Hindko Language

Hindko Language

Hindko (Hindku, Hinko; ہندکو), also Panjistani or (ambiguously) Pahari, is a cluster of northern Lahnda (northwestern Panjabi) dialects. It is the sixth main regional language of Pakistan, spoken by Pashtun as well as non-Pashtun people of northwestern Panjab. It forms a subgroup of Indo-Aryan languages, some Pashtun tribes in Pakistan, as well as by the Hindki people of Afghanistan. The word "Hindko" has also been interpreted to mean the language of India and most probably "Indus" which is the source of etymology for all these words. The term is also found in Greek references to the mountainous region in eastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan as Καύκασος Ινδικός (Caucasus Indicus, or Hindu Kush). The language is spoken in the areas of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (including Hazara), Punjab (including Attock), and Pakistan Administered Kashmir.

There is no generic name for these people because they belong to diverse ethnicities and tend to identify themselves by the larger families or castes. However the people of the largest group in the districts of Haripur, Abbottabad, Mansehra, Battagram and Kohistan are sometimes recognised collectively as Hazarawal, named after the defunct Hazara Division that comprised these districts. In Peshawar city they are called Peshawari or "Kharay" by Pashtuns meaning City-dwellers.