Peshawari people
Residents of Peshawar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Peshawaris, also known as Peshoris (Hindko: پشوری)[1] and Kharay (Pashto: خارے, romanized: Xāryān, lit. 'city dwellers'), are the indigenous urban Hindko-speaking community[2][3][4] originating from and native to the city of Peshawar, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.[5] The dialect of Hindko spoken in the Peshawari households is known as the Peshori Hindko, or simply Peshori, which also serves as the standardised literary dialect of the Hindko language.[6]
Peshoris have inhabited Peshawar for thousands of years,[5] and formed majority in the city until the 1960s.[7] Today they are a minority ethnic group mostly confined to the historic Walled City (Androon Shehr), owing to the rural-to-urban migration of rural Pashtuns into the city, linguistic shift to Pashto and Urdu as well as the influx of Afghan refugees following the Soviet-Afghan War, among other factors.[8][9][10] They constitute 5.5% of the urban population of Peshawar, or around 105,000 people (this number only reflects the fraction of total city population that speaks Hindko as first language, thus neglecting a significant fragment of Peshoris, especially youth members - which has shifted to Urdu as the primary tongue, leading to an overall underestimation[11]), according to the 2023 Census of Pakistan.[12]
Culture
Similar to the widely recognised Pashtunwali tradition or tribal code of honour of Pashtuns, the Peshoris adhere to an urban cultural code known as Peshoritop (Hindko: پشوری پن), which encapsulates their distinct identity and social practices. This code, rooted in the traditions of Peshawar, emphasises four key principles:[10]
- Storytelling
- Hospitality
- Self-esteem
- Hyper-social Community Structure[7]
Diaspora
Notable people
- Putras Bukhari[1]
- Dilip Kumar[13]
- Ismail Gulgee[1]
- Farigh Bukhari[1]
- Shah Rukh Khan[10]
- Anil Kapoor[14]
- Dr. Sayed Amjad Hussain[15]
- Dr. Muhammad Rehman[16]
- Abdul Basit (diplomat)[17]
- Syed Shafaat Ali[18]
- Abdur Rauf Seemab[19]
- Z. A. Bukhari[20]
- Ahmad Ali Saayein[21]
- Dr. Elahi Akhtar Baksh Awan (Literary Figure, Researcher, Writer),[22]
- Dr. Zahoor Ahmad Awan (Literary Figure, Founding Chairman of Gandhara Hindko Board)[23]
- Haji Muhammad Adeel[24]
- Ghulam Ahmad Bilour[25]
- Iqbal Zafar Jhagra[26]
- Qazi Anwar[27]
- Malik Tariq Awan[28]
- Syed Qasim Ali Shah[29]
- Raj Kapoor[30]
- Khatir Ghaznavi[31]
- Raza Hamdani (Poet)[32]
- Nazeer Tabassum[33]
- F. C. Kohli[34]
- Maulana Abdur Rahim Popalzai[35]
- Anil K. Chopra[36]
- Abdur Rehman Peshawari[37]
- General Yahya Khan[38]
- Mirza Mahmood Sarhadi[39]
- Rubina Khalid[40]
- Afzal Bangash[41]
- Mulk Raj Anand[30]
- Firdous Jamal[42]
- Rasheed Naz[43]
- Zia Sarhadi[44]
- Najeebullah Anjum[45]
- Iftikhar Qaisar[46]
- Vinod Khanna[47]
- Khalida Rashid Khan[48]
- Mahjabin Qazalbash[49]
- Kundan Lal Jaggi[50]
- Adil Shahzeb (Journalist)[51]
- Kundan Lal Gujral[52]
- Bushra Farrukh[53]
- Saeed Gilani (Lyricist)[54]
- Akhunzada Mukhtar Ali Nayyar (Literary Figure)[55]
- Taj Saeed (Scriptwriter)[56]
- Umar Daraz Khallil[57]
- Mehr Chand Khanna[58]
- Rajni Kaul[59]
- F.C. Mehra (Film Producer)[60]
- Hari Kishan Talwar[61]
- Shakeel Arshad (Actor, Radio Announcer)[62]
- Naushaba Khan (Actor)[63]
- Syeda Dua-e-Khadija (Miss Pakistan Global 2025, Miss Earth Pakistan 2025)[64]