Today, the Punjabi people constitute the largest ethnic group in the country, though Urdu was given status as the sole national language of the country, following independence.[6] Unlike Indian Punjab, where reading and writing the Punjabi language is compulsory at every level from 2008,[7] alongside a special Punjabi University at Patiala, Punjabi does not have any kind of official status in Pakistan and is merely recognised as a nominal "provincial language" in Pakistani Punjab.[8] The PLM's ideologies are based on Punjabi nationalism.
