Shaheed Bhai Harminderpal Singh alias Mini Brar

Babbar Khalsa

 

Bhai Harminderpal Singh was born on 14th August 1967 from the blessed womb of mother, Mata Amarjit Kaur and father, Sardar Harbans Singh in the village of Tangra, Baba Bakala, Amritsar. Bhai Harminderpal Singh was a sibling of two brothers and one sister, him being the middle sibling. (Bhai Sukhjinder Singh, Bhai Harminderpal Singh and Bibi Rupinder Kaur).

 

Bhai Harminderpal Singh was born into a family whose main means of livelihood was agriculture. His father was a government teacher, by profession. Bhai Harminderpal Singh himself completed his tenth-grade study at a government school in Chhajjalwadi village and completed his twelfth grade at Jandiala. Alongside his twelfth-grade studies, he enrolled into the Mehar Chand Polytechnical College in Jalandhar and took on a three-year diploma course in Mechanical Engineering. Bhai Harminderpal Singh was a very smart tall handsome young man.

 

Bhai Harminderpal Singh had just completed two years of this diploma, going on into the third year, when in August 1990 he decided to drop his studies and dedicate his remaining life to the armed struggle and the fight for Khalistan. During his time studying in Jalandhar, he had become very closely acquainted to fellow students who too were serving the fight for freedom and contributed shoulder to shoulder with the Jhujaru Singhs. Not only did Bhai Harminderpal Singh support the fight for freedom and Khalistan, he was a very religious soul and dedicated to the Sikh way of life and never starting his day without reciting his daily prayers.

 

Bhai Harminderpal Singh began spending a lot of time serving and contributing towards the Khalistan movement alongside his close associates (from nearby areas of Jalandhar and Lakhan Ke Padda). His parents were unaware of his activities and the reasons of why he would stay away. Unexpectedly, on the day Bhai Harminderpal Singh returned home for the Rakhri ceremony, two police jeeps from Kapurthala police came to arrest him. As soon as Bhai Harminderpal Singh caught wind of this, he swiftly escaped from the house. From this day on he never returned to his family home. But the consequences were such that the police began harassing and interrogating his family. They would arrest Bhai Harminderpal Singh’s grandfather, father and brother (who also worked as a police officer for Punjab police) and interrogate them in a bid to find out Bhai Harminderpal Singh’s whereabouts. Both Bhai Harminderpal Singh’s father and brother would be unruly tortured during these interrogations.

 

Bhai Harminderpal Singh had joined the Jhujaru group led by Bhai Sukhjinder Singh Brar from the village of Jabowal. Bhai Harminderpal Singh was eager to be baptised and was blessed with Amrit and became a pure Khalsa.  Bhai Harminderpal Singh became very near and dear to Bhai Sukhjinder Singh Brar. Even after Bhai Sukhjinder Singh Brar attained Shaheedi (martyrdom), others would refer to Bhai Harminderpal Singh as mini Brar.

 

Bhai Harminderpal Singh was very close to his mother. But due to this attachment his mother would wish for him to leave this fight for freedom and come home. However, Bhai Harminderpal Singh would respond in reminding her of Guru Gobind Singh Ji’s four sons who also laid their young lives down for righteousness and the fight for freedom. He would also explain that, “O, Mother we have prayed for this path in front of the Guru and will not waver from the oath proclaimed. We will continue to fight and either we attain our freedom and homeland Khalistan or we attain martyrdom. But one thing is for sure, we will not become slaves to the deaf government.” Bhai Harminderpal Singh kept steadfast and in high spirits continuing his dedication to the cause and the fight for freedom.

 

Bhai Harminderpal Singh’s father was a well-respected individual in his locality. The police did not spare him and would regularly pick him up, inflicting horrendous torture and pain to get him to speak and disclose any information on the whereabouts of his son and the other Jhujaru Singhs. The level of torture caused severe lasting impact, with deterioration of his mental well-being. Eventually he could take no more and succumbed to the continuous amount of torture on 13th September 1992. This was a heart-breaking time for the family losing the head of the household.

 

In the month of November 1992, an informant tipped of the police about the whereabouts of Bhai Harminderpal Singh alias Mini Brar and which led to him being arrested. Relentless torture was inflicted on Bhai Harminderpal Singh with constant interrogation to gain information of his fellow Jhujaru Singhs and the other Sikh organisations. Bhai Harminderpal Singh did not disclose an iota of information and kept his loyalty to the Sikh nation until his last breath. Then on 26th December 1992, the police took his destroyed body to the village of Sursingh and threw it into a cotton field, framing the killing as a fake encounter. Along with Bhai Harminderpal Singh’s body, bodies of five other Singhs were also thrown and dumped to make it appear as they were all part of the encounter.

 

Information given by the family of Shaheed Bhai Harminderpal Singh alias Mini Brar