Before independence, (East) Pakistan Punjab and west Punjab(Indian) was one. Common first language of study was Urdu. My father and my elder brothers used to write each other in Urdu only. There were more Urdu News papers in Punjab(Indian) than Hindi/Punjabi/English news Papers. More poetry and literature was written in Urdu than in Hindi. Krishan Chander, Rajendra Singh Bedi, Amrita Pritam (Urdu and Punjabi), Prem Chander (Urdu and Hindi) wrote mainly in Urdu. It may be noted that in Punjab, there were hardly any Muslims left as most of them migrated to Pakistan. But Urdu remained language of Punjabies, Delhi, UP etc. Prithvi Raj Kapoor used to write his dialogues in Urdu.
by R K Suri