“People are getting beat up, and hurt, and a few have been killed,” says priest

Sacramento, CA: Oct. 20, 2015 — Fr. Joshua Lickter, whose Christian church in California, USA regularly prays for persecuted religious minorities in India, brought attention to the current tense situation in Punjab, India as an item for prayer during a recent service. “Things are pretty heated up there right now in the state of Punjab,” he says before leading his congregation in prayers for peace, justice, and protection for peaceful protestors. The video was taken during a live-stream of the service.

“We’ve been praying for India, and have been involved in human rights advocacy in India. Things are pretty heated up there right now in the state of Punjab right now.

“There are some peaceful protests that are going on because some of the Sikh scriptures were desecrated by just Hindu nationalists or people that were trying to cause a ruckus. And as the Sikh community was protesting it, the police have come in and are blacking out certain areas. They’re taking down the internet and not letting people post on Facebook what’s happening. The government’s getting involved in censoring these peaceful protests about this so a lot of the details and information aren’t coming out, but a lot of people are getting beat up, and hurt, and a few have been killed already by it.

“So we just want to pray for peace in that situation, and for justice, and also for protection for people that are speaking out against it.”