Does Pakistan speak Farsi?

 No, Pakistan does not speak Farsi (Persian) as a primary or official language. The official and national language of Pakistan is Urdu, alongside English. Farsi is currently spoken only by a tiny minority of the population, primarily by Afghan refugees and specific border communities like the Hazara people in Quetta. [1, 2, 3, 4]

The Status of Farsi in Pakistan

• Historical Elite Language: For centuries, Farsi was the official language of administration, literature, and the royal courts during the Mughal Empire and various Central Asian dynasties ruling the region. [1, 2, 3]
• Colonial Shift: The British Empire systematically replaced Farsi with English and local vernaculars (like Urdu) during colonial rule over the Indian subcontinent. [1, 2]
• Current Speaker Base: Approximately 1 million Dari speakers (an Afghan dialect of Persian) live in Pakistan, mostly consisting of migrants and refugees. [1, 2]
• Cultural Influence: While not widely spoken, Farsi heavily influenced Urdu. In fact, the vocabulary of Pakistan's national anthem (Qaumi Taranah) is almost entirely composed of Persian words. [1, 2]

Dominant Languages of Pakistan

According to census data, Pakistan is a highly multilingual nation dominated by other regional tongues: [1]

• Urdu: Spoken nationwide as the primary lingua franca.
• Punjabi: The most widely spoken native mother tongue.
• Pashto & Sindhi: Major regional languages with tens of millions of speakers. [1]