Shaheed Bhai Mangal Singh 'Bamb'

Bhai Mangal Singh ‘Bamb’ was born in the year 1964 in village Arjan Manga, PS Mehta Chowk, Tehsil Baba Bakala, District Amritsar. Upon completing his primary education from the local village school and passing 10th grade at Rangarh Nangal High School, Bhai Mangal Singh began taking responsibility of his household duties. During these times the Sikh freedom movement was at its peak, Sikh youth from across the nation had taken arms to avenge the desecration of their holy shrines and free themselves from the shackles of slavery. Born and raised in a Gursikh family, the concept of self-sacrifice and martial tradition came naturally to Bhai Mangal Singh, consequently he became a recruit of the Khalistan Commando Force and participated in completing many successful actions alongside the Jathebandis Lt. General – Shaheed Bhai Sukhdev Singh Jhamke.

Shaheed Bhai Sukhdev Singh Jhamke

In 1988, Bhai Sukhdev Singh Jhamke faced an encounter with the Govt backed fake Nihang Ajit Poohla. Ajit Poohla was a vicious thug who had been given the official police rank of DSP, together with the backing of Police Cheif JF Ribeiro and Punjab Governor SS Ray was given full permission to rape, loot and murder families of Jujharoo Singhs. Despite being outnumbered in the encounter, the KCF Singhs did not back down and accepted the challenge head on, as a firefight took place the Jujharoo Singhs immediately eliminated 2 of Poohlas men and very soon the police CAT along with his gang of cowards were seen escaping in their CRPF jeeps.

The very next morning Poohla attempted to save face and avoid the embarrassment of the nature of his escape by planning another attack on a group of Jujharoo Singhs. On the advice of local Akali leader Jeevan Singh Umranangal a statement was published in Jagbani newspaper on their behalf which read “We have identified Sukhdev Singh Jhamke as the man who attacked Poohla and I. As a result of punishment, ‘Nihang’ Ajit Poohla will bring a 90 year old man to Sukhdev Singh’s village of Jhamke and marry him off to a girl from the village.” In November, 1988 Ajit Poohla reached village Jhamke along with ‘Sarkari Jathedar’ Umranangal, they brought with them a wedding party, group of musicians and a 90 year old man to carry out the humiliating act. The ‘wedding party’ marched through the village until they reached the home of Bhai Jhamke, Poohla instructed the ‘wedding party’ to stop and for the musicians to continue playing as the rest surrounded Bhai Jhamka’s home to began singing, dancing and shouting obscenties. This continued throughout the entire day and news had reached Jujharoo Singhs in the nearby areas. Bhai Mangal Singh met with Bhai Sukhdev Singh Jhamke and together armed with rocket launchers attacked the police post which had been setup to provide security for Umranangal. Both Umranangal and Poohla narrowly escaped this attack but the name of Bhai Mangal Singh was now imprinted in the memory of the enemy.

Bhai Mangal Singh remained with Bhai Jhamke until the fateful day of April 14, 1989 when Bhai Jhamke breathed his last and attained Shaheedi. Bhai Mangal Singh continued with his Panthic Sewa and joined the ranks of the Khalistan Liberation Force under Lt. General – Shaheed Bhai Jugraj Singh ‘Toofan’.

Shaheed Bhai Ravinderbeer Singh 'Bhola' - Lt. General Khalistan Liberation Force

Under the KLF Bhai Mangal Singh participated in a number of successful actions including the kidnap of Congress leader Satpal Mittal’s grandson in order to secure the release of Shaheed Bhai Ravinderbeer Singh ‘Bhola’ who had been arrested by Maharashtra police in the course of their investigation following a sensational bank robbery in the heart of Mumbai (Bambay). Shaheed General Gurjant Singh Budhsinghwala planned and executed a number of kidnappings of top MP’s, Judges and senior Govt officials. This series of high profile kidnappings forced Rajiv Gandhi to personally intervene and coordinate the release of Bhai Ravinderbeer Singh ‘Bhola’. During the time the politican’s grandson was held captive, Bhai Mangal Singh personally ensured that the hostage faced no harm and was well looked after. Upon the release of Bhai Ravinderbeer Singh, the hostage was returned home safely and unharmed.

