Sindhi (Arabic script: سنڌي, Devanagari script: सिन्धी, Sindhī) is the language of the Sindh region of Pakistan. It is spoken by approximately 18 million people in Pakistan, and is also spoken in India; it is the third most spoken language of Pakistan, and the official language of Sindh in Pakistan. It is also an official language of India. The government of Pakistan issues national identity cards to its citizens only in two languages, Sindhi and Urdu.
It is an Indo-Aryan language of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family, though it also shows signs of heavy Dravidian influence.
Most Sindhi speakers in Pakistan are concentrated in the Sindh province. The remaining speakers are found in India and amongst the Sindhi diaspora community which are scattered throughout the world. The Sindhi language has spread as the Hindu Sindhis left Sindh to migrate to the Hindu-majority India, during the time of the independence of Pakistan in 1947.
The language is written in Devanagari script by Sindhi Hindus; however, with the Arab invasion of Sindh and the conversion of most Sindhis to Islam, a modified Arabic script was produced.[1] After the independence of both Pakistan and India from British rule, the government of India introduced Devanagari, alongside the official Arabic script, for writing Sindhi.
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