Shaheed Bhai Gurnam Singh Ghariala

Sikh Student Federation/ Khalistan Commando Force

Sant Jarnail Singh Ji Bhindranwale started a Struggle to break the chains of slavery from the neck of the Sikh Kaum in which many Sikhs gave their lives and became shaheed, Bhai Gurnam Singh Ghariala was also amongst these shaheeds. Bhai Gurnam Singh was one of the singh from the front line of Warriors of Sant Jarnail Singh Ji Bhindranwale in the Sikh Freedom Movement.

Bhai Gurnam Singh was born on 1st March 1961 in the house of Sardar Niranjan Singh and from the womb of Mata Gurdeep Kaur, in the village of Ghariala, district Amritsar. Bhai Saab was taught the principals of Gursikhi from the family at childhood. The whole family of Bhai Sahib was Amritdhari. Bhai Sahib passed his Studies up till metric at the Government High School in Ghariala. Then Bhai Sahib met Bhai Amrik Singh of All India Sikh Student Federation in ITI College of Ferozpur. In the First meeting with Bhai Amrik Singh, Bhai Sahib become very fond of him and straight away joined the All India Sikh Student Federation and became an active member.

In 1982, Bhai Sahib started his first term of BA at a college in Patti, here Bhai Sahib also established a unit of All India Sikh Student Federation. At that time the comrade students group under the name of Students Federation of India had a lot of power in the college of Patti. Bhai Sahib was made the president of the All India Sikh Student Federation in Patti. Bhai Sahib made students aware of Sikh values and Sikh history. Bhai Sahib doing such a great sewa of parchar and awareness that in a short timescale the comrades Student Federation of India had lost all its members to All India Sikh Student Federation. All students felt proud to be called a member of All India Sikh Student Federation. Bhai Sahib held Amrit Sanchars at college and made many students Amritdhari. Bhai sahib firmly stood in the struggle for equal rights for Sikhs and to the orders of Sant Jarnail Singh Ji Bhindranwale.

On 24th January 1984, the Punjab police arrested Bhai Sahib and blindly tortured him. The police sent Bhai Sahib to Amritsar jail under the NSA (National Security Act). In jail Bhai Sahib met Bhai Harjinder Singh Jinda of Khalistan Commando Force. Bhai Sahib was in jail when the Indian army attacked Sri Darbar Sahib in June 1984. Operation Bluestar left Bhai Sahib in dismay and heartbroken. While in jail Bhai Sahib completed his BA and in 1986 Bhai Sahib was released from jail. Soon as Bhai Sahib came out he arranged a conference in Patti to make the general public aware of the injustice going on. Bapu Joginder Singh Rode and Bibi Bimal Kaur attended this conference of well as thousands of Sikhs and shouted slogans in favor of a free Sikh homeland. The police were shocked with the progress of the conference and to arrest Bhai Sahib the Punjab police started randomly reading Bhai Sahib’s house.

After this Bhai Sahib joined Bhai Charanjit Singh Channi Talwandi’s group and started doing sewa for the panth in secret. The President of All India Sikh Student Federation, Bhai Gurjit Singh Harihar Jhok made Bhai Sahib the president of the Sikh Student Federation units in the Amritsar district. Due to the continuous harassment of the Punjab police, Bhai Sahib picked up weapons to jump into battlefield and fought the oppressing Indian forces. Bhai Sahib was against the killings of innocent people and had never used a single penny from the funds of the Sikh Freedom Movement for his own personal reasons. Bhai Sahib always got money from home to pay for his and at times his fellow singhs expenses. Bhai Sahib got on with everyone and through Gurbani and explaining Sikh history, Bhai Sahib would make friends with even the most stubborn people. In the first meeting with Dr Sukhdev Singh Ghariala, who was a comrade and the President of Patti Student Federation of India, Bhai Sahib changed his viewpoints after a deep conversation and soon he took Amrit and became an active member of All India Sikh Student Federation. While doing sewa within the Sikh Freedom Movement, Bhai Sahib never stayed at any house or at his village. Bhai Sahib would always rest in fields, Farms or at water tubals. Bhai Sahib did many missions with Gen Labh Singh.

On 10th May 1988, due to information leaked by an informant the Punjab police and CRPF surrounded a water tubal of village Thathi and an encounter started at approx 12pm this encounter was spread around the radius of 12km from the Thathi village through Margandpura to Makhi Kalan and ended in the village of Sathre at about 7pm. This encounter went on for 7 hours and was known to be the longest encounter of that time. Bhai Sahib and fellow singh, Bhai Pritpal Singh Gogobuha, Bhai Fateh Singh Mehatpura, Bhai Gurnam Singh Kala, Bhai Darbara Singh Dodhi Thathi and another 7 singhs attained shaheed. When the news of Bhai Sahib’s Shaheedi reached the public, a damp wind was felt in the area and every household had the wave of sadness running through them. At the time of Bhai Sahib’s cremation thousands of Sikhs and Hindus attended to pay their respect to the fallen soldier of Khalistan. Since the Family has held shaheedi smagam on the 10th May of each year.

Khalsa Fatehnama – May 2006