The Southern Pashtuns of Pakistan

The Southern Pashtuns of Pakistan, numbering approximately 2,360,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an Eastern Iranian ethnolinguistic group indigenous to southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Southern Pashto is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Pashtun, Southern

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Persian-Median Peoples
Country: Pakistan
People Cluster: Pashtun
Primary Language(s): Southern Pashto (pbt)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 2,360,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, Concentrated CP Activity
People Group ID: PG046641

Pray for the Southern Pashtuns 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

100%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Southern Pashto
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Pashto, Southern Speakers

Media Resources in Southern Pashto:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

2 films

Bible Resources in Southern Pashto:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2021 The Pakistan Bible Society✓✓

1 entry

Or check out the Southern Pashto bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Southern Pashtuns 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 Southern Pashtuns:
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 Southern Pashtuns of Pakistan

"...And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold." As he said these things, he called out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
readLuke 8:8

Pray that the seeds of truth will take root in the hearts of those who are far from Jesus and that He will lead them from darkness to light.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
readJohn 14:6

Pray that those who are searching for a way to God and desiring truth will encounter the good news of eternal life and accept it.

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
readJohn 10:28

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will have assurance of eternal life, knowing that no one can snatch them out of the loving hand of Jesus.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
readPsalm 23:6

Ask God to raise up believers who will share the hope that, for those who trust in Christ, goodness and love will follow them all the days of their lives, and they will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Pashtun, Southern Across Countries (ROP3 - 109502) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

3 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.

Scroll to Top