ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am grateful to the many people who encouraged me
in the endeavour which has resulted in this study. My thanks go
to Dr. S. Qalb-i-Abid and the Research Society of Pakistan for
their commitment to its publication. I am likewise indebted to
the Spiriton community in Pakiston for their fraternal interest in
the project and especially to Michael Liston, for innumerable
insightful comments on its progress. The participants in the Naia
Mashra, Naia Inson (New Society. New Person) workshops held
over the last fourteen years, never failed to enlighten me as to
the generative themes in the lives of the minorities of Pakistan.
Missionaries of a previous generation, mostly now retired or
deceased, recounted much from their vast store of wisdom.
Among them I must mention especially the late Henri Van der
Brouke. I thank Abid Habib and Piet Cooman who facilitated
occess to important unpublished material. Among my
conversation partners. I learned an inestimable amount from
Simeon Pereira, the late Patras Yussaf, Dominic Shehzad, Javed
John, Peter Jalal, Mustaq Bhatti, Theresa Emmanuel, Thecla
Barkat, Zeenat Chaman and the late Angelina Charles and recall
these conversations with great appreciation. I am likewise
indebted to Nusrat Barkat, Nico Shipper, Yusaf Bagh, Siegfried
Bergman and the late Maria Beatrix Schlepphorst for checking
translations. On holiday visits to London, my work was greatly
Facilitiated by the courtesy of the staff at the India Office of the
British Library, as well by the kindness of Terry Donnelly, Clive
Lee and Mary Quinn. I am most appreciative of the supportive
interest of Sean Dwan, Jim Cannel. Tomas King. Gemma
Mckenna, Louise Hurley, Leslie Holden, Jane Leek and Raymond
Zimmermann who each read part of the manuscript and made
helpful comments; and very particularly to Parveen Barkat who
read the whole text and posed pertinent questions, as well as
to Roberto Ryan who generously undertook the task of
proofreading. I acknowledge an immense debt of gratitude to
the Christions of Pakistan who seldom failed to intrigue me with
their stories and struggles in villages and basties throughout the
length and breadth of the country, most especially in Mirpur
Khos, very particularly in Sadiqabad and above all in Rahimyor
Khan. This study was inspired first of all by the heartifelt need
and desire to understand and appreciate them.