Dardi Manzoor Hussain Tharaj Abida Perveen Mastana & Parwana Ahmed Nawaz Ccheena Miss sapna catar Ajmal Sajid Naseebo lal Akram Rahi Nazakat Ali Pappu Allah Ditta Lonewala Noran Lal Amjad Nawaz karlo Pathanay Khan Asad Abbas Multani Riaz hussain Saqi Ashraf Mirza Shafaullah Khan Rokhri Attaullah Essa Khailvi Shafu Mahi Attaullah Khan Niazi Shakeel Awan Bushra Sadiq Sharafat Ali khan Chan Sharmila Shazia Khushk Ejaz Rahi Shehzada Asif ali Gul Teri Khailvi Suraiya Multanikar Haseena Mumtaz Tahir Mehmood Nayyar Imran Niazi Irfan ul Hasan Saghar Taj multani

Irshad Hussain Tedi Kausar japani Lal Pari

Talib hussain dard Taslim shehzadi Wajid ali baghdadi

THE NEED FOR THE PROTECTION OF SARAIKI CUTLURE While acknowledging that culture is intrinsic to communities, who are the inheritors and custodians of the tangible and intangible assets, and that it changes and develops over time, it is also imperative that safeguarding measures should be put in place. An agenda needs to be delineated which creates synergies to safeguard the cultural expressions of the cultural groups to ensure that this important resource enhances pride and ownership, appreciation of cultural diversity leading to peace and harmony within the varied cultural groups at the sub-districts, districts, provincial and national levels. It is now also beginning to be acknowledged that culture is a resource which can be harnessed for the economic well being of Saraiki communities and thus must create its nexus with development. The peoples centered approach” towards Safeguarding Cultural Assets and ways and means to alleviate poverty and empower communities through culture driven interventions.

TRANSMITTING CULTURE TO NEXT GENERATION The intergenerational transfer of cultural knowledge is weak in the present formal system of education. The school curriculum any province does not include any aspects of Saraiki language, culture thus undermining pride and identity of Saraiki people. Interventions to alleviate this gap includes local artisans and practitioners linked to the schools, introducing heritage education in the school system in Saraiki Wasaib for the development of Saraiki culture and identity as promised in the 1973 constitution. Reaching the youth will contribute towards developing a culture of peace and harmony through an appreciation of cultural diversity and also protects and promotes Saraiki language. In this regard, it is suggested that local stories/ poetry/ historical narratives, located in time and place, must be prepared for which local scholars and writers should be engaged. ENHANCING OPPERTUNIES FOR CULTURA ACTIVITIES IN SARAIKI WASIAB The opportunities for exchange of cultural knowledge amongst stakeholders and cultural practitioners have been diminishing over the years. Much of this has to do with deliberate neglect of Saraiki language /culture on the part of establishment and urbanization and the effect of the new media, the accessibility of TV/cable channels and social media. This has resulted in people losing contact with and pride in their local cultural expressions, and diminishing opportunities for practitioners. Revival of interest in local culture can only be successfully done and sustained if a critical mass of patrons can be developed locally. Local festivals have traditionally provided such opportunities which need to be revived and cultural open houses established to serve as the locale for cultural events. It was also suggested that the government’s role should be that of facilitators to ensure that a spirit of freedom and inquiry may prevail.

HISTORY OF MULTAN

History Of Multan Through The Centuries: (200 - 1000 AD)

200-BC The earliest history of Multan fades away in the mists of mystery and mythology. Most of the historians, however agree that Multan beyond any doubt, is the same Maii-us-than which was conquered by Alexander who faced here tremendous resistance. He was fatally wounded while fighting to capture the citadel. For the first time his sacred shield, which he had taken from the temple of Illion, Athena, and which he used always to be carried before him in all his battles, rolled in dust while he fell unconscious on the ground with blood gushing out from his wounds. But that was the scene which inspired the Macedonians and seeing their king in that state they launched a lightening attack and captured the citadel without any further harm to Alexander. Alexander, however, never recovered fully well after this battle and died, on his way back, at Babylon. 400-600 AD

History is silent for more than six centuries that is until 454 A.D. when White Huns, the barbarous nomads, stormed Multan under the banner of their leader Torman. After a fierce fight they conquered but did not stay for long and Hindu rule continued once again for about two hundred years.

