Swati tribe

Swatis (Urdu: سواتی) are people inhabiting the Hazara division in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Today Swatis usually speak Hindko or Pashto as their primary languages and identify themselves with Hindkowans and Pashtuns. Of Dardic origins,^[1][2] Swatis originally spoke Dardic languages such as Gibri and Yadri and were native inhabitants of Swat valley. They were Pashtunized after Yousafzai occupation of Swat in the 16th century and were displaced to Kohistan.^[3][4] In historic accounts Pashtuns referred to Swatis as "Dehgan"; this was not an ethnic designation but simply referred to the fact that they were villagers.^[1] They are also sometimes called Tajiks, a common ethnonym used by Pashtuns to describe their Dardic neighbours.^[5][6] Hemphil (2009) rejects Ibbetson's (1916:95-6) assertion of Swatis as a "race of Hindu origin" from peninsular India, suggesting, instead, that Swatis show a higher affinity to their neighbours in the northwest and with people in the Indus valley, to the south.^[7] Khan Khel Swati is a sub-section in various sections of all three branches of the Swati.^[8]

Members of the Swati tribe, with Jageerdar Akbar Khan Swati (Khan of Gidarpur) with his brother Dost Muhammad Khan (Khan Of Tatar), his nephew Ali Gohar Khan (Later MLA in 1946 elections), his army and tenants. Circa: 1913

References

1. Arlinghaus, Joseph Theodore (1988). The Transformation of Afghan Tribal Society: Tribal Expansion, Mughal Imperialism and the Roshaniyya Insurrection, 1450-1600. Duke University. p. 177. The Afghans referred to the Shalmanis, Swatis, Gibaris, Tirahis, and certain other peoples of the Peshawar area as Dehgan peoples. This is not an ethnic designation, but simply refers to the fact that they were villagers or peasants. Linguistic evidence points to their being Dardic peoples related to speakers of Pashai, Khowar, Shina, Burushashki and Kashmiri.
2. Tucci, Giuseppe (1977). On Swāt: The Dards and Connected Problems. IsMEO. p. 34. The language of the Swatis being Dardic they were not separately named, but comprised in the denomination of Dards...
3. Weinreich, Matthias (2022-11-21). 'We Are Here to Stay': Pashtun Migrants in the Northern Areas of Pakistan. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. p. 16. ISBN 978-3-11-110588-8.
4. Sierakowska-Dyndo, Jolanta (2014-08-11). The Boundaries of Afghans' Political Imagination: The Normative-Axiological Aspects of Afghan Tradition. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 54. ISBN 978-1-4438-6572-2. of peoples that had lived there before the time of Afghan occupation... are Swati people.
5. "DARDESTĀN". Encyclopedia Iranica. As use of Dardic languages has declined, ethnonyms have shifted. In the west the residents of Kabul Kōhestān became Islamicized in the early 19th century, and Pashto speakers now call them Tajiks, after the Persian speakers across the Hindu Kush mountains in Central Asia
6. Schoeberlein, John Samuel (1994). Identity in Central Asia: Construction and Contention in the Conceptions of "Özbek", "Tâjik", "Muslim", "Samarqandi" and Other Groups. Harvard University. p. 137. The ethnic groups speaking Dardic languages in Afghanistan called themselves "Tājiks".
7. Hemphill, Brian E. (January 2009). "The Swatis of Northern Pakistan—Emigrants from Central Asia or Colonists from Peninsular India?: A Dental Morphometric Approach"- American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 138. ResearchGate. Retrieved 1 August 2023. Please note: Although ResearchGate is considered "Generally unreliable" (see WP:RSP), this paper was uploaded by its author.
8. "Hazara Gazetteer". 1883. p. 73. Gibari Deshrais : Jehangiris, Arghushal Malkals, Iznali Mandravis