Editing Urdu (section)

== Official status ==
=== Pakistan ===
Urdu is the sole national, and one of the two official languages of Pakistan (along with English).<ref name="Raj-2017" /> It is spoken and understood throughout the country, whereas the state-by-state languages (languages spoken throughout various regions) are the [[Provincial languages of Pakistan|provincial languages]], although only 7.57% of Pakistanis speak Urdu as their first language.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/pco/statistics/other_tables/pop_by_mother_tongue.pdf|title=Government of Pakistan: Population by Mother Tongue|publisher=[[Pakistan Bureau of Statistics]]|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060217220529/http://www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/pco/statistics/other_tables/pop_by_mother_tongue.pdf|archive-date=17 February 2006}}</ref> Its official status has meant that Urdu is understood and spoken widely throughout Pakistan as a second or third language. It is used in [[Education in Pakistan|education]], [[Pakistani literature|literature]], office and court business,<ref>In the [[lower court]]s in Pakistan, despite the proceedings taking place in Urdu, the documents are in English, whereas in the higher courts, i.e. the High Courts and the [[Supreme Court of Pakistan|Supreme Court]], both documents and proceedings are in English.</ref> although in practice, English is used instead of Urdu in the higher echelons of government.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www.tariqrahman.net/content/lanpolicy.pdf|title=Language Policy, Identity and Religion|last=Rahman|first=Tariq|publisher=Quaid-i-Azam University|year=2010|location=Islamabad|page=59|author-link=Tariq Rahman|access-date=18 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141021124602/http://www.tariqrahman.net/content/lanpolicy.pdf|archive-date=21 October 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> Article 251(1) of the [[Constitution of Pakistan|Pakistani Constitution]] mandates that Urdu be implemented as the sole language of government, though English continues to be the most widely used language at the higher echelons of Pakistani government.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dawn.com/news/1194296|title=Language change|last=Hussain|first=Faqir|date=14 July 2015|website=DAWN.COM|language=en|access-date=3 December 2019}}</ref>

=== India ===
[[File:New_Delhi_railway_station_board.jpg|left|thumb|A multilingual [[New Delhi]] railway station board. The Urdu and Hindi texts both read as: ''naī dillī''.]]

Urdu is also one of the officially recognised languages in [[Languages with official status in India|India]] and also has the status of ''"additional official language"'' in the [[States and territories of India|Indian states]] of [[Andhra Pradesh]], [[Uttar Pradesh]], [[Bihar]], [[Jharkhand]], [[West Bengal]], [[Telangana]] and the national capital territory [[Delhi]].<ref name="CLM5020142">{{cite web|url=http://nclm.nic.in/shared/linkimages/NCLM50thReport.pdf|title=50th Report of the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities in India (July 2012 to June 2013)|last=Wasey|first=Akhtarul|date=16 July 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160708012438/http://nclm.nic.in/shared/linkimages/NCLM50thReport.pdf|archive-date=8 July 2016|access-date=20 October 2016}}</ref><ref name="Indiatoday:12">{{cite magazine|last=Roy|first=Anirban|date=28 February 2018|title=Kamtapuri, Rajbanshi make it to list of official languages in|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/pti-feed/story/kamtapuri-rajbanshi-make-it-to-list-of-official-languages-in-1179890-2018-02-28|magazine=[[India Today]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180330143710/https://www.indiatoday.in/pti-feed/story/kamtapuri-rajbanshi-make-it-to-list-of-official-languages-in-1179890-2018-02-28|archive-date=30 March 2018|access-date=31 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Also as one of the five official languages of [[Jammu and Kashmir (union territory)|Jammu and Kashmir]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Paliwal |first=Devika |date=24 September 2020 |title=Parliament Nod to Bill for Declaration of 5 Official Languages for J&K |url=https://lawtimesjournal.in/parliament-nod-to-bill-for-declaration-of-5-official-languages-for-jk/ |publisher=Law Times Journal |access-date=24 June 2022}}</ref>

India established the governmental Bureau for the Promotion of Urdu in 1969, although the [[Central Hindi Directorate]] was established earlier in 1960, and the promotion of Hindi is better funded and more advanced,<ref name="Clyne-2012a">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ieMgAAAAQBAJ&q=Linguistic+Descriptions+of+Hindi-Urdu+pluricentric+languages|title=Pluricentric Languages: Differing Norms in Different Nations|last=Clyne|first=Michael|date=24 May 2012|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-088814-0|pages=395|language=en}}</ref> while the status of Urdu has been undermined by the promotion of Hindi.<ref name="Everaert-2010">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LqZ-6QRKc7wC&q=hindi+urdu+diverge&pg=PA225|title=Tracing the Boundaries Between Hindi and Urdu: Lost and Added in Translation Between 20th Century Short Stories|last=Everaert|first=Christine|date=2010|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-17731-4|pages=225|language=en}}</ref> Private Indian organisations such as the Anjuman-e-Tariqqi Urdu, Deeni Talimi Council and Urdu Mushafiz Dasta promote the use and preservation of Urdu, with the Anjuman successfully launching a campaign that reintroduced Urdu as an official language of Bihar in the 1970s.<ref name="Clyne-2012a" /> In the former [[Jammu and Kashmir (state)|Jammu and Kashmir state]], section 145 of the Kashmir Constitution stated: "The official language of the State shall be Urdu but the English language shall unless the Legislature by law otherwise provides, continue to be used for all the official purposes of the State for which it was being used immediately before the commencement of the Constitution."<ref>{{cite web |title=The Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir |url=http://jkgad.nic.in/statutory/Rules-Costitution-of-J&K.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120507200338/http://jkgad.nic.in/statutory/Rules-Costitution-of-J%26K.pdf |archive-date=7 May 2012}}</ref>