Day 4 - Peshawar

Surrounded by low, craggy mountains which form the Khyber Pass, Peshawar lies just 50km east of the Afghan border.  The capital of the North West Frontier Province is home to approximately 2 million Pashtuns who are staunchly Muslim. 

Peshawar’s historically traditional culture was altered by the Afghan crises of 1980 to 2001. In 1980, the Russian invasion brought 2 million refugees to Peshawar, bringing foreign aid, many foreigners and booming economic growth. In 1996, the people of Kabul fled to Peshawar to escape the intolerant Taliban. Kabul’s progressive, elite women defied Peshawar’s ‘backward’ culture, by refusing to stay at home and out of sight, bringing a refreshing level of diversity which remained even after the Kabulis returned home.

Peshawar still holds a mind-boggling mixture of times, present and past. It has the latest in computer technology, a modern university, and women with doctoral degrees, while farmers plough by oxen, goods are bartered for, and girls marry as young as 13 years old.

 As E. Edwardes wrote in 1886, the Pashtuns are “a busy and thriving population of war-like people all armed with knives and daggers, and naturally inclined to think little of pointing their arguments with the sword”. Today, though settled Pashtuns are more peace-loving, nevertheless most households own at least one AK-47, if not several. 

Pray that: 

• Young Pashtuns who are increasingly influenced by the internet will find sites which lead them to Christ.
• Laborers with a passion for evangelism will come as professionals to this creative access city.
• God will do an amazing work of salvation among the Pashtuns.

 

Rom. 15:21 Those who have never been told about him will see, and those who have never heard of him will understand.