What is the national language of Pakistan?

The national language of Pakistan is Urdu.

Urdu holds national-language status under Pakistan’s Constitution, while English is also used officially for government, law, higher education, and administration. Urdu serves as a shared national medium across a country whose provinces have their own major languages, including Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto, and Balochi.

Urdu developed in South Asia through sustained contact among local Indo-Aryan speech varieties and Persian-, Arabic-, and Turkic-influenced administrative and literary traditions. It is closely related to Hindi; everyday spoken forms can be highly mutually intelligible, but the two standardized varieties differ in writing system, formal vocabulary, and cultural history. Urdu is normally written in a modified Perso-Arabic script called Nastaliq.

Pakistan’s language policy reflects both unity and diversity. Punjabi is the country’s most widely spoken mother tongue, but it is not the national language. English remains especially important in official and professional contexts, so “national language” and “official language” should not be treated as synonyms. Urdu’s national role is symbolic, connective, and cultural as well as practical.