600-700 AD

Subsequent history of Multan is well established and more than sufficient light has been thrown on the cross section by world famous travelers, writers and historians who visited Multan including the Chinese historian Hiuen Tsang in 641 A. D. The Chinese traveller found the circuit of the city about 30 li which is equal to five miles. He described, "the soil rich and fertile and mentioned about eight Deva temples. He also mentioned that people do not believe in Buddha rule. The city is thickly populated-the grand temple dedicated to the Sun is very magnificent and profusely decorated-The image of Sun Deva als0 known as "Mitra" is cast in yellow gold and ornamented with rare gems. Its divine insight mysteriously manifested and its spiritual powers made plain to all and so on".

Multan was first visited by the Muslim arms during the reign of the Khalifa Abu Bekr, in 44 Hijri (664 A.D.), when Mohalib, the Arab General, afterwards an eminent commander in Persia and Arabia, penetrated to the ancient capital of the Maili. He returned with many prisoners of war. The expedition, however, seems to have been directed towards exploration of the country as no attempt was apparently made to retain the conquest.

Mohammad Bin Qasim, the great Muslim general invaded this subcontinent in 712 A. D., and

conquered Sind and Multan. The city was conquered after a fierce and long battle which lasted for seven days. Many distinguished officers of the Muslim army sacrificed their lives in the battle, but the Hindu army was defeated.

The author of 'Jawahar-al-Bahoor' ( the famous Arabic History) writes in his book "that Multan at that time was known as the House of Gold. There was a great Mandir which was also called as the Sun Mandir. It was so big that six thousand resident worshippers were housed therein. Thousands of people from every corner of the country used to visit this place to perform their Hajj (Pilgrimage). They used to circle round it and get their beards and heads shaved off as a mark of respect.

800-900 AD

In the periods, of Caliph Mansoor, and Mostasim Bilia, Multan was attacked by Arabs several times. 900-1000 AD

Ibn Khurdaba described in his book, "The book of Roads and Kingdoms", "Multan being two months journey from Zarani the capital of Sijistan, by the name of Farj because Mohammad, Son of Qasim, Lieutenant of At-Hajjaj, found vast quantities of gold in the city, which was forwarded to the Caliph's treasury so it was called by the Arabs the House of Gold". Al-Masudi of Baghdad who visited the valley of the Indus in 303 A.H. (915 A.D.) mentioned about Multan in his book, "The Meadows of Gold", that "Multan is seventy five Sindhian Farsangs from Mansura. It is one of the strongest frontier places of the Musulmans and in its neighborhood there are a hundred and twenty thousand towns and villages", Al-Masudi also mentioned about the idol and explained as to how people living in the distant parts of country travel to Multan to perform pilgrimage and in fulfillment of their woes and religious obligations, they make offerings of money, precious stones, perfumes of every kind and aloe wood before it. Both tstakhari of Istakhar, or Persepolis, who wrote about the middle of the tenth century 340 A.H. (951 A.D.) and Ibn Haukal of Baghdad who based his work on that of Istakhari, give glowing accounts of Multan which they described as a large, fortified and impregnable city, about half the size of Mansura, the ancient Muslim capital of Sindh. They also mentioned about the idol of Multan as being held in great veneration by Hindus who flocked to it from all parts of India. Sultan Sabuktageen, the Afghan King conquered Multan, but after four years, that is, in 980 A.D. it was conquered by a Sardar of the Karamti Tribe who ruled it for some time.

