People and Culture

They are fond of liberty, faithful to their friends, kind to their dependants, hospitable, brave, hardy, frugal, aborious and prudent." Pakhtoon designates a person who speaks Pashto. Pathan is a Hindi term adopted for them by the British. The racial composition of the Pukhtoons is less than clear. The tribes who dwelled in the area in the days of the Greek historians are believed to be part of the great Aryan horde which had moved down from Central Asia a millennium earlier. Over the course of centuries, the Greek, Persian, Turk, and Mongol invaders who passed through the Frontier have added their blood. Nearly one-ten of the population of Shabqadar is non-Pakhtoon and are called Hamsaya or Kadwal. Around 99 per cent of the households in Shabqadar are Pakhtoon and Pukhtu speaking while around one per cent of households speak other languages, such as Kohwar in Chitral district, Urdu (National Language), Sariki and Punjabi.