Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Hindkowans" in English language version.
Members of a variety of ethnic groups speak the language called Hindko. A large number of Hindko speakers in Hazara Division (Mansehra and Abbottabad Districts) are Pashtoons. Some of those speak Hindko as a second language; many others speak it as their mother tongue. These include the Tahir Kheli Pashtoons, who claim to have migrated to the Hazara Division from Afghanistan during the eighteenth century. Many other mother- tongue speakers of Hindko are Swati Pathans, who are said to have formerly spoken Pashto while living in the lower Swat valley. After migrating across the Indus River into Hazara Division, which Ahmed dates around A.D. 1515, the Swatis adopted the Hindko language. There are also Pashtoons belonging to three other groups, the Yusufzai, the Jadun and the Tarin, who have replaced Pashto with Hindko. Many speakers of Hindko belong to groups other than the Pashtoons: Some of these are Saiyids, said to have come to the area in the early centuries of Islamic history, many of whom live in the Peshawar area. Large numbers of Hindko speakers are Avans, particularly in Attock District and Hazara Division. Still, others belong to groups of Mughals, Bulghadris, Turks and Qureshis. In Jammun significant numbers of Gujars have adopted Hindko as their first language.
The next principal races inhabiting Afghanistan are the Hindki and Jat. The Hindki people are Hindus of the Kshatrī, or military caste. They are wholly occupied in trade, and form an important and numerous portion of the population of all cities and towns, and are also to be found in the majority of the larger villages.
Grierson took 'Hindko' to mean 'the language of Hindus'
The origin of the Sikh community in Afghanistan has broadly two streams. There are those who are descendants of converts to the teaching of Guru Nanak –Sikhism's founder – during his trip to Kabul, recorded to be around 1520. These Sikhs are Pashto or Dari speakers, ethnically indigenous to the region, and potentially from groups who did not adopt Islam as the religion became regionally dominant between the 9th and 13th centuries. The second stream derive from the short-lived Sikh Empire (1799–1849) as it pushed westward, gaining control of territory to the Khyber Pass and Sikh merchants established trading routes into Kandahar and Kabul. This group speak Hindko, a dialect of Punjabi that is mostly found around Peshawar, in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in north-west Pakistan.
The attack highlighted the current precarious state of the Sikh community in Afghanistan, with dwindling numbers that may soon end the religion's 500-year presence in the country. Current estimates put the Sikh community at around 300 families, with only two gurdwaras (Sikh temples) remaining operational in the country: one in Kabul, and another in Jalalabad. A decade ago the numbers were placed at around 3000 adherents. Yet before the Taliban's ascendance in the mid-1990s, there was a thriving community of around 50,000 people. Documents sighted by Professor Harjot Oberoi of the University of British Columbia indicated that in the 1940s the Sikh community was potentially as large as 200,000.
Also, scholars post-Grierson understood Hindko to mean the "language of the people of Hind, i.e. India" and not the Hindus, which was a term used for a religious community.
In India, Hindko is little known, and while there are Hindko speakers in parts of Jammu and Kashmir as well as among other communities who migrated to India post-Partition, by and large it has been absorbed under the broad umbrella of Punjabi.
Also, scholars post-Grierson understood Hindko to mean the "language of the people of Hind, i.e. India" and not the Hindus, which was a term used for a religious community.
Grierson took 'Hindko' to mean 'the language of Hindus'
Instead they are exchanging anecdotes and ideas in their native Hindko—literally, "the language of India" – at a conference organized to promote the increasingly marginalised language. It is one of 72 tongues, including the official languages Urdu and English, spoken by Pakistan's 200 million people, according to a 2014 parliamentary paper that classed 10 as either "in trouble" or "near extinction". According to scholars, Hindko's decline as the foremost language of Peshawar city began in 1947 when Hindu and Sikh traders left after the partition of British India.
HINDKI, the name given to the Hindus who inhabit Afghanistan.
Also, scholars post-Grierson understood Hindko to mean the "language of the people of Hind, i.e. India" and not the Hindus, which was a term used for a religious community.
In India, Hindko is little known, and while there are Hindko speakers in parts of Jammu and Kashmir as well as among other communities who migrated to India post-Partition, by and large it has been absorbed under the broad umbrella of Punjabi.
Also, scholars post-Grierson understood Hindko to mean the "language of the people of Hind, i.e. India" and not the Hindus, which was a term used for a religious community.