THE HISTORICAL TOMBS OF MULTAN There are various Mausoleums of Multan due to Multan's rich heritage of pirs and saints, the city also has many mausoleums and shrines. During the 13th and 14th century, a new style of architecture was introduced for funerary memorials of the Muslims in and around Multan the style begin with the tomb of Baha-ud-din Zakariya and culminated in the mausoleum of Shah Rukn al-Din Rukn-I- Alam, which has been admired as "one the most splendid memorial ever erected in the honor of the dead. These two mausoleums served as perfect models for the future architecture. The architects continued to imitate them for well over six hundred years. The popularity of the style did not lessen even when the more refined and gorgeous Mughal style of Rukn-e-Alam is the beautiful tomb of Sultan Ali Akbar at Suraji Miani near Multan, which was erected in the Mughal period (992/1585). Some of the common features of all mausoleums in Multan are their tapering walls, single dome and the glazed tile decoration on the exterior. Another widespread feature is a wooden canopy, over the main grace. Decorated with carving and grills, the ceiling of the canopy is always adorned with glazed tiles of different motifs. Occasionally the grills are made of marble, ornamented with beautiful geometric designs. Here are some of the best-known Mausoleums THE TOMB OF SAINT BAHAUDDIN ZAKARYA Standing at the northeastern side of the old fort which is situated on the high mound, is the tomb of Shikh-al-Kabir, Bahauddin Abu Mohammed Zakariya Al-Qurashi. The tomb occupies the centre of a vast oblong open area measuring 260 feet N.S by 203 feet E.W and is enclosed by a perimeters brick wall. It has two main gates one on the east and the other on the West Side. There is a vow of fourteen "Hujras" on the north for the "Zaireen". The tomb was almost completely ruined during the siege of Multan in1848 AD by the British army but was repaired immediately by Makhdum Shah Mahmud. There is no original inscription on the body of the tomb to show the date of its construction and the subsequent repairs. However, from the fact that here lies the great Shaikh Bahauddin Zakariya who had erected it himself during his prime time, it can be said that it belongs to the early decades of the 13th century. The Shaikh died on the 7th of Safar (661/21 December 1262). THE TOMB OF SHAH RUKN-E-ALAM The mausoleum of Shah Rukn-e-Alam is also situated on the fort mound. The Shaikh was the son of Pir Sadar-Al-Din Arif born at Multan on the 9th of Friday Ramazan 649/26 November 1251. He was the grandson and successor of Shaikh Baha-Al-Din Zakariya. Shaikh Rukn-i-Alam (Rukn-al-Din) died on the 7th of Friday (735/3 Jamadial-Awwal, January 1335). He was buried in the mausoleum of his grandfather, according to his own will. After sometime, however, his coffin was transferred to the present mausoleum. It was constructed, according to a popular belief, by Ghiyas-al-Din Tughluq (1340-1350) during the days of his governorship of Depalpur, but was given by Feruz Shah Tughluq to the descendents of Shah Rukn-I-Alam for the latter’s burial. The mausoleum of Rukn-I-Alam has been admired by not only the travelers and chroniclers but also by the art-historians and archaeologist who wrote the architectural history of the subcontinent. The tomb was built on octagon plan, 90 ft in diameter with walls which are 414 ft high and 13.3 ft thick. The mausoleum was constructed with burnt bricks and supported by timber framing, and

