Hindko dialect

Hindko (Hindko: ہندکو ALA-LC: Hindko IPA: [hɪnd̪koː]) is a dialect of Western Punjabi (Lahnda) spoken in Northern Pakistan. Hindko follows the standardized Punjabi Shahmukhi script for writing.

Name

The name Hindko simply means "Indian" (of the Indus), and has been applied to various dialects spoken in northern Pakistan, in the areas of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (including Hazara), Punjab especially Pothohar Plateau, Pakistan Administered Kashmir, including by some Pashtun tribes, as well as by the Hindki people of Afghanistan. The name is found in Greek references to the mountainous region in eastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan as Καύκασος Ινδικός (Caucasus Indicus, or Hindu Kush).

There is no generic name for these people because they belong to diverse ethnic groups 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.