This article is about the Shina and Hindko speakers of the Hazara region in Pakistan. For the Persian-speaking Hazaras of Afghanistan, see
Hazara people.
Hazarewals or Hazarawals (
Urdu: ہزارہ وال) also known as Hazara (ہزارہ) is term used for the multi-ethnic community belonging to the
Hazara region of
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.[1][2]
Other minority languages include
Pahari-Pothwari, spoken by sections of the Karlal and Abbasi tribes of the
Galyat region of Abbottabad District (where the langauge is locally called Dhundi-Kairali) and
Gujari[3] spoken by Gujjars of the
Kaghan Valley.[6][7][8]
The Hazarewal,[9] are not to be confused with the ethnic
Hazara people inhabiting parts of
Balochistan province in Pakistan or areas of neighbouring
Afghanistan. The Hazarewals have, over the last few years, found themselves increasingly in favour of
separation and autonomy from the rest of
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on administrative basis.[10][11]
^
abRensch, Calvin Ross; O'Leary, Clare F.; Hallberg, Calinda E. (1992).
Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan: Hindko and Gujari. National Institute of Pakistan Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University. pp. 10–11. 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 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 Moughals, Bulghadris, Turks and Qureshis. In Jammun significant numbers of Gujars have adopted Hindko as their first language.