This is the first detailed study of the history of language policies and practices among the Muslims of north India and Pakistan. It begins with British language policies and then goes on to the policies of the state of Pakistan. The link between the use of language as a symbol of ethnic identity to resist the state’s imposition of Urdu as the only national language if Pakistan is studied in detail with reference to the Bengali language movement, the Sindhi-Urdu controversy, the Siraiki movement, the Pashto movement, the language movements of Baluchistan and the Punjabi language movement. There is also a chapter on the Urdu-English controversy in education as well as the minor language movements of Pakistan
