Tourism in Pakistan
Punjab is the second largest province in Pakistan. It is known for its ancient cultural heritage as well as its religious diversity. The lands of Punjab have been home to a number of religions and civilisations. The Indus Valley Civilization once ruled the region and a significant archaeological find was discovered at the ancient city of Harrapa. The Gandhara civilisation was also quite dominant in the northern region of Punjab at the site of Taxila. Several other civilisations such as Greeks, Central Asians, and Persians ruled Punjab leaving a number of sites which still exist today. The arrival of Islam came about during the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate followed by the Ghaznavids. The Mughals took control of the region and ruled its land for several centuries. The mughal heritage remained quite strong in Punjab with a large number of forts, tombs and monuments still intact today. The Durrani Empire ruled the Punjab at the fall of the Mughal Empire for a short period following the rise of the Sikh Empire. The strong control of the Sikhs also lead to a number of sites still remaining intact throughout Punjab. The British Raj took control of the region until the independence.
Punjabi Suba movement
Hindi language movement of Punjab in the Hindi-speaking areas of Punjab started on 30 April 1957 and lasted till 27 December 1957, which paved the way for the demand for the formation of Haryana as a separate state for the Hindi speaking people of the united Punjab province. At the same time Punjab also had Punjabi suba & Punjabi language movement. Punjabi and gurmukhi were made official state language and script respectively, which was also made mandatory in schools of the whole of post-independence united Punjab. People of Hindi speaking areas of Punjab resisted this imposition in masses. Punjab government retaliated by mass arrests and imprisonments, some of arrested activists were tortured in the prison. Sumer Singh of Naya Bans in Rohtak district gave his life for this cause during this movement.