Pakistan and Afghanistan

PAKISTAN’S population of 130 million​—of which 88 percent profess the religion of Islam—​constitutes the world’s largest Moslem state. It is the only country in the world with over a thousand miles of foreign territory separating its two parts, West Pakistan and East Pakistan. Bounded by Iran and Afghanistan to the west, China in the north, and the Arabian Sea to the south, West Pakistan has India as its eastern neighbor. East Pakistan, for the most part, is surrounded by Indian territory.

How did this unusual division come about? Before 1947 the more than 360,000 square miles of Pakistan was all part of predominantly Hindu India. For many years the Moslem minority had striven for an independent government based on the principles of Islam. Their opportunity came at the time when India was  granted independence from Britain in 1947. On August of that year the new nation of Pakistan came into being​—made up of two areas of heavy Moslem concentration that were not continuous, but rather widely separated one from the other.

Urdu is the principal language of the West, while Bengali is spoken in the East. Pakistan, for the most part, is an agricultural land. The comparatively small percentage of the population that is literate is to be found mainly in the cities and small towns. It is to this class of people that the major part of the preaching of the “good news” of the Kingdom has been directed in recent years.

Although Pakistan had its political inception in 1947, the proclaimers of Jehovah’s kingdom were active in the territory even earlier than 1926, when the Watch Tower Society’s branch in India was opened up. Some of the Society’s literature had found its way into the northern province of Punjab and its capital, Lahore. This was because of the zealous activity of an Anglo-Indian, Frank Barrett, a telegraphist with the Indian telegraphs department, who continued active in the Lord’s service till his death and spent many hours preaching in what is now West Pakistan.

Brother Barrett had a co-worker in Lahore who had shown much interest in the Kingdom message, a man named Harvey. To visit this man the newly appointed branch servant for India, F. E. Skinner, made the trip to Lahore. At that time there was a general sense of urgency among the Witnesses, so plans were made to cover as much territory as possible in a short time. Subscribers for The Watchtower were to be asked to undertake the distribution of literature. Hence the visit of Brother Skinner to Lahore to contact Harvey.

Seven hundred miles away to the west, in Quetta, in the province of Baluchistan, was another man to be contacted on this same trip​—Walter Harding. Brother Skinner found him to be already a vigorous exponent of the things he was learning through the study of The Watchtower. As a guard on the railway he would often approach second- or first-class passengers and ask if they would like something to read, thus sharing effectively in the spread of the Kingdom message. Not until after Brother Harding’s death in 1933 did his wife and family take their stand for true worship. Members of this family, in fact, were among the first publishers of the congregation in Karachi, to which town they had moved from Quetta.

After this fruitful visit, and the Harding family having loaded him with literal fruit for which Quetta  is famous, Brother Skinner set off by train on his 1,500-mile return trip to Bombay, via Karachi. This seaport city is very humid and tiring; however, Brother Skinner’s week there was spent profitably in the distribution of the book Deliverance, mainly among nominal Christians. Thus a start was made in publishing the “good news” in what was later to become the first capital of Pakistan.

The preaching work was not confined to the large cities in those early years. Brother Skinner began making regular yearly visits to the small towns and villages of the Punjab. Here the majority of the nominal Christian population is to be found. It was to visit these in the winter months of December and January each year that Brother Skinner came with S. M. Shad, his interpreter, a newly interested schoolteacher from the Punjab.

Brother Skinner found these annual visits a thrilling experience. He would meet Shad at Lahore and then travel by train, on horseback or by horse-drawn vehicle over the dusty tracks between villages, living with the local people in their little mud houses along with the chickens, cows and goats. How stimulating he found it to talk to the simple peasants just in from the hard work of the cane fields, as they squatted on the mud floor or sat on their woven-rope beds, leafing through the pages of the Scriptures as newfound truths were explained to them!

PUBLISHERS COME TO STAY

In August 1929 two brothers who were to have a considerable share in the expansion of the preaching work under the India branch arrived in Bombay​—Claude Goodman and Ron Tippen. These brothers had volunteered for service in India at the recent international convention in England, where they heard a brother home on leave from his secular employment in India giving his experience. They spoke to Brother Rutherford, then president of the Society, and then and there arrangements to send them to India were initiated. They set out confidently in the spirit of Matthew 6:33, since they had only ten dollars each and a one-way ticket to India. On their arrival they soon used up their money on tropical clothing and the bedding rolls so essential to travel in India. Two weeks later they were off on the two-day trip by sea to Karachi.

