The Kohistani of Pakistan

The Kohistani of Pakistan, numbering approximately 140,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a diverse group of ethnolinguistic communities living in the Kohistan region, which spans parts of northern Pakistan and a small portion of northeastern Afghanistan near the borders with Tajikistan and Pakistan. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Gawri is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: Pakistan
People Cluster: Kashmiri
Primary Language(s): Gawri (gwc)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 140,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG006371

Pray for the Kohistani of Pakistan

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

98%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Gawri
Language Family: Indo-European

64%
%
Gawri Speakers

Media Resources in Gawri:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Bible Resources in Gawri:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Gawri bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 0), which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Kohistani:
Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

Pray specifically for the Kohistani of Pakistan

Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?
readJames 2:5

Pray for those living in despair to experience the riches of God's love and the hope of eternal life through faith in Christ.

Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
readPsalm 34:8

Pray that the gospel will advance and that many will have the opportunity to taste and see the goodness of God and entrust their lives to Him.

Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.
readHebrews 10:35

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will hold unswervingly to their faith and to their confidence in Christ, which has a great reward.

But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
readJeremiah 29:7

Pray that God will lead the lost among them to followers of Jesus who will share the gospel with them so that they may believe and take the message of hope to their families and friends.

Kohistani Across Countries (ROP3 - 105087) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

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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