decorated with tile faced bricks and wood beams. The whole structure is divided into three stories. Over the second story is a smaller Octagon, leaving a narrow3 passage all around the place, above which stands a hemispherical dome. As the tomb is standing on a high artificial mound, it is visible from about 45 kilometers. Most of its patterns are geometric-created by arranging the glazed tiles-and a living testimony to creative genius of their designers. The building is also decorated with some floral as well as calligraphic patterns THE TOMB OF SHAH SABZWARI The tomb of Shah Shamas Sabzwari is situated near the Aam Khas Bagh, about a quarter of a mile on the east of the ancient port on the high bank of the old bed of the Ravi which is now filled with a multitude of modern buildings. Shah shams Sabzwari was a celebrated "Ismaili Dai". Very little is known about Shams Sabzari’s life. According to a popular legend, he arrived in Multan at the time of Shaikh Baha-al-Din Zakariya. He breathed his last at the age of 111 years in 675/1276 and was buried in Multan. The main features of the tomb are similar to those of the city’s other major tombs. It has a square hall in an Octagon shape topped by a high dome. There is a verandah all-round the grave-chamber, with fine arches in every side and a single entrance to the hall. In the courtyard, which is at a lower level than that of the verandah, there is small mosque. Like other decorated tombs of Multan, this tomb is also ornamented with Kaashi tile work and Naqashi work. But recently a fire damaged its entrance seriously. THE TOMB OF SHAH YOUSUF GARDEZI This famous tomb is situated near the Bohar Gate. Its building is quite different from the city’s other tombs, with a rectangular hall and a flat, dome-less roof. The hall, which has a small door towards the end of one of its longer sides, is constructed in a big compound. On one side of the compound stands the large hall of an imambargah. The tomb’s present building is a completely renovated one. The rectangular building is thoroughly covered with the blue Multani tiles, decorated with countless floral and geometric patterns arranged in large rectangles, square and border. The skyline is a miniature replica of a fort’s battlement and has a row of arches with borders raised in relief. Below the parapet wall runs a continuous calligraphic border on all four sides. The standard of this calligraphy, however, is not very high. Only blue and while have been used, the motifs include a rich variety of floral patterns. THE MAUSOLEUM OF SULTAN ALI AKBAR This tomb is situated in Suraj Miani, a locality in the northwest of the ancient city. Sultan Ali Akbar was a saint of Islamic order, and was the great grandson of Shams-Sabzwari. This is the only epigraphical evidence available about the saint on the façade of the mausoleum, however, the tomb is a very important contribution towards the adoption assimilation and spread of Multani architecture where almost every characteristic of the Rukn-I-Alam’s tomb including the octagonal plan, tapering turrets, the three storied well balanced and harmonious elevation, embellished with colourful tiles revetment, and screened window opening, his some horizontal as well oblique so also noticeable. It is because of this that the monument has been nicknamed the

"Little Rukn-i-Alam". It has glazed style design used according to the available space. The mausoleum stands on a six feet high square platform. Tomb of Hafiz Muhammad Jamal This tomb is situated near Aamkhas Bagh surrounded with thick heavy wall of small bricks. The main square building includes a large hall, surrounding veranda and a Majlis Khana.The tomb was built in 19th century during the reign of Ranjit Singh (1810). The land for the tomb was given by Sawanmal, the governor of Multan in those days. The main building was constructed under the supervision of Khawaja Khuda Bakhsh "Tami Waly" and Khawaja Muhammad Isa of Khanpur. Though the exterior of the tomb is very simple, however, the interior is profusely decorated with Kashi work and glass mosaics – Shisha Mina Kari, while the tomb itself is exceptionally fine example of mosaic work. All the motifs and pattern are floral, with different colors. BAHAWALPURE Bahawalpur is the twelfth largest city in Pakistan. The city was once the capital of the former princely state of Bahawalpur. The city was home to various Nawabs (rulers) and counted as part of the Rajputana states (now Rajasthan, India). The city is known for its famous palaces such as the Noor Mahal, Sadiq Ghar Palace, and Darbar Mahal, as well as the ancient fort of Derawar in the Cholistan Desert bordering India. The city is located near the historical and ancient cities of Uch and Harappa, which were once a stronghold of the Delhi Sultanate and Indus Valley Civilisation. The city is home to one of the few natural safari parks in Pakistan, Lal Suhanra National Park.

In 2007, the city's population was recorded to have risen to 798,509 from 403,408 in 1998. Punjabi and Saraiki are the major languages of local people, while Urdu is well understood and English is the official languages used in various educational and government institutions. Bahawalpur is located south of the Sutlej River and lies in the Cholistan region near the Thar Desert. It is situated 90 km from Multan, 420 km from Lahore, and 270 km from Faisalabad.

