Shaheed Bhai Gursahib Singh Kalian Sakatran

 

In the present Sikh struggle for Khalistan which was started by Sant Jarnail Singh Ji Bhindranwale, many Sikhs gave their lives and amongst these martyrs of the Sikh panth is the name of Shaheed Bhai Gursahib Singh Kalian Sakatran.

Bhai Gursahib Singh was born in the house of Sardar Wassan Singh and from the womb of Mata Joginder Kaur in the village of Kalian Sakatran, district Amritsar. Bhai Sahib was the youngest of one sister, Bibi Amrik Kaur and one brother, Bhai Major Singh. Many Sikh youths of Kalian Sakatran were had entered the battlefield to fight the Indian security forces for the establishment of Khalistan. At this time Bhai Sahib was of a young age, but in his heart he was anxious to do sewa for the panth. Bhai Sahib joined the Jhujaru Singhs of his village and did sewa within the Sikh Freedom Movement secretly for almost one and a half year. Bhai Sahib was becoming more active day by day and soon the police also caught up with Bhai Sahib and started raiding Bhai Sahib’s house to arrest him. The police told the family to present Bhai Sahib at the local police station once and they will just charge him with a small case. The police assured the family that Bhai Sahib’s life will be spared. Bhai Sahib knew exactly how he would be treated if he had given himself up and did not allow the family to fall into the false hopes of the police. Bhai Sahib had sent a message to the police:

“Police Walayo, you better stop harassing the families of the Jhujaru Singhs. As no parent want their sons to take this path of Jhujaru Singhs and no parent wants to be assaulted by the police. Every Jhujaru Singh has a free mind. Police Walayo, I want to ask you one question. Do you ask you father or mother before you kill the Jhujaru Singhs? Do your parents ask you to get more stars on your shoulders by torturing Jhujaru Singhs and killing them in fake encounters in the darkness of the night? How you torture the parents of the Jhujaru Singhs and break the bones of innocent Sikhs, should we also start treating your families the same way? I, Gursahib Singh have chosen the path of Jhujaru Singhs and will walk on this path till my martyrdom. I have done Ardas to Waheguru to give me the strength to walk on this path and give me the blessing of shahadat. Instead of giving myself up to the Punjab police alive, I rather die in the battlefield fighting the enemy.”

 

Bhai Sahib continued to do sewa like this for 6 months after this letter. Bhai Sahib had a warm and lovable personality and did sewa within the movement with limitless bravery. Bhai Sahib travel across the border to get weapons and he himself always stayed armed also.

On 7th October, Bhai Sahib, Bhai Gurmukh Singh Dasanda, Bhai Sukhdev Singh Sukha Kalian Sakatran, Bhai Jaswant Singh Sursingh and Bhai Nachhatar Singh Manochahal were staying in the farms of village Bhura Karimpur. These farms belonged to the relatives of Bhai Sukhdev Singh Sukha Kalian Sakatran. During this time the Punjab was under the control of the Indian army. The army was searching the area and slowly moving towards the farms in which the singhs were resting in. singhs thought to themselves that if they got into a battle in these farms then the innocent families will suffer. Further up from this farm was a farm of Dhaal, the singhs grabbed their assault rifles and ammunition and started walking towards the Dhaal farm. The army released they had surrounded the Singhs, it was 10 o’clock in the morning. The singhs had decided to fight the Indian security forces and attained shaheedi rather than giving themselves up to the army. When the Indian army walked towards the farm, the Singhs let of burst of bullets to commence the battle. The Singhs had taken positions all over the Dhaal farm. The Dhaal crops are very high and great for cover, this was ideal for the singhs to battle. Bhai Nachattar Singh Manochahal picked his target to kill and fired killing the CO of the army. The singhs were picking their targets and then firing the bullets. The encounter started at 10am and continued for more than 8 hours.

These five singhs of Guru Gobind Singh Ji Maharaj fought with such courage and bravery against the thousands of trained soldiers of India that they killed 13 soldiers and wounded many more. Near the Dhaal farm was very big water tanker. The Indian soldiers climbed this tanker and bombarded the Dhaal farm with grenades and machine guns, the 2 acres of farm was completely destroyed. In the 8 hours long encounter the Indian soldiers killed the 5 singhs but the singhs did not allow the enemy to come close to them. Whichever Indian soldier tried to get close to the singhs was greeted with bullets from the assault rifles of the singhs and sent to the next world. After 8 hours of fierce battling Bhai Gursahib Singh Kalian Sakatran, Bhai Sukhdev Singh Sukha Kalian Sakatran, Bhai Nachattar Singh Manochahal, Bhai Gurmukh Singh Dasanda and Bhai Jaswant Singh Sursingh attained shaheedi and had their names written in gold ink on the pages of Sikh history.

To identify the bodies of the Shaheed Singhs, the Indian army bought the Panchayat of Kalian Sakatran to the location of the encounter who identified Bhai Sahib and Bhai Sukhdev Singh Sukha Kalian Sakatran. The bodies of five singhs were thrown onto the truck by the soldiers and taken to a hospital in Patti. Tractor trollies were filled with locals of Kalian Sakatran and also went to the hospital in Patti. All five families of the singhs were given the permission to cremate the singhs at a crematory in Patti. The families themselves bathed the shaheed singhs and according to the Sikh code of conduct they cremated the singhs after doing Ardas. The flowers (ashes) of shaheed singhs were flowed at Sri Goindwal Sahib.

 

Khadku Yodhe 2 – Maninder Singh Baja