Punjab, Pakistan
The major and native language spoken in the Punjab is Punjabi (which is written in a Shahmukhi script in Pakistan) and Punjabis comprise the largest ethnic group in country. Punjabi is the provincial language of Punjab, but is not given any official recognition in the Constitution of Pakistan at the national level.
Demographics of Pakistan
On the annexation of Sindh (1843) and Punjab (1849), the British Raj encouraged its use as the "lingua franca" and subsequently banned the use of Persian, which had been the "lingua franca" of the region for many centuries before. Persian had been introduced by Central Asian Turkic invaders who migrated into South Asia, and had been patronised by the Turko-Afghan Delhi Sultanate. This language change was designed to institute a universal language throughout the then British Raj in South Asia as well as minimize the influence that Persia, the Ottoman Empire and Afghanistan had on this transitional region.