Hindko

Hindko (ہنَدٌّکوَ, pronounced [Hindkoŭ]; also spelled as Hindku or Hinko) is a Northwestern Indo-Aryan language, spoken by about 5 million people in Pakistan.^[2][3][4] Most of them live in Hazara (now a region of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), but there are also speakers in other parts of the province (such as Kohat and Peshawar). There are also speakers in Azad Kashmir and in north-western Punjab. Hindko is classified by some linguists within the Lahnda group. The Hazari variety is the most widely spoken dialect of Hindko.

Hindko
ہنَدٌّکوَ ‎
ਹਿੰਦਕੋ
Native to	Pakistan
Region	Punjab (Attock District), Hazara, Kohat, Peshawar
Native speakers	5 million (2023)[1]
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Northwestern Hindko
Dialects	Hazari (Hazarewal) Peshawari Kohat Chachhi Awankari Ghebi
Writing system	Shahmukhi
Language codes
ISO 639-3	hnd (Southern Hindko)

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