They proceeded to cover all areas where English might be known, for they had no literature in the local language. However, since India was then under British rule, English was the official language and they were  soon able to distribute the many cartons of literature they had brought along. Follow-up work was only incidental, for at that time the idea was to cover the territory and place as much literature as possible. After being in the city about a week, living in the cheapest place they could find, they had an experience that helped their faith as well as their financial standing. Brother Tippen witnessed to the proprietress of the largest and most expensive hotel in town. She took literature and inquired where he was staying. The upshot was that she invited them to be her guests at the hotel for as long as they would be in Karachi. Thus they were able to accumulate funds they would so much need in the months ahead.

Their next move was to Hyderabad, Sind Province, one hundred miles away by train. This was, they felt, real pioneering under Indian conditions. Indian trains had four classes, and these brothers, to the chagrin of Europeans, traveled usually in the lowest class, where they squeezed into a packed wooden-bench compartment amongst the peasantry. One week was spent in Hyderabad, and this time they were accommodated in a “dak” (post) bungalow. These are to be found all over the country, and for a small cost one can occupy a room with a crude table, two chairs and two wooden plank beds on which the bedding roll may be spread.

From Hyderabad Brother Tippen went to Quetta, and Brother Goodman to Ambala, expecting in due course to join forces in Lahore. The branch office had received many letters from villages around Lahore and there seemed to be much interest in these so-called Christian villages, so the brothers proceeded to the area. Between villages the mode of transport was largely by camel, which, according to Brother Goodman, after a few miles and a sore seat, was not so enchanting an experience. He recalls that on one occasion when they were both mounted on the same camel, the animal stopped to browse. Brother Goodman pulled the single string, whereupon the camel started to settle down on his four knees. Then he pulled the string in every other way he could think of, but the camel remained contentedly chewing. Only when Brother Tippen recalled hearing the driver make a whistling sound and imitated it did the beast arise and proceed. From then on Brother Goodman says he treated the string with deep respect.

Eventually, they located the writer of all those letters to the branch office, a free-lance clergyman! Since they could speak no Punjabi and they had no literature in that language, their only means of reaching the villagers was through this man as interpreter.  Large crowds came to hear them give a talk, but afterward the only question the people would ask was: “Will you establish your mission in our village and build us a school or a hospital?” They later discovered that the clergyman had instilled such a hope among the villagers, while he, in the meantime, got his rake-off from those simple, kindly people.

This idea that the purpose of Christian mission work was to bribe the people to accept Christianity by means of material benefits is still firmly believed by the majority of nominal Christians. The war conditions not many years after this proved disappointingly that many supposedly interested ones were more interested in any financial support they might receive from the Society. Even Brother Shad, who had been so helpful when Brother Skinner visited these areas, went back to teaching in a sectarian school and became apostate.

Two more brothers from England, Randall Hopley and Clarence Taylor, arrived in Karachi in 1932 to help in the gathering of the genuine “sheep” of the Lord. One of the cities visited by Brother Hopley was Dacca, later to become the capital of East Pakistan. However, the prospects at that time were not too encouraging. Meantime, the nucleus of a congregation had been formed in Karachi. With the outbreak of World War II in 1939 the work was more or less confined to Karachi and two or three other major cities. In Lahore, in 1942, a special pioneer, a Persian, was arrested and placed in custody under the Defence of India Rules. He was detained for three months, but later he was released without ever knowing what his offense was supposed to have been. In 1943 the British rulers of India banned the importation and printing of the Society’s literature. This resulted in a great deal of harassment for the pioneers. Happily, however, that ban was lifted late in 1944.

COPING WITH DIFFICULTIES

An event that was outstandingly to affect the preaching activity here was, not World War II, but the fact that on August 15, 1947, India achieved independence, and the partitioning of the country into what is now India and Pakistan went into effect. Pakistan, in the Urdu language, means “holy land,” and this is what many of the Moslems of India hoped it would prove to be when, separated from the Hindus and Sikhs of India, they would be able to put into effect the principles of Islam. The actual separation resulted in one of the bloodiest upheavals of history, as the Hindus fled to India and the Moslems fled to Pakistan. The Punjab  suffered most, since the partition split it in two, with Lahore just seventeen miles within the new Pakistan border and Amritsar about the same distance within Indian territory. Refugee trains arrived in both cities with all their passengers brutally murdered. Those who managed to escape told of dreadful experiences, and so reprisals began all over the two countries. An estimated eight million refugees, with more to come, had crossed the borders in both directions by early December 1947 and thousands more had lost their lives.

