Hindkowans (Hindko: (Shahmukhi), हिन्दकोवान (Devanagari), ਹਿੰਦਕੋਵਾਨ (Gurmukhi)) or known locally as "Chachi's" are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group native to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provinces of Pakistan. However, an indeterminate number have left the region and now live in other parts of South Asia, such as the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir.
Hindkowans speak Hindko, a Lahnda language, and is native to the northern regions of Pakistan primarily concentrated in the Hazara division, and urban centers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan such as Peshawar, Kohat,Nowshera and Swabi. It is for this reason that alternatively, the term "Kharian/Kharay or city-dweller" maybe sometimes be used for the Hindkowan.
The most important, total life of the word HINDKOWAN is about 30 to 40 years. As a matter of fact this word was used firstly by Mr.Raza Hamadani a Hindko Writer and Poet who was basically FARSIWAN and he refused to enter as a member of HINDKOON NATION. His followers were called HINDKOWANS and this group of Hindkowans was headed by Mr. Raza Hamadani. After the death of Raza Hamadani Mr. Khatar Ghaznavi became the head of this group of Hindkowans. Raza Hamadaniz forefathers were from Hamadan and Khatar Ghaznaviz forefathers were from Ghazni Afghanistan. Both were basically Persian Speakers. The Hindkis who speaks the Hindko Language collectively they called themselves HINDKOON NATION. For reference, on the one hand, Research Books of Khatar Ghaznavi, Raza Hamadani and Mukhtar Ali Nayyer can be seen, and on the other hands Gazetter of NWFP , 1905,1930 and Gazetteer of Multan of 1032 cab be seeb, The second important Hindko speaking group is HINDKO BOLNAY WALAY PATHANZ. They were headed by Mr. Mukhtar Ali Nayyer. The grandfather of Mr. Mukhtar Ali Nayyer was migrated from tribal area of Dir. They were Pashto Speaking people, so they called themselves HINDKO BOLNAY WALAY PATHANS (for reference the first Monthly HINDKO ZUBAN Editor Mukhtar Ali Nayyer can be seen. On the title of each and every Monthly issue only for HINDKO BOLNAY WALAY PATHANS were written).
The NWFP Imperial Gazetteer of India (1905) regularly refers to their language as Hindko, which means "Indian mountains." According to the publication '' Hindko and Gujari'': The term may well be the Persic reference meaning "Indus mountains" since the words "Hind" and "koh" mean Indus/Indic and mountains respectively in Persian. The term is also found in Greek references to the mountainous region in eastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan as Καύκασος Ινδικός (Caucasus Indicus, or the Hindu Kush).Hindkowans who are sometimes referred to as ''Punjabi Pathans''. While literally, the term Punjabi Pathan can only be more correctly used to refer to Afghan/Pashtoon/Pathan tribes settled in Punjab, for example the Niazis of Mianwali and speak Seraiki language and those living in Attock district of Punjab who speak Hindko language. Outside of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the term "Pathan" may however, simply be used for anyone belonging to the area (whether they be Pashto, Hindko, Turwali, Kohistani etc. speaking), since the people are perceived by others to share similar cultural traits such as the "pathanwalgi" among the Chach and Hazarawal considered analogous to pashtunwali.
In Afghanistan, a group of Hindus still continue to speak Hindko and are referred to as Hindki which according to Grierson is a variant of the term Hindko. However, in Pakistan the term is considered slightly pejorative and hence Hindkowan or Hindkun is preferred on par with the term Pashtun (the dominant and more numerous ethnic group in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province).
Long before the partition of British India, Grierson, in the ''Linguistic Survey of India'', employed the term Hindko to mean "the language of Hindus" (viii, 1:34). However, this is hotly disputed in Pakistan. Farigh Bukhari and South Asian language expert and historian Christopher Shackle believe that Hindko was a generic term applied to the Indo-Aryan dialect continuum in the Pakistani northwest frontier territories and the adjacent district of Attock in the Punjab, Pakistan province to differentiate it in function and form from Pashto. Linguists classify the language into the Indic group.
Lahnda is also spoken in the north of the state of Bahawalpur and of the province of Sind, in which latter locality it is known as Siraiki. Its western boundary is, roughly speaking, the river Indus, across which the language of the Afghan population is Pashto (Pushtu), while the Hindu settlers still speak Landha. In the Derajat, however, Lahnda, is the principal language of all classes in the plains west of the river. Lahnda is also known as Western Panjabi and as Jatki, or the language of the Jats, who form the bulk of the population whose mother tongue it is. In the Derajat it is called Hindko or the language of the Hindus. As such, there are a number of Hindu Hindkowans. Some of these Hindu Hindkowans are traders and over time, have settled in areas as far as Kalat, Balochistan. Other Hindu Hindkowans migrated to India from their native region of Sarhad after the partition of India in 1947. During the Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent, which took place from the 12th century A.D. onwards, many of the Hindkowans converted to Islam. Today, most of the Hindkowan population is Sunni Muslim. Later, with the spread of Sikhism and the rise of the Sikh Empire beginning in the eighteenth century A.D., some Hindkowans, both Hindu & Muslim, became Sikhs. The Pashtun tribes who settled in Districts like Abbotabad, Haripur and Mansehra, Peshawar and Kohat adopted Hindko as their first language and gained political power in these areas during the British rule. . The Hindko speaking people living in major cities Peshawar, Kohat, Nowshera and chhachh area of Attock are bilingual in Pashto and Hindko. Similarly many Pashto speaking people in districts like Mansehra especially in Agror Valley and northern Tanawal (Shergarh), have become bilingual in Pashto and Hindko.
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