PSA to Azad Kashmiris
My family is from IOK; I married a Pakistani and I have visited Pakistan a few times now. I recently found out that people here seem to think Pahari/Pothwari and Kashmiri are the same language; when asked, people from AJK would mention that they speak Kashmiri.
To clarify: Pahari, and any other language native to AJK, is NOT Kashmiri. These are languages that are for the most part understood by Pakistanis in the surrounding areas. These languages are also spoken in the neighboring parts of Punjab and KPK.
Kashmiri, known as Koshur in our language, is spoken in the valley by ethnic Kashmiris. It is a Dardic language that is so different from any other language in Pakistan and india that others are not able to understand it.
This may seem like a non-issue to some, but please understand that as an occupied people, the one thing ethnic Kashmiris have to hold on to is our culture and identity. Random trends keep popping up with the name "Kashmiri" slapped onto them to make them more popular, but they have nothing to do with us (the most recent example being "Kashmiri" bangles). Our culture is constantly being diluted by these kinds of misunderstandings, and I can't really bear the thought of even our language being taken from us.