Talk:Hindki

Their Origin
I am unable to find any source specifically pinpointing their ethnic origin. On Google, a number state that they have come from China or India while the remainder either state that they are native to the region, or otherwise do not comment on the subject. Can anyone else find any useful info? I believe that this would greatly help people in understanding who Hindkis really are --Maurice45 (talk) 17:36, 2 June 2008 (UTC)

Put plainly, the term "Hindki" referes to the ethnic Indian/Subcontinental racial minorities that inhabit, and have inhabited the North-Eastern lands of the Afghans and Pashtuns since time immemorial - in this case, since the days of Gandhara. There was a time when this whole area was "Hindki", but the Afghan/Pashtun cultural and racial preponderance began after control of Gandhara passed into the Iranian empire of Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. However Hindkis remained dominant even under the new circumstances, because the Turkic-Persian Pashtuns considered shopkeeping and trading beneath their dignity till very, very recently. So the Hindkis did these jobs. Then most of them became Muslims, and their remaining Hindu brethren were driven from the area with the creation of Pakistan in 1947. I think there should be no doubt about their origin, as the above visitor has said; most of that confusion is deliberately created by Hindkis themselves. Pashtuns used to look down upon Hindkis because of their origins, and consequently Hindkis developed an inferiority complex, because of which they deviously put out conflicting and false information about themselves, to avoid the stigma. That is the case even nowadays, among the uneducated especially. But now Hindkis are beginning to acknowledge their realities in a bolder way; even so, they are still very devious about directly admitting to their Indian heritage - one of the main reasons being to try and achieve political manipulation vis-a-vis their Pashtun rivals. Instead they like to call themselves Pashtuns, etc. The creation of Pakistan assisted the Hindkis a lot in this boldness, as Pakistan is actually an Indian ethnic entity, dominated by two other Indian nationalities, the Punjabis (and Sindhis), whose brethren in culture and language are the Hindkis. But the main emphasis of the Pakistan idea is on Indian MUSLIM culture, patterned after the kind of Muslim culture established here by 800 years of Afghan-Persian-Turkic rule. So, paradoxically, in spite of being an ethnic Indian-based idea in itself, the word "Indian" is an abusive anathema to a the Pakistan concept and outlook - more so given the very fragile egos and low self-esteem that characterise Indians in general. Also the Pashtuns of the present day are very confused regarding the facts about Hindkis due to low educational quality and lack of interest, and deliberate misinformation from a variety of sources. Traditionally the Hindkis are timid and passively-behaved, while the proud, bellicose and boorish Pashtuns are seen by them as overbearing oppressors. But Hindkis also traditionally admire Pashtuns, because the Hindki is aware that he is afflicted with a lack of courage and "manliness", and also more often than not, the Central Asia fair complexion and physique of Pashtuns, as opposed to the dark skinned and diminutive Indian racial stereotype. Pashtuns are very well known to taunt Hindkis for these reasons, and this has been going on unabated for centuries. Among the major Hindki populations in Pakhtunkhwa are the Peshawar city-dwelling Pishoris and the Khaliswals of rural Peshawar Valley and the Seraiki (another ethnic Indian language) speakers of Kohat and Dera Ismail Khan. And as for as the Hazara Division of the old NWFP province is concerned, as any sensible person can see, it is not a part of any Pashtun territory, but is entirely Hindko speaking. Therefore it should either be a part of Punjab, or should have its own provincial status in all fairness. The same goes for the southern "Seraiki Belt".

So that is why, dear Maurice, you won't find anything about these people on Wikipedia - unless you belong to the place, and even then, are an avid student of its character. FROM: AKHUNDZADA - PESHAWAR —Preceding unsigned comment added by 110.36.40.98 (talk) 12:31, 20 April 2010 (UTC)

Dear Akhundzada Salam!

You can find a lot of cultural links between Pashtuns and Hindkowans if you through away your hate. If you apply the term Punjabi on Hindkowans then all population KPK were Punjabi till 1902, as they were part of Punjab. To go further in detail, we have to see what is Punjab? what it means and where this term applies. Punjab mean land of 5 rivers, and those rivers are Sutlaj, Bias, Ravi, Chenab and Jehlum. So Jehlum river is end for that terminology. Before 1830 the people of Rawalpindi division or Hazara were not called as Punjabi. After Ranjeet Singh conquerred the areas and inducted them in Punjab. So Hindkowan in KPK are No-abi (if you include them with rivers which make the term punjab, you have to add Haro River, Swan River, Abaseen and Sind River in the terminology of Punjab.

For your information the Hindko is mis spelled buy ignorant historians, for Pashtuns the word is yindkai or Andkoi. because these people migretted from Afghanistan alongwith Pashtuns and their place of origin in Afghanistan was Ankoi District, Faryab Walayat. like people from logar became logari at Pakistan and today they are being known as Baluchs. In Hindkowan of KPK the Major tribe is Tanoli. and this identity is because of area, not because of race, Tanawal (upper and lower). They Migratted from Tanawal Afghanistan. Many famous Taniwals are in Afghan government today and were part of government in past.

It is no doubt that Jadoon, Tarin ,Tahir kheli's were pashtun tribes and now are counted as yindkowan. and BTW if this word is really related to hind or hindi origin why the people of lahore, gujranwala, gujrat are not called as hindkowans? why they are just punjabi? may you please explai it for me?

my skype is zarin144 if you like i can give you links of 100's you tube video which show that culture of whole pakistan except the area of 5 river is same. whether it is D.K. Khan, quettea, qandahar, , Mianwali, khost, Paktiya or abbotabad

alamsher Alamsherkhan (talk) 13:24, 26 October 2011 (UTC)

Hindki or Andkoi
Pashtun's recall them andkoi instead of Hindkai. for common punjabi's Pashtun's use the term as Abo-wal, this difference make sense as these people migrated to this area along with Pashtuns and they call them Andkoi with the reference of there place of migration which is wrongly confused with Hind. I have uploaded two links ,travel guide of afghanistan and list of district in Faryab province which indicates the location of Andkoi/Andkhoy/Andkai District. Map, district information and travel information mention the place with three different speelings. REGARDS
 * Andkoi, the real place of Migration from Afghanistan.
 * , Travel & tour information of Afghanistan.

ZARRIGUL Zarrigul (talk) 14:54, 29 August 2011 (UTC)

Hindkowans
Shouldn't this article be merged with Hindkowans? I think they are talking about the same ethnic group which has different exonyms. Bests, Ali-al-Bakuvi (talk) 12:25, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 8 June 2015
Hindko people (punjabi) have only hindko (punjabi) language. Malik Mubashir Awan (talk) 03:57, 8 June 2015 (UTC)

Hindko people (punjabi) have only hindko (punjabi) language.

Malik Mubashir Awan (talk) 03:57, 8 June 2015 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: This is not supported by reliable sources. —Мандичка YO 😜 07:09, 8 June 2015 (UTC)