Less than twenty of India’s proclaimers of the “good news” found themselves overnight in a new country. In Karachi there was a congregation of twelve, and there was one other congregation in Quetta, where two pioneers were helping. One lone pioneer minister was serving in the rural areas of the Punjab. Surely a time of small beginnings for the Kingdom work in Pakistan!

Karachi’s population swelled suddenly from 450,000 to over 1,126,000 in 1951 as the refugees from India came streaming in. Unsanitary, disease-ridden colonies sprang up all over the city, with dwellings constructed of date-palm matting. Less fortunate ones simply had to sleep in the streets. The congregation enjoyed an increase, especially after the arrival of the first two graduates from Gilead School to reach Pakistan​—Harry Forrest and Henry Finch. They found, as did the other brothers, that Bible studies were not so easy to start and the house-to-house work had its problems also. In a largely Moslem population this was to be expected. To the Moslem the Koran is the supreme authority, and he thinks that the Bible, though inspired, has been changed. Hence Bible study may not be appealing to him, and even if he does have some interest in it he may be afraid of fanatical relatives or neighbors. This latter difficulty has been overcome by some by coming to the Kingdom Hall for their studies.

Then there is the Islamic custom of “purdah” for the women, requiring them to be veiled in public. This makes it difficult for the brothers in the house-to-house ministry, since the women, for the most part, will not come to the door when a man is there. Then, too, the man of the house may be very orthodox and will not take kindly to the idea of men trying to see his womenfolk. So those first missionaries in Karachi spent a lot of time visiting offices and business premises in order to reach people with the Kingdom message. The sisters in the congregation either worked together or with a brother, since it was considered out of taste for a respectable woman to be visiting houses alone. Over the years this problem has been overcome to some extent,  the missionary sisters setting the lead with good results. The brothers, however, still have a problem in many places, and find it more practical to take a sister along with them in the field ministry. It is still a common sight to see a brother patiently waiting outside while the sister witnesses within.

Despite these difficulties, the little Karachi congregation slowly grew, as did the organization throughout the country. In 1950 there was a 22-percent increase, with the total number of publishers reaching thirty-seven. Still more help was on the way.

Due to difficulties that developed between the two countries it became virtually impossible for the Indian branch to supervise the work in Pakistan. No money or literature could get through from one country to the other. So, in 1951, Pakistan was made a separate branch, and Brother Goodman, who was still serving faithfully, was appointed the first branch servant. When he received this assignment he was about to graduate from the fifteenth class of the Bible School of Gilead in America. Three fellow graduates were assigned with him, among them G. K. Young. Three months later two more graduates arrived in Karachi, including Brother Young’s own brother.

In 1951 there were as yet no missionary homes in the country. Brothers Finch and Forrest had been living with a family of Witnesses, so when the new missionaries arrived they continued to eat their meals all together at the home of this family, but were housed in different places throughout the city. Two of the brothers found accommodation in a residential hotel having a minimum of facilities in anything but hygienic surroundings. Within five months, though, arrangements were made for a missionary home where all could live together comfortably, and from where the branch personnel could operate.

About this time all were saddened by the loss of one of their number​—Lesley, the wife of Brother G. K. Young. Not strong in health, and weakened no doubt by illness aggravated by difficult living conditions, she died. Later the same year Brother Joe Oakley, owing to sickness not alleviated by Karachi’s heat and humidity, was transferred to Quetta’s more salutary climate. He was shortly to become the first circuit servant to operate under direction of the Pakistan branch. He was accompanied to Quetta by Allan Young, and later G. K. Young joined them and a missionary home was established there for the first time.

In Karachi in early January 1952 all the publishers of the “good news” received great encouragement from the  visit of Brothers Knorr and Henschel. An audience of 364 heard out the lecture “Will Religion Meet the World Crisis?” given by Brother Knorr in the city’s then largest hall. Many others came, but at intervals they would leave the auditorium as the sonship of Christ or the ransom were mentioned, both of which teachings the Moslems firmly reject. Nevertheless, there was one Moslem at least who was encouraged by this visit of the Society’s president to take a more open stand. Brother Shah, as he later became, although outwardly a Moslem, had from his youth rejected the teachings of Islam in his heart. When he received the book “Let God Be True” from a Witness, some three or four years before this, his interest was aroused. But the Witness never called back and it was not until sometime before the visit of the Society’s president to Karachi that he had had the opportunity to develop his interest. This was when he observed a Witness passing out handbills near his shop. A study was soon started with him, and in 1952 he symbolized his dedication to God by baptism.

