Re: Racial category
Transitional Ethnic groups such as Punjabis (Siraikis) on the border areas with Sindh identifying as Sindhis, Punjabis (Mirpuris) on the border with Kashmir-Valley as Kashmiris, or Punjabis (Hindkowans) on the borders with Pashtunkhwa identifying as Pashtuns is not really far fetched and is actually true in most cases, they normally descend from a paternal tribe belonging to these Ethnic groups so because people in Pak trace their lineage/identity only through the paternal side that's what they tend to identify with.
I personally don't agree with that thinking because to me Ethnicity is not inherited rather it is practiced, they might very well be be of Pashtun or Kashmiri descent/ancestory but if they don't speak Pashto or Koshur anymore then they are not Pashtun or Kashmiri but rather Punjabi if they now speak a dialect of Punjabi, similarly those that have adopted Pashto and Koshur despite being of Hindko and Arab ancestory are Pashtun and Kashmiri in my book. At the end of the day only your language determines your Ethnicity, other than that every Ethnicity is racially a mixture anyway, no Ethnicity is of pure-lineage, every tribe/caste in the same Ethnicity is usally of different roots and that's true for Pashtuns, Punjabis and now Kashmiris. I don't use other aspects of culture such as dress, cuisine, music, architecture, values to define Ethnicity because those things are a bit slipper and constantly chaning especially now when their is a single universal cosmopolite culture all over the world, at least in the urban areas.
To me Hindko, Siraiki and Mirpuri are sub-dialects of Punjabi just like Doabi and Majhi so anyone who speaks these dialects as their mother tongue is a Punjabi.
Ethnicity has a racial element too in my opinion and not just cultural. There are quite distinct differences. I personally wouldnt call a Punjabi person living in Peshawar speaking Pashto a Pathan and not many people would. Ethnicity to me compsoes racials to an extent, culture/language over atleast a couple of hundred years, and by that time there is almost 90% certainty that living amongst people of a different race/ethnicity would result in racial mixture with them. Thus over a couple of hundred years changing the ethnicity completely.
About the mirpuris, you missed the point. There is no way you can be a Jatt and be a Kashmiri. Period. Kashmiri tribes and names have been passed down for over a thousand years, some names are from the times of the Ashokas such as Dhar. Also about the border areas..Kashmir is a valley 7000ft high, their are huge mountains between Kashmir valley in india and the POK, thus the total difference in language/culture/looks. If you look at the scope of Punjabi and its dialects, they stretch from Himachal Pradesh to all the way to near NWFP in Pakistan, that is a huge difference. Whereas koshur is only spoken in the Valley of Kashmir. The mountains and rough terrain has a lot to do with it.