Peshawari people


Peshawaris, also known as Peshoris and Kharay, are the indigenous urban Hindko-speaking community originating from and native to the city of Peshawar, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. 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.
Peshoris have inhabited Peshawar for thousands of years, and formed majority in the city until the 1960s. Today they are a minority ethnic group mostly confined to the historic Walled City, 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. They constitute 5.5% of the urban population of Peshawar, or around 105,000 people, according to the 2023 Census of Pakistan.

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, which encapsulates their distinct identity and social practices. This code, rooted in the traditions of Peshawar, emphasises four key principles:
  • Storytelling
  • Hospitality
  • Self-esteem
  • Hyper-social Community Structure

    Diaspora

Notable people