Pastor Sukhdev Mark, aged 47, had previously picked up the passenger and dropped him off at a hotel the previous night. During their conversation, Pastor Mark had given the Sikh a Gospel tract, which was received with courtesy.
But later in their journey, things take a turn for the worst and Pastor Mark ends up being stabbed several times by three Sikh men.
Christian Post reported that the Sikh passenger told him to pick him up at the hotel at 4 p.m., he said. “Throughout the journey to Amritsar, we didn’t talk much,” said Pastor Mark, a married father of two. “He was working on his laptop and had an iPhone, and so I thought he must be an educated man. I didn’t find him suspicious as he appeared to be a well-educated gentleman. He asked for my phone and set the location for directions to follow the route.”
As they approached the Celebrations Resort on the Majitha-Verka bypass road, the Sikh asked him to take a small by-lane, Pastor Mark said.
“There were some shops and, I thought he would want to buy some refreshments or snacks,” he said. “But he asked me to drive out of the by-lane, and as we got out of that route adjacent to the resort, three men came on a scooter and stopped the taxi on the main road.”
The Activa scooter didn’t have a license plate, he said. Pastor Mark asked the Sikh if he knew the men, and he replied that they were friends.
“I parked the taxi on the other side of the road and stood there,” he said. “He asked me to take his bags out of the trunk, and when I went to the rear side of the taxi to take the bags out, the three men pounced on me with knives. They had cutters and knives and started slashing me as the Sardarji [title used for Sikh men] looked on.”
The assailants cut his hands and caused internal injuries in his abdomen, he said.
“I was bleeding profusely, and I started shouting for help,” Pastor Mark told Morning Star News. “When I started shouting for help, the three assailants crossed the road and ran away, and the Sardarji also was trying to escape from the scene.”
Pastor Mark ran after him, shouting for him to stop.
“He too ran in the same direction as the assailants,” he said. “He didn’t pay me the taxi fare and instead was cussing at me as he ran from there.”
What a terrifying and dangerous situation. Clearly, the religious climate in this part of India is not too kind to Christians and unfortunately Pastor Mark suffered as a result.
It's truly by the grace of God that he's still alive to tell this story.
