Tribal way: Lone church in South Waziristan continues services

Pastor says even the Taliban had never stopped them from performing religious obligations

On a bright chilly winter day, people of all ages are gathered in a small building greeting each other, two beaming boys Binyamin and Youzarsif are tugging their father’s jacket and asking if they can have the cake now that the sermon is over and the official cake cutting ceremony has taken place.

As soon as they get their share, the two rush out going door-to-door in this small Christian community to spread Christmas greetings like so many other children of the neighbourhood.

As young men and women were making plans for picnic trips and family parties in the neighbourhood, a young and educated youth was asking his community members to remember their district, country and especially security forces in their prayers.

These are the scenes of a Protestant Church in Wana, a town which was once a hotbed of Taliban in South Waziristan.

The Christian community has been living here for over a century. Now nestled inside a Pakistan Army base, it is the only proper Church building in the seven tribal districts. Pastor Nazir Alam’s family has been running the affairs of the church for over a hundred years. Alam  expressed his pleasure that he was among the people who have been selected for spreading the message of love and peace in a volatile area like Wana, formally known as headquarters of the Taliban.

History

Zeeshan Alam the new Pastor and the grandson of Nazir Alam  said that when missionaries came to India, they travelled the length and breadth of the region spreading the message of the Church.

During the first and second Anglo-Afghan War some of the missionaries accompanying the British-India Army decided to stay behind in the buffer zone between Afghanistan and India now known to the world as Fata.

They continued to serve their missionary duties and today, every tribal district has a Church, said Pastor Zeeshan Alam. However, in North Waziristan there are two Churches, one in Miranmshah and the other in Razmak.

Population wise, Khyber tribal district is home to the largest and the oldest Christian community in the tribal areas, Pastor Alam said.

According to a report released by the government of Pakistan on the state of minorities, there were some 50,000 minorities living in ex-Fata region.

These include 20,000 Sikh, 20,000 Christians and 10,000 thousand Hindus.

According to a report published by an independent Fata Minorities Protection Group, none of the minority community member has been injured, abducted nor  their houses ever damaged even during the Taliban occupation in the previous Fata.

The report stated: “no one has been hurt, killed, abducted for ransom or his or her house been razed to ground, however, few families have been displaced on the directives of the Pastor.”

Professions

Wrong notions have been associated with the minorities about their professions, especially with the Christians. But in ex-Fata most of the businesses and marketplaces are occupied by these minorities. Sikh community are mostly associated with trade and business all the way from Bajaur to South Waziristan. The Hindu community is famous as grocers and their centuries old Ayurveda medicine. Tribal people have more trust in herbal medicine of the local experts than the tablets and capsules of multinational companies.

The Hindus are also famous for trade in cloth and garments.

The Christians  are more literate among the minorities and enjoying government jobs in the district administration office.

In the settled districts, they live in worst of the localities, but in the tribal areas, they are housed in highly protected government colonies.

In the past, the political agents were responsible for ensuring that all Christian children get education.

Arshad Masih who works with the South Waziristan administration as computer operator for years said: “Nurses from our community were tending to injured soldiers in Razmak during the war on militancy.”

Minorities under Taliban

“Even in the Taliban era, our services in our Churches continued,” said North Waziristan Pastor Yousaf Masih, who hails from DI Khan.

The state was no doubt responsible for our security, but the Taliban too had given special permission for Church services, Masih told The Express Tribune.

“The security forces went out of the way to protect us and would time and again ask us to avoid unnecessary traveling during the unrest,” he said.

While the services were uninterrupted, our pastor was travelling from DI Khan to the militancy-hit area, but no one ever bothered him not even the militants.” Masih said.

The pastors of North and South Waziristan in their respective sermons asserted that the Christian people are as much Pakistani as any other community living in this country, and that they should not hesitant to sacrifice their lives if it comes to protecting  our motherland.

Special prayers were offered for the stability Pakistan in Christmas services held across the tribal districts.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 26^th, 2018.