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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Shina of Pakistan

The Shina of Pakistan, numbering approximately 604,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic people who live primarily in Gilgit-Baltistan and Indus Kohistan in northern Pakistan. The Shina are one of the largest ethnic groups in Gilgit-Baltistan and are overwhelmingly Muslim. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Shina is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash: Shina

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: Pakistan
People Cluster: Kashmiri
Primary Language(s): Shina (scl)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 604,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG006398
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Pray for the Shina of Pakistan

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

56%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Shina
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Shina Speakers

Media Resources in Shina:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Shina:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Shina bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Shina are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Next steps for the Shina:
Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

Pray specifically for the Shina of Pakistan

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
readJohn 3:19

Pray that God will have mercy on those who love the darkness they are walking in and turn from their sin to faith in Christ.

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.
readActs 17:24-25

Pray that the good news will reach everyone in this people group and that many will come to know and serve the one true God who made the world and everything in it and lives today.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
readJames 1:5

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will ask God for wisdom when they lack it, trusting that He will generously give it to them.

I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessing.
read1 Corinthians 9:23

Ask God to give believers a deep desire to share the gospel with those who don't know the truth about God's redemption plan, and to provide them with opportunities to do so cross-culturally.

Shina Across Countries (ROP3 - 108948) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
ShinaPG006398ShinaPakistan604,000Engaged yet UnreachedShinaSunni Islam
ShinaPG041745ShinaIndia37,500Unengaged and UnreachedShinaFolk Islam

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Data Standards section.

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