Seraiki

Seraiki is a town in Pakistan, one of the largest in the world that does not have its own state. The natives of the place (seraikis) are around 25 million. Their language is called Saraiki, which is very similar to Punjabi, but also with Sindhi traits.

The Saraikis live mainly in the southern Punjab Province of Pakistan but also in the Dera Ismael Khan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhova Province. This area is called Saraikistan by the regionalist Saraikis. In diaspora, Saraikis can be found in other areas of Pakistan, and also in India due to the emigration of thousands of Saraiki Hindus after the Partition of India.

Saraikistan

History

In the 1990s, the Indian secret services began to support the fledgling Seraiki movement, and in late 1993 an International Seraiki Conference took place in Delhi. Until a few years ago, the main autonomist Seraiki party was the Pakistan Saraiki Party, led by Taj Mohammed Langah, which called for complete autonomy and was a member of the Pakistan Opressed Nations Movement (PONM). Recently the Seraiki Qaumi Movement (Seraiki National Movement) has become the main Seraiki nationalist political force, calling for the creation of a state called Seraikistan, which would occupy half of the Punjab.

Flag

Flag of the Principality of Bahawalpur and Pakistan Seraiki Party.

Flag of the Seraiki Qaumi Movement and de facto national flag of the Seraiki.

Around 1993, officially or unofficially, the Seraiki used the flag of the former principality of Bahawalpur (whose territories were the main part of the possible Seraiki province) but in a 2:3 ratio and minor modifications in the crescent and star that probably corresponded to the Pakistan Saraiki Party who perhaps keeps this flag. In recent years a flag has gained strength to be considered national of the Seraikis: it is the flag of the Seraiki Qaumi Movement (Seraiki National Movement), which is today the largest Seraiki nationalist movement. It is made up of the colors red (for the revolution), yellow (which symbolizes poverty, hunger and deprivation) and green (hope for the future) in a vertical arrangement.