Shaheed Bhai Dalbeer Singh Nittu

Babbar Khalsa

Bhai Dalbeer Singh Nittu was born on 12th May 1966, in the house of Sardar Chanan Singh and from the womb of Mata Gurdeep Kaur in the village of Mian Kot, district Gurdaspur. Sardar Chanan Singh had 6 children, Bibi Kamaljit Singh, Bhai Manjit singh, Bhai Gurmeet Singh, Bhai Dalbeer Singh Nittu, Bibi Amarjit Kaur and Bhai Sukhwinder Singh. Bhai Sahib’s family mainly made a living from their farms and in agriculture sector. Bhai Sahib studied up to 8th class at a government school in Kalanaur. Bhai Sahib was taught the Sikh values and principles from childhood. Bhai Sahib loved hearing the stories of Sikh warriors and their service to the Sikh Panth. After studies, Bhai Sahib took Amrit from the Panj Pyare and he would wake up every day at Amritvela to do his Nitnem. Bhai Sahib loved singing, everytime he worked at his family farms with his father and brothers, he would be singing praises of Sikh martyrs, such as Baba Deep Singh Ji Shaheed, Baba Banda Singh Ji Bahadur and Bhai Taru Singh Ji. Bhai Sahib also had hobby of playing Kabbadi and Gatka. After taking Amrit, Bhai Sahib took on the responsibilities of the household and started helping his father full time at the farms.

During this time, the Amritsar Vaisakhi massacre of 1978 took place. Whole of Punjab and the Sikh nation was shocked that 13 Sikhs were shot dead in broad daylight for peacefully protesting along with 150 plus Sikhs wounded. The Narakhdharis were never bought to justice by the Indian government. It was now in the hands of the Sikhs to take justice and they did so by assassinating the Narakhdhari cult leader, Gurbachana, in his own house. Then in June 1984, the most unimaginable thing happened, the Indian army attacked Sri Darbar Sahib along with another 40 historical Sikh temples. Thousands of innocent Sikh pilgrims were brutally killed, amongst them children, women and the elderly. This was not the end, 6 months later extremist Hindu groups went onto the streets of Indian cities which had majority Hindu citizens, for example Delhi, Calcutta, Uttar Pardesh and burnt alive any Sikh they saw and gang raped the Sikh women. These atrocities upon the Sikhs will be seen as genocide of Sikhs, committed by the Indian government. Like many Sikhs around the world, Bhai Sahib was saddened witnessing the killing of fellow Sikhs, but due to not getting justice, Bhai Sahib was also filled with anger.

Slowly Bhai Sahib became active in his area and took part in activities that protected Sikhi and Sikhs in his area. Bhai Sahib secretly started to locate Jhujaru Singhs so he could also join them and fight for Khalistan, a homeland of the Sikhs. It was in the year of 1989, Bhai Sahib came in contact with the local Jhujaru Singhs. Bhai Sahib met Bhai Kulwinder Singh of Kalanaur and under his command did many actions with his fellow Jhujaru brother, Bhai Jassa Singh Mian Kot. Bhai Sahib was living at home during this time and within 6 months of doing actions, Bhai Sahib became known to the Punjab police. Many warrants on Bhai Sahib’s name had been made and soon as Bhai Sahib found out, he said his final farewell to his family and went underground. Bhai Sahib continued to do actions under the command of Bhai Kulwinder Singh Kalanaur, until he was made a martyr by the Indian security forces, Bhai Sahib then met Bhai Kuldeep Singh Fauji of Babbar Khalsa and pledged his loyalty to this Jhujaru group. Bhai Sahib did many actions under the guidance of Bhai Dharam Singh Keshtival.

Bhai Sahib was against gangster and petty criminals that targeted the weak and the poor. Bhai Sahib had no tolerance for the criminals who portrayed themselves as Jhujaru Singhs and then extorted families. If found, Bhai Sahib would kill them and not give them any chances to commit such crimes again. When the news of Bhai Sahib’s actions got out, no gangster would risk committing crime in the area. As well as punishing anti-Sikh elements, Bhai Sahib also protected the poor and vulnerable families in his area from injustices, may they be of any religion. Bhai Sahib also did not allow a twelfth relative of the groom to attend the wedding, this was done so that the bride’s family won’t have to spend a lot of money to cater for the groom’s family. On many occasions, Bhai Sahib went to Pakistan for training under the command of Bhai Dharam Singh Keshtival. Bhai Sahib had great knowledge on all types of weapons, from AK47 to RPG.

On the night of 4th October 1990, Bhai Sahib was taking fellow Jhujaru Singhs into Pakistan for training via the Raavi River. In the final stages of the journey, as the Jhujaru Singhs were about to cross the Raavi River, they were confronted by Indian border security forces. A battle erupted between both sides, Bhai Sahib helped fellow Jhujaru Singhs cross into Pakistan, but he himself was unable to escape. Bhai Sahib had been surrounded from all sides, he fought the enemy with the little ammunition he had till his last breath. In the end Bhai Sahib attained martyrdom shouting war cries of “Bole So Nihal Sat Sri Akaal” and “Khalistan Zindabad.”

Information given by the family of Shaheed Bhai Dalbeer Singh Nittu