This is an enquiry e-mail via http://www.wasaib.com from:
Jaffer Jamil <jafferjamil@yahoo.com>

Thank you very much. This is good information on the various peoples living in the region. It gives me an idea that even in NWFP & Baluchistan there may be remnants of people descended from the Jats, Rajputs and even more older indigineous peoples (other than the Brahui); who are unknown to those of us who are not familiar to the area.

My parents were Urdu speaking & I don't now the language of Seraiki. However, from everything that I have read, it is the language of the great Sufis. I also hear that there is a theory that Seraiki was the basis of the development of Urdu (& not some unknown Brij Bhasha, as claimed by historians of the development of Urdu language). Logically, it makes sense: No Moslem family, clan or group ever came into Delhi (and the rest of the Ganges Doaba region) or even Lahore, for that matter, without first spending at least a generation in Multan. Continued Moslem presence (be they Ismailis, Sunnis or Shias) has been the longest also in Multan. Hence we can state that Seraiki is the ancestor of Urdu, most Sindhi dialects, virually all Punjabi dialects. If the "Hindku" language is considered a dialect of Seraiki, then that would make the language of most of NWFP. Logically, it merits more of a position to be taught as a national or provincial language in all these provinces. At the very least, it should be offered as an option and alternative to region languages in schools.

As Sufis, we love the Seraiki language and peoples that speak it.

If you have the time & know a historian that is well versed in Multani history, I have a question to ask them? Is there any record of a Malik Mohammed Daoud in the history of Multan around 1200 A.D., give or take a few years? He is my paternal ancestor, who is said to have come originally from Yemen to Multan & then to have migrated to Badaun India.

Jaffer Jamil
Claremont, California, USA

Post edited by: admin, at: 2008/07/27 00:51