Shaheed Bhai Kashmir Singh Bagga

Khalistan Liberation Force

 

Bhai Kashmir Singh was born in 1971 from the blessed womb of mother Mata Mohinder Kaur and father Sardar Gulzar Singh, in the village of Jhander, Ajnala. Bhai Kashmir Singh was a sibling of four brothers and four sisters. He was the youngest of all siblings. Bhai Kashmir Singh was born into a family whose main source of income was by local farming and agriculture. Bhai Kashmir Singh completed his studies up to eighth grade at his local village school, then went to complete ninth and tenth grade at a school in Sangatpura. After his studies he joined his family business in farming and selling crops to earn their living.

 

At around this time, his cousin-nephew Bhai Tasbeer Singh Jhander was part of a well-known Khalsa Jhujaru group, Khalistan Liberation Force. He left the family home and went underground. Being a baptised Sikh, Bhai Kashmir Singh came under police radar on multiple raids to the family home where they would be harassed and interrogated. The situation became unbearable when the police began to arrest him, take him to the police station and blindly torture him. His village representatives would go plea to the police and have him released. Bhai Kashmir Singh got fed up with the constant harassment and the unnecessary burden on his family and village members. He wanted and needed a way out of this. It is said his family got him enrolled into the Punjab police as an SPO (homeguard). He went on to work here for up to four to five months.

 

During this time Bhai Kashmir Singh continued to serve the freedom movement alongside Bhai Tasbeer Singh Jhander and fellow Jhujaru Singhs. Where he secretly served alongside the Jhujaru Singhs, he was also close enough to witness the unfair arrest and treatment of innocent Sikhs who would constantly get arrested and tortured by the police and their black cats. He was working under the command of the evil SSP Suri. It came to a point where Bhai Kashmir Singh had to make a decision and go underground.  With the steer of Bhai Tasbeer Singh Jhander, they made a plan for him to escape from the command of SSP Suri.

 

Between the years of 1989-1990, whilst Bhai Kashmir Singh was working his job at the police location of Bhalla village (near Kukran, Ajnala), together with Bhai Tasbeer Singh Jhander they eliminated 3-4 police officers who all had a track record of torturing innocent Sikhs and Jhujaru Singhs. As part of this mission, not only did Bhai Kashmir Singh serve justice to these heinous individuals but also took all possible weaponry and firearms available from this police station which became beneficial to his Jhujaru group.

 

From here on, the love and loyalty between Bhai Kashmir Singh and Bhai Tasbeer Singh was immense, they worked together like real brothers and undertook many extraordinary missions.

Many Jhujaru Singhs were a part of this group known as the Khalistan Liberation Force under the command of Bhai Tasbeer Singh Jhander. These Singhs who formed this group were – Bhai Palwinder Singh Sona (village Khalera), Bhai Lakha Singh Dubli, Bhai Jasbir Singh Thanda, Bhai Jagjeet Singh Jaggi (village Udhoke), Bhai Kashmir Singh Jhander, Bhai Harpal Singh Pala (village Jandiala Guru), Bhai Harjinder Singh Bhalwan (village Sultanwind), Bhai Dilawar Singh Sharma, Bhai Hardev Singh Kalia (village Kadrabad), Bhai Sitta Singh Jhakhar, Bhai Nirmal Singh Nimma (village Mehma Pandori), Bhai Ranjit Singh Rana (Cheeteh Kalan), Bhai Kulwinder Singh Bhola (village Thathi Khara), Bhai Tarsem Singh (village Thathi Khara), Bhai Jhirmal Singh (village Gehri Mandi), Bhai Amarjit Singh Sheikhupura (near Jaintipur, Amritsar), Bhai Tarsem Singh Laadi (Village Thathi, near Patti), Bhai Baldev Singh Meharwanpur (near Jandiala), Bhai Jagir Singh Fauji (village Kala Afghana), Bhai Virvail Singh Dhaudi. The police now had their eyes on the Jhujaru Singhs of this group and were waiting to catch them off guard.

 

On 23rd December 1991, a few of the Jhujaru Singhs including Bhai Kashmir Singh were travelling to Sangh, a village in the district of Karnal, Haryana. At an unfortunate turn of events, an informant tipped the police of about this trip. Immediately, the police tracked down the Jhujaru Singhs enroute and captured Bhai Kashmir Singh Bagga. Bhai Kashmir Singh was taken to the village of Sohian (near Sangatpur, Majitha) and was made a martyr of Khalistan by the Punjab police in a fake encounter. Without informing the family or their consent, Bhai Kashmir Singh Bagga’s body was cremated at the Seetla Mandir, not according to the Sikh rites and ceremonies. Bhai Kashmir Singh’s family got to know of his martyrdom and protested to the police on the whereabouts of his body, only to be told he had already been cremated. Bhai Kashmir Singh’s family would not leave without the remains of Bhai Kashmir Singh. Now under pressure, the police collected the ashes and gave them to the family of Shaheed Bhai Kashmir Singh Bagga.

 

Information given by the family of Shaheed Bhai Kashmir Singh Bagga