The main crops for which Bahawalpur is recognised are cotton, sugarcane, wheat, sunflower seeds, rape/mustard seed and rice. Bahawalpur mangoes, citrus, dates and guavas are some of the fruits exported out of the country. Vegetables include onions,tomatoes, cauliflower, potatoes and carrots. Being an expanding industrial city, the government has revolutionised and libertised various markets, allowing the caustic soda, cotton ginning and pressing, flour mills, fruit juices, general engineering, iron and steel re-rolling mills, looms, oil mills, poultry feed, sugar, textile spinning, textile weaving, vegetable ghee and cooking oil industries to flourish. The princely state of Bahawalpur was founded in 1802 by Nawab Mohammad Bahawal Khan II after the breakup of the Durrani Empire. The city is large at over 451 kilometers long. Nawab Mohammad Bahawal Khan III signed a treaty with the British on 22 February 1833, guaranteeing the independence of the Nawab. The state acceded to Pakistan on 7 October 1947 when NawabSadiq Muhammad Khan Abbasi V Bahadur[6] decided to join Pakistan at the time of independence. Bahawalpur became a province of Pakistan in 1952 and was merged into the

province of West Pakistan on 14 October 1955. When West Pakistan was divided into four provinces — Sindh, Balouchistan, KPK, and Punjab — Bahawalpur was amalgamated in Punjab. That amalgamation was disapproved by the people of Bahawalpur state and in election of 1970 Bahawalpur Sooba Mahaz (Bahawalpur United Front) won all the seats of national assembly however the elected members did not pursue their demands. That was also Bahawalpur where demand for Saraiki province was raised and that demand still has great support in the masses of Bahawalpur state. DERA ISMAIL KHAN Dera Ismail Khan was founded toward the end of the fifteenth century by Ismail Khan, a son of the Arab adventurer Malik Sohrab Dodai, who named the town after himself. Dera means "settlement" or "abode". The original town was swept away by a flood in 1823, and the existing buildings are all of relatively modern construction. The present town stands four miles (6 km) back from the permanent channel of the river.

However, later research does not support this theory. Firstly, Malik Sohrab was not an Arab adventurer but a Hote Baluch who was appointed Soobadar of this area by the Langha rulers of Multan. Similarly the city could not have been founded towards the end of fifteenth century; because when Babar came here in 1506 he passed through this plain which is now called Dama'an and referred to it as Dasht and went up to Tank but did not mention any city around here in his Tuzk (Memoirs, originally published in Turkish). Later we are told that when in 1540 Sher Shah came to Khushab, Ismail Khan of Dera Ismail Khan went to Khushab to meet him there. So the city must have been founded in the first quarter of the sixteenth century.[3] After the flood destruction of 1823, the present city was founded by Sardar Ellahi Bakhsh Khan Siyal in 1825, but he preferred to retain the old name for it.

It is situated on the west bank of the Indus River, 200 miles (320 km) west of Lahore and 120 miles (190 km) northwest of Multan. The city is the capital of the district and tehsil of the same name.

During British rule the town contained two bazaars, the Hindu and Muslim population living in separate quarters. The town stands on a level plain, with a slight fall to the river, but is badly drained. It is surrounded by a thin mud wall, with nine gates, enclosing an area of about 500 acres (2.0 km2). The cantonment, which lies southeast of the town, has an area of 44 square miles (110 km2), excluding the portion known as Fort Akalgarh on the northwest side. The civil lines are to the south.