There was opposition, of course. He relates how one day his neighbor called and said: “I had a dream last night in which God told me that I must kill you, as you are becoming an infidel.” To this Brother Shah responded: “If you think it is God’s will for you to kill me, go ahead. I am not afraid. But what you do will be murder, pure and simple, for which you must account to the police. And do not think that you will go to paradise for doing it, as Islam teaches, for Jehovah God does not reward murderers, but destroys them.” To this day the “infidel” still lives and, in fact, for many years he was the only one from the Islamic faith who remained associated with Jehovah’s people here. A few others came along for a time and then fell away, even after baptism. It has been a great joy to this brother, therefore, to see others, including his own son, with the same background as himself, showing genuine determination to stick to Jehovah and serve him.

Thus much seed was being sown at this time, some of which was to bear fruit later. To illustrate this, we can tell of a nominal Christian woman who was contacted in Karachi by one of the missionaries. A Bible study was held with her for about eighteen months, but on account of the indifference of her husband and opposition from her mother and brothers, she canceled the study for a time. The missionaries kept in touch with her, however, and then in 1955 the sudden death of her oldest daughter moved her once more to seek the comfort from the Scriptures. Thus a very keen enthusiast for bingo became  a dedicated and zealous publisher of the “good news,” and this Sister Davis has had the joy, over the years, of seeing all but one of her immediate family dedicate their lives to Jehovah. Her son Geoffrey has been serving for many years as a special pioneer. In 1971 he became the first Pakistani brother to qualify for the work of serving his brothers as a circuit servant.

THE “GOOD NEWS” IN EAST PAKISTAN

Very little has been said so far about the preaching of the Kingdom in East Pakistan. Despite the density of population​—almost seven times that of the West—​the greater part of the activity of Jehovah’s witnesses has been in the West. Apart from a brief visit in 1932, as above-mentioned, no missionaries were assigned to East Pakistan until 1953, when Brother and Sister Howard Benesch were sent to Dacca and a missionary home was opened up. Due to lack of response, however, they were moved to Lahore after two and a half years, and it was to be another thirteen years before the work was again attempted in Dacca. Showing that there were sheeplike ones to be found in the area, though, a missionary sister was able to conduct a study by mail with one lady in the largest seaport of East Pakistan, Chittagong. Here there are a few nominal Christians, and this lady was one of them, Roman Catholic. On account of extreme poverty she had been given over to the nuns as a young child. She performed menial services for them in the convent until, at the age of eleven, the nuns married her off to a man much older than herself. This left her with little education and still less love for the Catholic Church. When her own family had increased to thirteen members, a seed of truth was sown in her heart by an aged, newly baptized sister who was herself contacted and studied with by mail. This person put the convent-reared woman in touch with the same missionary sister, who suggested that she too study by mail. Meantime, also, a brother on a business trip from West Pakistan left a Paradise book with her.

For three years after this initial contact nothing was heard from her. Then one day the missionary received a letter from her that said, in part: “I think you know that there are none of Jehovah’s witnesses in Chittagong except me, so please help me by sending a Bible and magazines for guidance.” It appears that due to severe floods caused by cyclones​—a yearly occurrence in this coastal region—​she was forced to leave her home and lost the address of the branch office in the process. In response to her letter a regular study by mail was  started, her oldest boy writing out the answers to the questions for her. Despite the withdrawal of all material aid by the Roman Catholic Church and her husband’s being unemployed, she studied with her children and made efforts on her own to preach the “good news,” even standing at the back of the Catholic church and approaching people as they came out. Then, just about the time a family of Witnesses and two special pioneers arrived in Dacca to help her, she became very ill and died of cancer. This was in 1968.

The father of that newly arrived family, Brother Mass Jivanandham, had been serving in the armed forces when he came to a knowledge of God’s purposes several years previously. After one year of study in Karachi he took his stand, and was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment and dismissed from service. On his release he symbolized his dedication by baptism and, along with his wife and three children, became active in the Karachi congregation. In 1968 he was offered an opportunity to work in Dacca for eighteen months. He accepted the offer only on condition that special pioneers Brother and Sister Porter, who had come in 1961 to serve where the need is great, would accompany him. He felt that such an arrangement would be needed to keep his family spiritually strong. So the group got to work in Dacca. Much literature was placed and many subscriptions for The Watchtower were obtained. Bible studies also were started, and one result was that a young man symbolized his dedication by baptism at the Karachi district assembly in 1970, while two others began publishing. Although Brother Jivanandham and his family eventually had to leave Dacca when his work contract was finished, the two special pioneers remained there until 1971 when they left amid a chaotic political situation.