Until 1991 Bhai Mangal Singh operated in and around the Ludhiana District, where impressed by the nature of his daring actions he was given the nickname and began to be known as ‘Bamb’ by the other Singhs active in the area.

One of the Singh’s very close to Bhai Mangal Singh was Shaheed Bhai Beant Singh ‘Buta’ of Ludhiana. In an unfortunate incident as Bhai Beant Singh was returning from a successful hit on a police Thanedar he crossed paths with another Jujharoo group. Bhai Beant Singh was in the disguise of a police officer in order to complete his mission but this led the other group to believe he was indeed an actual police officer, as a result the group fired upon Bhai Beant Singh. Bhai Beant Singh was forced to return fire, in this cruel twist of fate Bhai Beant Singh and another Singh from the other group attained Shaheedi.

On November 5, 1991 Bhai Mangal Singh ‘Bamb’ was en-route to Mehta Chowk when he was intercepted by the Police CATS of village Channan. Bhai Mangal Singh was severely tortured for 2 days which left him unable to walk or use of his arms, but the police were unable to extract any information from this brave soldier. Frustrated with Bhai Mangal Singh’s response to their torture, Bhai Mangal Singh was killed in a fake police encounter. On November 7, 1991 SSP Parmjeet Gill announced to the media:

“Mangal Singh ‘Bamb’ who was wanted in connection with other 30 cases has been killed in an encounter at village Bhoewal near police station Jandiala, a large number of weapons and ammunition were also recovered from him.”

Following Bhai Mangal Singh’s Shaheedi, his body was not released to the family. Large numbers of sangat from surrounding villages and cities wishing to pay their final respects by attending Bhai Mangal Singh’s Bhog were stopped at the entrance of the village by the Police and unable to proceed. The Keertani Jatha sent by Damdami Taksal was also refused entrance to perform Keertan at the Bhog ceremony.

Bhai Mangal Singh ‘Bamb’ following in the footsteps of his beloved brothers and comrades Bhai Sukhdev Singh Jhamke, Bhai Jugraj Singh ‘Toofan’, Bhai Beant Singh ‘Buta’, Bhai Rajwinder Singh ‘Fauji’ & Bhai Ravinderbeer Singh Bhola gave his life for the Sikh nation. Such sacrifices will forever shine on the pages of modern Sikh history and shall never be forgotten.

Written and compiled by NeverForget84.com

Shaheed Bhai Gurjant Singh Budhsinghwala - General Khalistan Liberation Force

Shaheed Bhai Gurjant Singh Budhsinghwala, son of Sardar Nashatar Singh & Mata Surjeet Kaur, was born in village Budhsinghwala, District Faridkot in 1964. Bhai Sahib’s family had a common farmers living. Sikhi was flourishing in the family for generations. Gurjant Singh had three brothers and a sister, he was the third-eldest out of the sons. He only studied to the 5th grade and he had to leave his studies, as his family needed him to work, as they were not that well off. Bhai Budhsinghwala was religious from a young age and met Sant Jarnail Singh Ji Khalsa Bhindrawale on numerous occasions. He started helping around the house and started farming along with his brothers on the family farm. He never tired doing work and never lost faith whilst the family went through hardships, and remained always in Chardi Kala.

The governments carnage reached the Moga area and the Bibi Kahn Kaur Gurdwara was surrounded by armed police, indiscriminate firing was opened on sangat and many were drenched in blood and attained Shaheedi, Bhai Sahib’s paternal grandfather Bhai Kehar Singh was one of the Shaheeds of this incident. Bhai Budhsinghwala had much affection for his grandfather.