The Derajat Brigade had its winter headquarters at Dera Ismail Khan, and the garrison consisted of a mountain battery, a regiment of Native cavalry, and three regiments of Native infantry. Detachments from these regiments helped to garrison the outposts of Drazinda, Jandola, and Jatta. The municipality was constituted in 1867. The income during the ten years ending 1902-3 averaged Rs. 55,000, and the expenditure Rs. 53,000. The income and expenditure in 1903-4 were Rs. 55,500 and Rs. 55,800 respectively. The chief source of income was octroi(Rs. 48,000); the chief items of expenditure were conservancy (Rs. 8,785), education (Rs. 7,246), hospitals and dispensaries (Rs. 6,302), public safety (Rs. 7,733), public works (Rs. 2,143), and administration

(Rs. 5,546). The receipts and expenditure of cantonment funds during the ten years ending 1902-3 averaged RS. 2,700 and Rs. 2,800 respectively.

The local trade of Dera Ismail Khan was of second-rate importance, but some foreign traffic with Khorasan passed through it. Powinda caravans of Afghan merchants traversed the town twice a year on their road to and from India; and, with the increasing security of the Gomal route, these caravans were yearly swelling in numbers. The chief imports were English and native piece-goods, hides, salt, and fancy wares; and the exports, grain, wood, and ghee. The local manufactures are lungis and lacquered woodwork. The town possesses a civil hospital; its chief educational institutions are two aided Anglo-vernacular high schools, one maintained by the Church Missionary Society and the other by the Bharatri Sabha, and an Anglo-vernacular middle school maintained by the municipality

NOTABLE SARAIKI PERSONALITIES

• Imran Ajmal (Consultant Developer),Det Norske Veritas (DNV Middle East Kuwait ) • Mumtaz Hussain Jatoi (Advocate Supreme Court), founder and president of 1Saraiki Sooba

Movement Pakistan who devoted himself for the cause of Sarikistan Provence. • Javed Hashmi from Multan, President Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf • Yousaf Raza Gillani from Multan, current Prime Minister of Pakistan since 2008 • Shah Mehmood Qureshi from Multan, Ex- Foreign Minister of Pakistan and Leader of Pakistan

Tehreek-e-Insaf • Hina Rabbani Khar, current Foreign Minister of Pakistan • Khan Muhammad Hussain Aazd from Bahwalpur, current Ex-1Deputy Attorney General of

Pakistan Farooq Leghari from Dera Ghazi Khan, President of Pakistan (1993 – 1997) • Aslam Khan Dahir from the village Bota Whan, Landlord,Pakistan’s People Party (1951) • Balakh Sher Mazari from Rajanpur, Prime Minister of Pakistan (1993) • Nawab of Kalabagh Malik Amir Mohammad Khan from Mianwali, Governor of West

Pakistan (1960 – 1966) • Ghulam Mustafa Khar from Muzaffargarh, Governor of Punjab (1971 – 1973) and (1975)

and Chief Minister of Punjab (1973 – 1974) • Mushtaq Ahmed Gurmani from Muzaffargarh, Governor of Punjab (1954 – 1955) and Governor

of West Pakistan (1955 – 1957) • Sadiq Hussain Qureshi from Multan, Governor of Punjab (1974 – 1975) and Chief Minister of

Punjab (1975 – 1977) • Mian Mumtaz Daultana from Multan, Chief Minister of Punjab (1951 – 1955) • Sajjad Hussain Qureshi from Multan, Governor of Punjab (1985 – 1988) • Dost Muhammad Khosa from Dera Ghazi Khan, Chief Minister of Punjab (2008) • Imran Khan former cricketer and chief of PTI from Minawali • Maulan Abdul Sattar Khan Niazi (Late)prominent religious scholar from Mianwali • Taj Muhammad Khan Langah, founder and president of Pakistan Saraiki Party who devoted

himself for the cause of Sarikistan • Asif Ali Zardari from Dadu Nawbshah,Currint, President of Pakistan (2009 )

SARAIKI POLITICAL PARTIES & GROUPS There are some political parties and groups which are working for Separate Saraiki Province in Pakistan

• Pakistan Saraiki Party :Its head office is at Multan. Thaj Muhamaad Khan Langah is its president and Aslam Rasoolpuri is its secretary geneal

