Shyam Sharma turns Peter Joseph, but still doesn't feel safe in Lahore
Shyam Sharma turns Peter Joseph, but still doesn't feel safe in Lahore
Author: Bhavna Vij
Publication: The Indian
Express
Date: May 3, 2000
LAHORE, MAY 2: Name:
Peter Joseph. Father's name: Shyam Sunder Sharma. Children: Monica and
John. No, it is not some Anglo-Indian family living in Lahore's Kashmiri
Gate. Peter Joseph's name till December 6, 1992, was Surya Prakash Sharma.
He changed it when his brother Nand Kishore and cousin Ram Narain were
killed in Lahore in the aftermath of the demolition of the Babri Masjid.
``I did not convert to
Christianity. I just changed my name and it saved my life,'' he says, sitting
in his small house in a lane in Kashmiri Gate. He refuses to be photographed.
``I'm very superstitious. It is like challenging fate,'' he says, holding
his three-year-old daughter Monica close to him. He did not have the courage
of giving Hindu names to his children, and then changed his wife Meera's
name to Mariam.
``I saw my brothers being
killed in front of me. Many people in this area, mostly Hindus, have adopted
Christian names to protect themselves,'' he adds. There is not even a single
temple left in entire Lahore.
There was one Jain temple
near Lakshmi chowk and another big one at Shalmi Chowk near Anarkali bazaar
but both of them were burnt down after the Babri Masjid demolition. Some
smaller ones in Krishna Nagar and Shyam Nagar in Chubhurjhi area where
also destroyed, recall the 100-odd Hindus, now mostly living in Kashmiri
Gate and Andhroon Bhati Gate.
``We are scared of even
putting an idol of Ramchandraji or Krishanji in our houses. Most Hindus
have converted to Christianity but we still offer our prayers to Hindu
deities,'' says Frank (real name Harish Chandra). Most of the people refer
to these Hindus-Christians as Balmikis in the area. Though Thapar Street,
Bhatia Street, Bahamant Street and Sehgal Street remain, there is hardly
any Hindu there. ``There used to be thousands of Hindus living in Lahore.
But after December 6 (1992), most ran away to either Karachi or Kota in
Peshawar. There are very few left now,'' says Septuagenarian Ram Pal, who
has dared to retain his original name. ``This was the name given to me
by my mother and I will be known by the same till I die,'' he says.
Though Christians too
complain of ``problems and harassment,'' they are relatively better off.
``There are almost one lakh Christians in Lahore but they don't really
like to mingle much with the majority. We prefer to stay within our community,''
says Francis Louis, a science teacher in Don Bosco School in Lahore.
As if living as a minority
in Pakistan is not bad enough, he says, teaching is even worse. Though
Don Bosco is a Christian-run school, 70 per cent of the students are Muslims.
``There was a big furore
in the school when I tried teaching the students about reproduction. The
students went and complained to their parents who came and protested to
the principal. I was almost thrown out of the school,'' he says. Louis
had to apologise to the parents and assure them that he won't teach them
that subject in future.
``Now I just read what
is in the book and cloak it in harmless and often meaningless language,''
he says.
Thomas D'Souza, who organises
AIDS awareness programmes in schools and colleges, has to face hostility
and ire every day. ``But we have to do our job. My assistant Franklin was
beaten up by some students in Lahore University two days ago and has vowed
to give up. I am trying to convince him but he is too scared,'' he adds.
The handful of Sikhs
in Lahore are limited to the Dera Baba Gurdwara near Lahore Fort. ``There
are three other Gurdwaras in Lahore but this is the only functional one,''
explains Harpal Singh, a kar sevak in the gurdwara which houses Maharaja
Ranjit Singh's Samadhi. ``Here, there are two dozen-odd Sikhs. We do the
``paath'' and read the Gurbani everyday even if there is nobody to listen.
We will keep this Gurdwara alive,'' he adds.
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