The Shaheedi of his grandfather had a deep effect upon his tender heart at the age of 18 years. The government tyranny making its way throughout the Moga area, arrived at Bhai Sahib’s village. Bhai Sahib was arrested and imprisoned in Firozpur jail for one and a half years. Bhai Sahib had just been released from jail when the police re-arrested him and his brother Bhai Jagroop Singh for murder. In the ensuing interrogations of the police both Bhai Sahib and his brother were tortured severely. When they were released after 8 days of torture, they both could not walk, they both got home in the evening. On the same night the police again entered their house and took their father, brother and paternal uncle into custody.

Bhai Sahib after undergoing all this oppression and torture decided to live the life of serving the Panth and left his home, to protect and fight for the rights of the people of Panjab. A tornado of fighting for justice was invested within him, after undergoing torture and oppression at the hands of the authorities. From the outset Bhai Sahib worked alongside Bhai Varyam Singh Khapiawale – after his Shaheedi, Bhai Sahib worked under the leadership of Bhai Aroor Singh of KLF. Slowly, slowly Bhai Sahibs fame grew due to the missions he completed and the enemy started to fear for their safety. When the enemy used to hear the name of Bhai Sahib they used to shiver with fear.

Shaheed Bhai Avtar Singh Brahma

Bhai Sahib had undertaken the leadership of Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), after the Shaheedi of Bhai Avtar Singh Brahma in 1987. Under Bhai Budhsinghwala’s leadership, the KLF completed numerous successful missions and became one of the leading freedom fighting outfits. KLF was founded by Bhai Aroor Singh in 1986, Bhai Budhsinghwala was appointed Lieutenant General then, Bhai Budhsinghwala was the 3rd Chief of KLF. He was respected as the mastermind and most intelligent, Sikh freedom fighter.

Shaheeds: Bhai Gurdeep Singh Vakeel & Bhai Gurjant Singh Budhsinghwala

A Nihang who used to live in the same village as Bhai Gurjant Singh informed the police on numerous occasions of Bhai Sahibs actions and whereabouts. This informant helped the police arrest and torture Bhai Gurjant Singh on numerous occasions. Bhai Sahib was arrested and sent to Faridkot jail on one of these occasions. Upon release from jail – on bail, instead of going home, Bhai Sahib went directly to Shaheed Bhai Varyam Singh and became once again engrossed in seva. Bhai Sahib caught the Nihang informant and poured petrol over him and burnt him alive in the middle of the village. People of the surrounding area were happy and ecstatic at the elimination of this Nihang who caused much distress to the inhabitants of the locality.

Bhai Sahib started bringing many oppressors to justice and the police started to repeatedly harass the family of Bhai Gurjant Singh. His brothers were severely tortured and subsequently jailed. Bhai Sahib’s sister’s (Bibi Gurcharan Kaur’s) family were tortured and harassed on a number of occasions. To try to retract Bhai Sahib from his seva,the authorities used oppressive tactics of the worst kind. His paternal Uncle Chand Singh and paternal cousin Bhai Joga Singh were martyred in a fake police encounter. His mother, father, and brothers were also terrorised. But Bhai Sahib was steadfast and did not retract an inch from his resolve.

After seeing the effectiveness of Bhai Gurjant Singh, the butcher D.G.P. Ribeiro got the most brutal S.H.O. Mith Singh appointed at the Bage Purane Police station, which was adjoining to Bhai Sahib’s village in Thana Baga. The S.H.O made Bhai Sahib’s family his target for meting out police brutality and being unjust, this brute got the front iron gate from Bhai Sahibs house removed and placed it at the police station. He humiliated Bhai Sahib’s father by dragging him by the hair, in the heat of the Panjabi summer in front of the police station and made a public display of torturing Bhai Sahib’s father. He challenged Bhai Sahib’s father to “go get your tiger of a son to come and face me, face to face.”