• Saraikistan Qaumi council head office Multan , shoukat Mughal and zahoor ahmad dhareja • Saraiki Quomi Movement", famously known as SQM was founded by Bibi Shahida Naz,

Karachi. 1988 • Saraikistan Qaumi Movement :Its head office is at Dera Ghazi Khan. Hameed Asghar Shaheen

(president). • Saraiki National Party : Its head office is at Rahim Yar Khan.Abdul Majeed Kanjo (President). • Saraikistan Qaumi Ithad :Its head office is at Mithankot.Khawaja Ghulam Farid Sani (president). • Saraiki Soba Movement, a registered party with Election Commission of Pakistan (Registration

notification number F-2(5)2002-CORD (1) dated 21 August 2002). Its head office is located in Multan. The current President is Malik Mumtaz Hussain Jai (Advocate Supreme Court Pakistan)

Jagan Nathh Azad ,The Writer of First Pakitani National Antham Jagan Nath Azad was born in 1918 in Isa Khel in the Punjab (later of Atta Ullah Khan Eesakhelvi fame), he studied at Gordon College in Rawalpindi, and the University of the Punjab in Lahore. Mr. Jinnah asked him to write a new national anthem for Pakistan. The anthem was used for 18 months, until it was replaced (after Mr. Jinnah’s death). Some time after writing the national anthem, he migrated to India, where from 1977 to 1980 he was a Professor of Urdu and head of Urdu department at the Unversity of Jammu. Luv Puri, an award-winning Indian journalist, interviewed Azad shortly before his demise. Reported in the Milli Gazette of 16–31 August 2004 and the Hindu of 19 June 2005, part of the interview claiming that “A Hindu wrote Pakistan's first national anthem” and that, “Jinnah got Urdu-knowing Jagannath Azad to write the song” initiated a controversy in the academic circles of Pakistan.

Azad himself refers to hearing his Tarana-e-Pakistan being broadcast from Radio Lahore on the night of 14 August 1947 in his book “Ankhen Tarastiyan Hain" published in 1981 and in “Hayat-e-Mehroom” published in 198 he wrote:

“I was still in Lahore, living in my house in Ramnagar with the intention of never leaving Lahore. In those days Pakistan probably had only two radio stations: one in Lahore and the other in Peshawar. When Radio Pakistan (Lahore) made the announcement of the founding of Pakistan that night, it was followed by a broadcast of my National Anthem ‘Zarre tere hein aaj sitaaron se taabnaak, Ai sarzameen-e-Pak’

It ran like this:

Aye sar zameen-i-Pak Zare tere hain aaj sitaron se tabnak Roshan hai kehkashan se kahin aaj teri khak Tundi-e-hasdan pe ghalib hai tera swaak Daman wo sil gaya hai jo tha mudaton se chaak Aye sar zameen-i-Pak! Ab apne azm ko hai naya rasta pasand Apna watan hai aaj zamane main sar buland Pohncha sake ga is ko na koi bhi ab gazand Apna alm a hai chand sitaron se bhi buland Ab ham ko dekhtey hain atarad hon ya samaak Aye sar zameen-i-Pak! Utra hai imtehan main watan aaj kamyab Ab huriat ki zulf nahin mahiv-e-paich-o-taab Daulat hai apne mulk ki be had-o-be hisaab Hon ge ham aap mulk ki daulat se faiz yab

Maghrib se hum ko khauf na mashriq se hum ko baak Aye sar zameen-i-Pak! Apne watan ka aaj badalne laga nizam apne watan main aaj nahin hai koi ghulam apna watan hai rah-e-taraqi pe tez gam azad, bamurad jawan bakht shad kaam ab itr bez hain jo hawain thin zehr naak Aye sar zameen-i-Pak! Zare tere hain aaj sitaron se tabnak Roshan hai kehkashan se kahin aaj teri khak Aye sar zameen-i-Pak!

Saraiki Newspapers and TV Channels

1. Rohi TV 2. Kook TV 3. Wasaib TV

1. Kook Newspaper of Karachi