
Origin
The NWFP Imperial Gazetteer of India (1905) regularly refers to their language as Hindko, which refers to the “Hindu Kush mountain range. According to the publication Hindko and Gujari:
“More than one interpretation has been offered for the term Hindko. Some associate it with India, others with Hindu people, and still others with the Indus.
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. The Hindkis are also sometimes applied in a historical sense to the Buddhist inhabitants of the Peshawar Valley north of the Kabul River, who were driven thence about the 5th or 6th century C.E. and settled in the neighbourhood of Kandahar
Religion
Hindkohwans are predominantly Sunni Muslims, due to missionary Sufi saints whose dargahs dot the landscape. There are also 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 after the independence in 1947.