EXPANSION REWARDS MISSIONARY EFFORTS

The records of the branch office show that by the end of the 1953 service year there were fourteen graduates of Gilead School in the country and a peak of fifty-seven publishers had been reached. The graduates were distributed among four missionary homes in four different cities. One of the new homes was in Lahore, Pakistan’s second-largest city, where, over the years, many have had a share in preaching the Kingdom. Finally, in early 1954, the first congregation of five new publishers (only one eventually remained loyal to Jehovah) and four missionaries, was formed. In late July of the same year their number was increased by the arrival of Brothers Goodman and Forrest when, due to problems  of accommodations in Karachi, Lahore became the new location for the Society’s branch office. They were forced to leave the Karachi home on short notice, and since Karachi was still wrestling with the vast refugee problem, there was nothing to do but move to Lahore. Adequate facilities, newly built, had been found there.

Lahore does not have the cosmopolitan population of Karachi and the people are therefore inclined to be somewhat narrow-minded. It is known as the city of universities and colleges, and many ancient monuments attract visitors. As in most cities of Asia the contrast between rich and poor is outstanding, with the affluent living in palatial bungalows and the poor, making up the vast majority, in squalid, unsanitary mud huts or in dark, equally unhealthy, narrow streets. Then there is another growing sector of the population that make up the middle class, and it is among these that the greatest amount of the witness work is done. This is not because of class distinction, but, rather, because of the problems created in visiting the poverty-stricken sections of the community.

Just the appearance of a foreigner or a well-dressed stranger is the signal for the narrow street to fill up with unwashed, unkempt children of all ages. They literally pour out of the homes, leaving no doubt in one’s mind that overpopulation is the No. 1 problem in this part of the world. Shouting and hustling one another, they follow the publisher from house to house, often barging into the homes in the wake of the publisher, oblivious to any remonstrance. The older ones quickly grasp the identity of the newcomer and soon the whole street hears that they can buy a magazine for twenty-five paisas or that the stranger is making Christians. This often results in closed doors, but anyway the publisher by this time decides he must try another street where he will be able to hear himself speak.

At such a time a bicycle​—the most common means of transport in Lahore—​is an advantage for a quick getaway. When the Witness finally does depart, it is amid screams and hand-clapping and, in some instances, showers of stones. So the best way to work such sections is to emulate the example of the brothers in Communist lands, doing one house in each street at a time.

When the branch was first moved to Lahore, witnessing was largely confined to those who knew English. At that time there was no special two-month language course for newcomers. New missionaries learned Urdu as best they could, sometimes hiring a local tutor. Even then, if the tutor was more interested in pay than in teaching, progress was slow. There was one missionary,  however, who endeavored to make use of what knowledge of the language he had throughout the scattered villages of the Punjab, traveling on a pedal cycle.

This was Harry Forrest. After his transfer north from Karachi he became a well-known figure in the three years he covered the hundreds of miles of rural Punjab. He carried everything with him​—literature, clothing, Bible and bedding. Loaded in front, behind and on both sides, he looked more like a world tourist. The common people greatly appreciated his efforts and gladly listened as he would say a few words in Urdu and they would read the scriptures from their Punjabi Bibles. They used to call him “Jungle sahib,” for that is the literal meaning of his name in Urdu. Despite his being over fifty years of age and, at the time, slightly hard of hearing, he kept to his work in the extreme heat, sleeping wherever he could, be it house, barn, hut, bazaar or even out in the field under the stars. How often the Witnesses today get inquiries about him as they meet people who first received the Kingdom message through his zealous activities!

More preaching was now being done among the vast Moslem population throughout the country, and when the book What Has Religion Done for Mankind? with its chapter on “Islam” was released in 1951, it was hoped that many honest-hearted persons would get their eyes opened. Many copies were put in the hands of the people, but by 1955 some of the more fanatical began objecting to that specific chapter, and letters expressing the objection began to appear in the press. Moslems are so sensitive about the matter that anything said about Mohammed that could be construed as slightly detrimental in any way would be enough to cause a riot. Anyway, the government decided in August 1955 to ban this publication totally, the reason given being that it offended the religious susceptibilities of the local population. However, there were other publications available, so the preaching work continued unabated.

At the close of that year 1955 a new missionary home was established at Rawalpindi, 170 miles northwest of Lahore, situated at the foot of great mountain ranges. This brought to four the number of these homes, since Brother and Sister Benesch had now left Dacca for Lahore, where they were joined by the first two single missionary girls to arrive in the country. Brothers Muscat and Miller, originally from Australia, were at this time transferred from Lahore to Rawalpindi to help in opening up the work there.

