Shaheed Bhai Harjinder Singh Para

Khalistan Liberation Force

In the armed struggle for Khalistan, many Sikhs gave their lives and amongst these brave martyrs are some singhs from the west, who left their families and luxuries and put their lives on the line for the Khalsa panth. Some of these great martyrs were from countries such as England, America and Canada. Here are the names of some shaheeds from Canada, Bhai Harjinder Singh Para, Bhai Surinder Singh Ravi, Bhai Balbir Singh Khaira, Bhai Surinder Singh Shinder, Bhai Mohinder Singh Kooner and Bhai Bhupinder Singh Kooner.

Bhai Harjinder Singh Para was born on 7thAugust 1967, in the house of Sardar Isher Singh and from the womb of Mata Kartar Kaur in the village of Khukrana, district Moga. Bhai Sahib’s loved toy guns and always would be seen playing with them. From childhood Bhai Sahib did studied in Moga city. On 2ndJuly 1982, the whole family of Bhai Sahib moved abroad to Calgary, Canada. Bhai Sahib had passed his 8thclass at Moga but then continued his studies at schools in Calgary and Toronto. Bhai Sahib was very good in sports such as Volleyball and Hockey. It was during this time the Indian army attacked Sri Darbar Sahib in June 1984 and killed thousands of innocent Sikh pilgrims. This had a deep impact on Sikhs all over the world. After the attack, an organisation by the name of International Sikh Youth Federation became very active in Canada. Bhai Sahib was in 12thgrade at this time and started being in contact with members of International Sikh Youth Federation.

Bhai Sahib went to Vancouver to attend a wedding of the brother of his friend and ended up staying there for a month and half. Here Bhai Sahib made friends with Bhai Balbir Singh Khaira and it was here all the Sikh youth got together and talked about Sikhi and how Khalistan will secure the future of Sikhi and Sikhs. When Bhai Sahib returned back to Toronto, his heart and mind was not set on studying and he wanted to do something help secure his community. Bhai Sahib would always attend ISYF meetings and discuss the solutions of the Sikh panth with more like minded fellow Sikhs. Bhai Sahib didn’t even focus at home and was always in deep thoughts. Bhai Sahib was becoming active in the ISYF activities, the Canadian police informed Bhai Sahib’s parents about his involvement. The family then tried to get Bhai Sahib into a job but that also failed, as Bhai Sahib had something else in mind. Bhai Sahib had gun licence in Canada and briefly had minor training in firearms. Bhai Sahib loved to help others and he was always thriving to do well for the Sikh panth.

By now Bhai Sahib had also learnt Judo martial arts. Slowly Bhai Sahib had started taking his clothes out of his house. One day when Mata Kartar Kaur saw that her son’s clothes had halved, she realised that something wasn’t right and it was on that night Bhai Sahib had not returned home. On that night Bhai Sahib and Bhai Mahinder Singh Kooner had gone England. Before leaving home, Bhai Sahib had transferred all his money into his parents account. Bhai Sahib rang his mother from England for a few minutes and said, “I have come here on my own decision. Don’t look for me as I have chosen my own path. Don’t blame anyone that they took me. I will not return and don’t wait for me.” From here Bhai Sahib went Pakistan and would regularly ring his mother, he would tell her to recite Gurbani for him and encourage them to take Amrit from the Panj Pyare.

In Pakistan Bhai Sahib completed his guerrilla training under the command of Jathedar Avtar Singh Brahma of Khalistan Liberation Force. Bhai Sahib was dearly loved by Jathedar Brahma due to his young age and innocence, Bhai Sahib was nicknamed ‘Para’ meaning loved. At home his nickname was Babbi and the Jhujaru Singhs referred to Bhai Sahib as Para or Bhai Manjit Singh Bittu. Jathedar Brahma personally trained Bhai Sahib in guerrilla warfare and battle tactics. Bhai Sahib was very close to Jathedar Brahma and after his shaheedi Bhai Sahib became very sad. Bhai Sahib had a special place amongst the Jhujaru Singhs of Khalistan Liberation Force. Bhai Sahib was involved in most of the actions under Khalistan Liberation Force.

On 16thOctober 1988, Bhai Sahib was out in the battlefield and had been shot, fellow Jhujaru Singhs put Bhai Sahib in the car and tried to escape but they were stopped by a police inspector. Bhai Sahib was wounded and panicked, he didn’t want the fellow Jhujaru Singhs to get into more problem and swallowed a capsule of cyanide. The fellow Jhujaru Singhs managed to escape but Bhai Sahib had given his life for Khalistan and written his name in golden ink in the Sikh history. Bhai Sahib attained shaheedi and the family held his final Ardas at Nanaksar Gurudwara in Kaler.

Bhai Sahib was very clever, example of this is when the Canadian police informed his parents of his activities, and Mata Kartar Kaur hid his passport. But soon as Bhai Sahib turned 18 years old he had a new passport made and he didn’t even let the family find out. One day Bhai Sahib sat down with his parents and started to ask about his family’s history. Sardar Isher Singh could only remember the previous 3 generations, Bhai Sahib said, “Is that it? Only up to my great-grand father? Don’t you know your own history? We should know our family tree.” Then another day Bhai Sahib said, “Has anyone from our family ever had their name written in the Sikh history for their contribution?” Bhai Sahib may have been young but always spoke maturely about Sikhi.

Sant Sipahi – July 1993