Khowar

Khowar (کھوار; ISO 639-3: khw) is an Indo-Aryan language traditionally grouped among the Dardic or Hindu Kush languages. It is spoken chiefly by the Kho people in Upper and Lower Chitral in northern Pakistan and serves as the principal regional lingua franca; speaker communities also occur in adjacent Gilgit-Baltistan and Swat and in Pakistani cities. Recent estimates range around 300,000–380,000 speakers, reflecting different dates and geographic coverage. Khowar preserves a rich oral and literary tradition and is written in a Perso-Arabic alphabet derived from Urdu with additional letters for language-specific sounds, while linguistic works also use Roman transcription. Although widely used in Chitral, it lacks national official status and faces pressure from Urdu and English.