Shaheeds: Bhai Ajmer Singh Lodhiwal & Bhai Darshan Singh Tarkhanbad

Bhai Budhsinghwala learnt of the atrocities met out to his family, and after a while he made plans to avenge these evil actions. He along with his 3 associates Bhai Lakhvinder Singh Lakha village Dhole Ke, Ajmer Singh Lodhiwal and Bhai Darshan Singh Tarkhanbad, exterminated the S.H.O at the police station whilst he was under the guard of his bodyguards. After removing the S.H.O, Bhai Sahib and his associates fired at the police in the police station, but they locked themselves in out of fear and did not dare to return fire. Bhai Sahib and his associates left the police station at 7.30am with such calmness and braveness, no police official had the courage to even follow the Singh’s after they left. The newly appointed S.H.O got the very same iron-gate reinstated at Bhai Sahib’s house.

Shaheeds: Bhai Jarnail Singh Halwara (Longowal Assassin) & Bhai Varinder Singh Dakha

Bhai Sahib put many oppressors to justice and he worked with Bhai Jarnail Singh Halwara (Longowal Kand), Varinder Singh Dakha, Amar Singh Maan, Binderjeet Singh Dune ke, Manjeet Singh Mini Baba Moga, Amrik Singh Dune Ke, Kulvant Singh Kukrana, Gurmeet Singh Machaki, Manohar Singh Teera, whilst completing his missions. After the Shaheedi of Bhai Avtar Singh Brahma, Bhai Gurjant Singh was appointed the new commander in chief of KLF, Bhai Sahib and his associates eliminated the following oppressors: S.S.P Gobind Ram, S.S.P AS Brar – Patiala, S.P. Patiala – RS Gill, S.P. Detective RS Tiwara, D.S.P Tara Chand Jagraon and in turn avenged the deaths of many Shaheeds.

Bhai Sahib also seriously injured the following oppresors: D.G.P Mangat, S.S.P Sumedh Saini, S.P Kehar Singh. Other prominent successes of Bhai Sahib were the Panjab Congress Vice President Lala Bagvan Daas who was eliminated along with his bodyguards at Jaito, ex-treasurer Balwant Singh was eliminated in Chandigarh, Magistrate Goyal Moga was eliminated after getting his armed guards to surrender and he kidnapped the Romanian diplomat L. Radu and got the message across to the global media about the Sikh struggle and state oppression. The son of the S.S.P Des Raaj Sharma of Tarn Taran was kidnapped in order to get Bhai Sahib’s associates freed from the police, this was the first time a hostage was taken for political demands in Panjab and Bhai Sahib’s friends were freed.

There was a bounty of 4 Lakh (400,000) Rupees upon his head. Bhai Sahib was the most wanted Sikh freedom fighter and he was believed to be the mastermind of many successful actions against the authorities. The Ludhiana police had received confirmed intelligence reports that Bhai Sahib and other freedom fighters were holding a meeting at Model town extension – in house no. 95. The police along with the assistance of the army at about 10pm surrounded the house and ordered the inhabitants of the house to open the gate, but the house owner replied that he had dignitaries in attendance. According to the police the Singh’s tried to escape through the back of the house, but the police had already surrounded the house and opened fire on the Singhs, one Singh got injured in the firing. Bhai Budhsinghwala did once again try escaping but due to the heavy fire he was martyred in the exchange of fire. The police claimed in their press release that Bhai Sahib was martyred within the house but all other accounts of eyewitnesses said that Bhai Sahib was martyred about 50 meters from the house in an alleyway.

Bhai Gurjant Singh Budhsinghwala Shaheedi Saroop

This police operation was carried out by the S.S.P of Ludhiana ‘Chotpadhiea’ & D.S.P DS Gill. There were large engravements made upon the grass around the house – where the police had entrenched themselves. The police did not return Bhai Sahibs body to his relatives.