While in Lahore, Brother Miller started a Bible study with a Mr. Lamuel, who turned out to be an eager  hearer of the Word of God and soon progressed to the point of baptism. Although at first his knowledge of English was very limited, over the years he developed ability in this direction and is now being used in the furtherance of the Kingdom interests by regularly translating the Kingdom Ministry into Urdu and serving as interpreter in the Lahore congregation.

BLESSINGS OF 1956

In January 1956 Pakistan received a new branch servant, R. T. Pope from New Zealand, who had come to Pakistan two years earlier after graduating from the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead. This was because of the departure of Claude Goodman, who was soon to be married to one of the daughters of the earlier-mentioned Brother Harding. Brother Goodman spoke of his twenty-six years of diligent service in these regions as the most thrilling and enjoyable chapter of his life. Though failing in health, he still serves as a pioneer and overseer in West Australia.

At the beginning of this year the very first Urdu-speaking congregation was formed in Karachi. Many of the brothers here had belonged to the same nominal Christian denomination, and Brother Sadiq Masih was the one who first brought the message to these humble folk. He himself had first learned something of God’s purposes in 1947 in India when he bought a second-hand Deliverance book, coverless, tattered and without title page. The son of a clergyman, Sadiq had been keenly interested in God’s Word from his youth. In 1948 he brought his family to Quetta and found a home opposite the church. The only prayer offered by this clergyman that he found admirable he found out was only read from a prayer book. And who told him this? Why, the clergyman’s own son who, fifteen years later, was himself to become a dedicated servant of Jehovah God. Sadiq continued in a very unsatisfactory spiritual state until one cold, snowy Sunday morning when he and his family were keeping warm in bed at the time that a pioneer brother came to his door. He accepted the book “Let God Be True” and agreed to have a Bible study started in his home immediately.

Soon he was sharing in the preaching work, and then one day another privilege came his way. The circuit servant was scheduled to give a widely advertised talk in the local Town Hall​—but the translator had not turned up. Sadiq Masih was asked to substitute for him, and that was but the first of many such opportunities to improve his serviceability. Not long after this he went to the Punjab, where, in his free time, he was  able to sow much seed, some of which later bore fruit in the form of other dedicated servants of Jehovah. Gradually he was coming to realize that his secular work was hampering and limiting his efforts, so, at great loss to himself financially, he decided to change his vocation.

Believing firmly in the promise at Matthew 6:33, he returned to his home district in the Punjab, Sialkot. Despite hard times and opposition, including two mobbings, he found one man who was willing to dedicate his life to Jehovah and who is still serving faithfully. In 1952, when Brother Knorr visited Karachi, Sadiq sold his only movable possession, a bicycle, in order to pay his way to the assembly in Karachi, some 250 miles away. In Karachi he managed to find suitable employment and decided to stay and share in the Kingdom work there.

Later, in this same congregation in Karachi, there were two fleshly brothers, Sattar and Sadiq, who progressed in knowledge and then returned to their native Punjab with their families and served there as special pioneers. This was in 1959, after Brother Forrest had returned to Canada. By reason of the training these two brothers received in the Karachi congregation, they were able soon to organize the first isolated group in rural Punjab. Unlearned in the eyes of the world (one of the brothers only learned to read after becoming a Witness), these brothers continued to preach to the well-educated and the illiterate alike in all the villages and towns around Daska, some sixty miles from Lahore. In 1970 the small group was formed into a congregation and the two brothers constructed a Kingdom Hall on the small piece of land where their home stands. This structure has the distinction of being the only Kingdom Hall in the country built and owned by the brothers.

Toward the close of 1956 the seventy-nine publishers throughout the land rejoiced at the prospect of once more meeting the Society’s president, Brother Knorr. In the Lahore Town Hall 160 persons heard the public lecture given by the president, and on that occasion five persons were baptized. During his visit Brother Knorr recorded a brief interview that was later broadcast by the Lahore radio station, the first and only time that one of Jehovah’s people has had the opportunity to speak the “good news” over the Pakistan radio.

The Society’s vice-president, Brother Franz, was also supposed to be at that Lahore assembly with Brother Knorr, but due to some unexpected difficulty over a yellow-fever inoculation Brother Franz was detained in quarantine in Karachi with a whole planeload of passengers.  When he was released, of course, the Lahore assembly was over. The brothers were quite disappointed, but found some consolation in the fact that the brothers in India and Burma would enjoy his visit. Shortly after that assembly, in February 1957, the three publishers and two missionaries in Rawalpindi became a congregation, this bringing the number of congregations in the country to five.

