Hindko (ہندکو, [hindkou̯]), also Hindku, or Hinko,[2] is the sixth main regional language of Pakistan.[3] It forms a subgroup of Indo-Aryan languages spoken by Hindkowans in Pakistan and northern India,[4] some Pashtun tribes in Pakistan, as well as by the Hindki people of Afghanistan. Hindko, has also been interpreted to mean the language of India and most probably Indus which of course is the source of etymology for all these words.[5] The word Hindko has also been interpreted to mean the language of India.[6] 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 North West Frontier Province (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 and Mansehra 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.