Bhai Gurjant Singh Budhsinghwala was a freedom loving spirit who did not enter controversies with others and all Sikh Jathebandhis (Organisations) respected Bhai Sahib. Bhai Sahib used to speak very little, due to which he was able to command KLF for a relatively long time. Bhai Budhsinghwala was said to be wanted for 37 accomplished actions by the police. The people began to admire and respect Bhai Gurjant Singh more and more as time went by, as he was dead against thieves and robbery and he put numerous such thieves to justice.

Bhai Sahib attained Shaheedi on 31st July 1992 at the age of 28 years. The Panth will never forget the service he rendered.

Shaheed Bhai Varinder Singh Dakha

The village Dakha of District Ludhiana is usually associated with Army Colonels & Generals, Literature scholars and highly educated people. But in the height of the Sikh Movement for Liberation, dozens of Jujharoos (Freedom Fighters) from this village attained Shaheedi (Martyrdom), one such brave warrior was Varinder Singh Dakha, who had dedicated his life for the cause from the very beginning.

Bhai Sahib was born on the 22nd of September, 1965 into the house of Mata Harbans Kaur and Sardar Bachittar Singh. After studying till the 10th class in Dakha, Varinder Singh passed his Prep at Jagraon, after which he enrolled at Guru Tegh Bahadur College in Dakha. Bhai Sahib was a top kabbadi and hockey player.

Shaheed Bhai Jarnail Singh Halwara

After the Indian Army attack on Sri Darbar Sahib, Bhai Sahib, like many other youngsters, entered the Sikh Liberation Movement. Bhai Varinder Singh had previously courted arrest in the Dharam Yudh Morcha’s peaceful agitations. Here he had met Shaheed Bhai Jarnail Singh Halwara and Bhai Charanjit Singh Channi (Talwandi Rai) under whose guidance Bhai Sahib was convinced to join the movement. After the assassination of Harchand Singh Longowal, and mention of Bhai Sahib’s name, Bhai Varinder Singh Dakha became a wanted man, thus he operated under the new name of Vikram Singh. In Ludhiana district Bhai Sahib’s name became attached to Bhai Jarnail Singh Halwara, and stories of his bravery began to circulate.

Varinder Singh Dakha was as strong and pure on the inside as he was on the outside. This was one reason Shaheed General Gurjant Singh Budhsinghwala kept him close to his heart, he was not only a great warrior under his command but also a great friend. Bhai Varinder Singh Dakha and Gurjant Singh Budhsingwala had promised each other that if one was to attain Shaheedi the other would not perform his final ardas until he had eliminated his killers.

On the 9th of September 1987 Bhai Varinder Singh Dakha was killed in a fake police encounter near the Sirhind canal by Patiala police. Bhai Gurjant Singh keeping true to his word and promise to his close friend did not perform the final rites of Bhai Varinder Singh Dakha until he had eliminated the main culprits of Bhai Sahib’s death. It took almost a year for Bhai Gurjant Singh to fulfil his promise, and after he had eliminated 2 of the police officers responsible, Bhai Gurjant Singh accepting full responsibility for the action, announced Bhai Varinder Singh’s bhog on the front pages of the newspapers. This showed that whatever the brave warriors wanted to accomplish they could do so.

Bhai Sahib’s Shaheedi was a big shock to all his loved ones. One of whom was his mother. Mata Ji knew the path that Bhai Sahib had chosen would result in his Shaheedi, but a mother will always be a mother and after Bhai Sahib’s Shaheedi, mata Ji was left heart broken, a few years later Mata Ji also left the world. Bhai Sahib’s father had become disabled a few years earlier and was for this reason was unable to work. Bhai Sahib’s family was constantly harassed by the Punjab Police, but the endless endurance of brutality and oppression at the hands of the Punjab Police was not able to break the spirit of the brothers and sisters of Bhai Varinder Singh. Accepting it all as God’s will the family did not lose morale and continued with life as best they could.

Article taken from Sikh Shahadat magazine.
Translated by NeverForget84.com