THE “GOOD NEWS” COMES TO AFGHANISTAN

In September 1957 the Pakistan branch territory increased by some 250,000 square miles and more than twelve million inhabitants. How? It came about because the first witnesses of Jehovah had arrived in the rugged, neighboring country of Afghanistan. Philip Zimmerman, employed with an international airline, had moved from the United States to Kabul, the capital. With his wife, his mother and his young child, he had come to this city of 350,000 people.

As with its eastern and western neighbor countries Afghanistan is almost totally Islamic as to religion, and the preaching of Christianity to the Afghans has never been tolerated. Nothing may be said officially against the Koran or the Moslem religion because the king is a Moslem, and so anything derogatory to him is viewed as lese majesty​—affording sufficient grounds for expelling a foreigner from the country. To this day Witnesses must confine their work to the transient foreign community, while relying on ingenuity to reach the local people with the Kingdom message. Most of the population are illiterate peasants who speak only Pushto (also spoken in the northwest frontier region of Pakistan) or Dari, the Afghan form of the Persian language. Well-educated Afghans usually speak at least one European language.

Due to Brother Zimmerman’s type of occupation and his need to return to the United States at regular intervals, not very much consistent preaching was possible at this time; enough, though, for quite a few people to know of the family’s departure for the New York international assembly in 1958, people who were interested in learning what went on there when the family got back to Kabul. The ninety-seven publishers in Pakistan were also represented at that great convention. Five missionaries and Brother Sadiq Masih from Karachi were grateful for the financial assistance they received from brothers all around the world so that they could attend that assembly and return spiritually strengthened and loaded with experiences to share with their brothers.

 Since at first the whole country of Pakistan formed one circuit, it was necessary for some to travel anywhere from 500 to 900 miles one way at least twice a year in order to attend circuit and district assemblies. It was at one such circuit assembly in Rawalpindi held in April 1959 that the brothers were surprised by the arrival of a delegate shortly before the start of the Friday evening program. This was Brother Werner Schwarze. He had traveled the more than 300 miles from beyond Kabul, Afghanistan, on motorcycle. From the extreme cold of the mountains he had come through historic Khyber Pass to the hot dusty plains beyond. Even though he could not express himself easily in English, his happiness at being there was radiated to the conventioners. Just two months previously Brother Schwarze had come to Afghanistan from Germany to serve where the need is great.

His return trip to Afghanistan was not without problems. He was carrying with him on his cycle a suitcase full of literature, and was somewhat concerned about how the border officials would react. However, a few miles from the checkpoint a passing car stopped and the driver said: “That case on your cycle is too difficult for you. Give it to me and I will deliver it to your embassy in Kabul.”

All along the way he tried, despite his limited knowledge of the language, to share the “good news” with the local inhabitants. This same tactful, incidental witnessing about Jehovah’s purposes in such places is carried on by him to this day whenever he travels. At the next assembly, Brother Schwarze was accompanied by his wife and two daughters, recently arrived in Kabul. This had increased the proclaimers of the Kingdom in Afghanistan to seven. Soon three more publishers were to arrive from Germany to serve there where the need is so great.

A real milestone in the progress of the work in Afghanistan was reached in 1962 when Milton Henschel, from the President’s office, visited Kabul. On that occasion the brothers there had their own small assembly, which certainly indicated some little easing of the restrictions. How very encouraged they all were! In 1964, after seven years of service there, the Zimmermans had to leave Afghanistan. For the next five years there were only five publishers to serve the country’s millions​—Brother Schwarze, his wife, his daughters and Brother Muecke, the husband of one of those daughters.

The brothers keep literature in some thirty languages, and in Brother Schwarze’s home there is a display of the Paradise book in several languages, which serves  as a talking point whenever anyone visits. Brother Schwarze recalls that in 1959 they had up to seven policemen watching their meeting place, and if a local person wanted to study they would have to meet him on a corner somewhere and take him by car for a picnic in the hills. Now there are no police watching.

In the house-to-house work one must become expert at recognizing non-Afghan names on the gates. As to the homes in Kabul, they usually have high walls around them and when you knock on the gate an Afghan servant responds. You first ask him in Persian if a foreigner lives there. Should the reply be in the negative, then you apologize and try another house.

WILLING ONES CONTRIBUTE TO EXPANSION

Back in Pakistan there had been another change at the beginning of 1959. Brother Pope left to marry and continue his missionary service in India, so G. K. Young was appointed in his stead. By April 1960, when there was a peak of 112 publishers, there were only six graduates of Gilead remaining, and two of these were getting ready to leave because of illness. However, four more arrived from Canada during that month.

