Re: Urdu as our national langauge
True, that the rest of Punjab doesn’t have the charm of Lahore’s larger than life imperial glamour and cosmopolitan spirit, but rest of Punjab is also as racially diverse as Lahore and communities have co-existed peacefully for centuries and generations and from recent times by being slightly more welcoming to others.
The Potohari diaspora in Pindi plus the ‘Potohari Plateau’. Kashmiris in Sialkot and Gujranwala, Pashtun belt of Attock and surrounding districts from up North, Saraikis from down South. Faislabad with large number Indian Punjabi (Haryana) Muhajirs. Not to mention the scattered population of Urdu speaking Muhajirs who settled all over in urban Punjab at the time of partition and in the late 70s, 80s and 90s after the outbreak of violence in Karachi. This is all Punjab!
Am I glad that we don’t have any “radical Punjab nationalism” in Punjab which would have meant all these groups would have killed and abused each other in the name of language and culture? Of course. I’m indeed very glad that Punjab isn’t divided as Sindh!