Each time Father Shehzad Anwar visits Catholics living scattered in Quetta city on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, having a Baloch or Pushto-speaking guide is as important as carrying the Mass kit or having a car with a tank full of petrol.
The 36-year-old diocesan priest has learned the essential lessons in his pastoral ministry in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province dominated by ethnic Baloch and Pashtun people.
The ethnic Punjabi priest serves as a parish priest of St. Francis of Assisi Church in Loralai, a district famed for marble quarries, about 154 kilometres east of Quetta.
The mission in the mineral-rich and sparsely populated province, bordering Iran and Afghanistan, is extremely challenging and threatening, Father Anwar says.
It is not just because of long-distance travel in the hilly, rugged terrain. For decades, the region has been a battlefield plagued by terrorism, a separatist insurgency and heavy-handed military operations. Deaths from shootings and bombings are routine affairs.
A local guide saves priests like Father Anwar from uncomfortable situations such as grilling from security forces and even gun-toting extremist groups.