Pakistan has had a goodly share of brothers and sisters who have come to serve where the need is great, and these have always been a source of stimulation to the local publishers, such as Brother and Sister Pinchbeck from England, who stayed for a few years. This couple gave up going to the 1958 international assembly in New York in order to come to Karachi, and they stayed for four years, the brother eventually becoming an overseer of the Karachi English congregation, while his wife pioneered. They met and studied with a family that later moved to East Pakistan to serve where the need was greater.

A zealous, middle-aged sister from the United States also had a fine share in the distribution of the Urdu Watchtower in bazaars and other areas not often reached. She had come with her husband, who was employed by a well-drilling company. But how did she overcome the language problem? Since she had a chauffeur-driven car provided for her convenience, she used her Moslem driver as interpreter, through him making brief presentations of the magazines. Thus, with the help of brothers from various nations, we reached a peak of 129 publishers in May 1961​—a 22-percent increase. There were then only three congregations, one in Lahore and two in Karachi.

The Pakistan assembly in 1962, when Brother Henschel was our welcome guest, proved to be most encouraging  to the brothers. Later in the year eight more brothers and sisters, trained in the Kingdom Ministry Schools in the United States, England and Australia, came to join forces with the eight Gilead graduates already busy in this land. Some were assigned to open up the work again at Rawalpindi, but progress was slow even though the city’s population had vastly increased due to its becoming the interim capital while the new capital, Islamabad, just eight miles away, was under construction. Despite many years of hard, patient work in this area the four missionaries who are still there have less than ten publishers working with them in both of these cities.

Another high point in our history was the international convention at Delhi, India, in 1963. It took a lot of hard work and painstaking preparation on the part of the Pakistan brothers to obtain passports and visas, seeing that relations between Pakistan and India have never been the most cordial. A few from Afghanistan were also able to get to this wonderful assembly.

In order to make it easier for all to attend the three assemblies each year, West Pakistan was split into two circuits in 1965, the two circuit servants working part time. During this same year the relations between India and Pakistan deteriorated, even resulting in war. However, this has not affected the Kingdom activity.

During the service years 1964-1968 there were forty-four persons who symbolized their dedication to Jehovah, an indication that there is an increasing number of persons responding to the Kingdom message in this land. True, our publisher figure does not show a large increase each year, but this is accounted for by the departure of some to other lands and the falling away of a few who had no real love for Jehovah in their hearts.

At the close of 1967 and the beginning of 1968 seven more Gilead graduates arrived here. Five of these were originally assigned to India and Ceylon, but since they were unable to obtain visas for those countries, Pakistan was the gainer. At the Karachi district assembly in 1968 the first one from the Parsee community in Pakistan symbolized her dedication. These followers of Zoroaster are a closely knit, prosperous community who marry only among themselves and who make no converts to their religion. For this reason it took great courage and determination on the part of our sister.

Due to the generosity of our brothers in other lands it was possible for all the missionaries and five special pioneers to attend one of the 1969 international assemblies. Other Pakistan brothers were able to manage their affairs so as to be at the assembly in London,  England. The report for the 1969 service year indicated a 5-percent increase over the previous year. Then in February 1971 we had a new peak of 173 publishers, while our attendance at the Memorial mounted to 517. There were placed during the 1971 service year 6,610 Bibles and books, as well as 8,043 booklets, 41,392 magazines, and 1,511 new subscriptions were obtained for the Watchtower and Awake! magazines.

Afghanistan also enjoyed an increase due to the arrival of two more couples from Germany. Indeed, all the publishers in Afghanistan and one interested person were among the 196 who assembled in Lahore in February for the circuit assembly. Five of the newly interested persons in Lahore are former Moslems. One of these was first contacted in his office just a few months prior to the assembly and progressed so rapidly that he symbolized his dedication at the next circuit assembly, in June 1971.

Arrangements are now under way to print the Urdu Watchtower in Pakistan. For years it has been translated and printed in India, but due to the worsening relations between the two countries the Pakistan government banned all printed matter coming in from India. Now the publishers are eagerly awaiting the Urdu edition of The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life, presently in course of preparation.

In spite of the increasingly troubled political and economic conditions and the darkening international horizon, the little band of publishers here, once again confined to working just in the western section of Pakistan, continues to proclaim the message of the Kingdom zealously, looking to Jehovah to keep on blessing their efforts, confident that he will accomplish his loving purpose to protect and grant life to all who demonstrate their love for him.