Shaheed Bhai Kuldeep Singh Fauji

Babbar Khalsa

Bhai Kuldeep Singh Fauji was born in the village of Bham, district Batala, in the house of late Sardar Dalbir Singh and from the womb of Mata Gurnam Kaur. Bhai Sahib studied up till 5th class at the local school of Bham village and then Bhai Sahib passed metric at a private school in Ajnala. Sant Kartar Singh Bhindranwala and then Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwala regularly came to Bham village to do Gurmat Smagams. It was due to these smagams Bhai Sahib remained attached to Sikhi from his childhood. At the time of 1978 Vaisakhi massacre of Amritsar, where 13 Singhs were killed by Narakhdharis, Bhai Sahib was only 9 years old, but the Jhujaru mind and soul of Bhai Sahib had matured. In 1978, Sant Jarnail Singh Ji Khalsa was in Bham village doing Gurmat smagam, the Narakhdharis also came to this smagam with a full truck. When Bhai Sahib got this news, he and another 2 youngsters went to Sant Ji and informed the Jatha on the Narakhdhari activities. Sant Ji had given Singhs the green light to wreck and burn the trucks the Narakhdharis were travelling on. In the young age, this was Bhai Sahib’s first action.

At the age of 14, Bhai Sahib had started staying at the Sri Darbar Sahib complex in 1983. Here Bhai Sahib met other like-minded Jhujaru Singhs of Sant Ji’s Jatha. While staying at Sri Darbar Sahib, Bhai Sahib and his close Jhujaru brother, Bhai Surjan Singh assassinated Inspector Buta Sio and then went underground. Even though Bhai Sahib mainly stayed with the Jhujaru Singhs of Babbar Khalsa, but Bhai Sahib was very close to Giani Aroor Singh Dhala, Bhai Tarsem Singh Kohar, Bhai Manjit Singh Khujala, Bhai Surinder Singh Sodhi, Bhai Gurmej Singh Fauji and other Jhujaru Singhs from other Jathas.

At the time of the attack on Sri Darbar Sahib in June 1984, Bhai Sahib was in his home village. As soon as Bhai Sahib got the news of the attack, he left his house to go to Sri Darbar Sahib, but due to the curfews, the Indian Army turned Bhai Sahib back. From here on Bhai Sahib started doing actions. In 1985, Bhai Sahib was arrested and released on bail a short time after. After the attack on Sri Darbar Sahib, Bhai Sahib had lost contact with the Jhujaru Singhs, but Bhai Sahib’s blood was boiling for revenge. General Ranjit Dyal who was one of the senior Indian Army officers which attacked Sri Darbar Sahib was in Puna these days in-charge of the Indian Army. Bhai Sahib wanted to take revenge by assassinating General Ranjit Dyal. Whilst on bail Bhai Sahib managed to enrol himself into the Indian Army in Puna. But by the time Bhai Sahib joined the army General Ranjit Dyal had been transferred to another location and Bhai Sahib’s mission had to be aborted, after this Bhai Sahib also left the Indian Army himself. Soon as Bhai sahib returned he met his old Jhujaru brothers from Babbar Khalsa and now, it was action after action.

During his Jhujaru life Bhai Sahib did roughly 200 to 250 actions on his own, including explosive actions. Other than this Bhai Sahib punished uncountable informants and black cats, to write about Bhai Sahib’s actions one would need to write many books. Bhai Sahib was involved in the 1987 Delhi bomb-blasts, Indore bomb-blasts, Kurukshetra bomb-blast, Katra Ahluwalia bomb-blast, blowing up army jeeps in Miankot, assassinating the Major General of the BSF 32 Battalion and its soldiers, Sri Hargobindpur bomb-blast, blowing up police stations in Phagwara. In November 1991, the Punjab Police managed to arrest Bhai Sahib with the help of an informant, that day the TV channels and radio stations reported of a top Babbar Khalsa Jhujaru Singh being arrested plus another 4 Jhujaru Singhs. On the forth day the butcher government reported to the media that Bhai Sahib along with his fellow Jhujaru Singhs were being taken to a location of weapons when all of a sudden the Jhujaru Singhs of Babbar Khalsa attacked the police convoy. In the battle Bhai Sahib and Bhai Rashpal Singh were killed as they tried to escape and another Jhujaru Singh managed to escape, but this was also one of Punjab Police’s con. The fact was that Bhai Sahib was kept alive by the Punjab Police to get information on other Jhujaru Singhs. For 5 months Bhai Sahib was inhumanly tortured and one of the BSF soldiers felt for Bhai Sahib and with his help Bhai Sahib managed to escape.

Upon escaping from BSF custody Bhai Sahib called a press conference and told his story. “I met Sant Jarnail Singh Ji Bhindranwale in 1982 and after joined the Jhujaru Singhs of Babbar Khalsa. Whilst with Babbar Khalsa I did many big actions, on 11th November 1991 I myself, Bhai Mukhtyar Singh Mundaria and Bhai Rashpal Singh Shahpur were arrested near Jammu Kanua as we returned from an action of the Jathebandi. I was not correctly identified until 28th November 1991, because I had a fake identification card in the name of Gurdeep Singh. I was blindly tortured and electrocuted. The torture would stop when I would fall unconscious. On 28th November an informant confirmed with the police that I was actually the Kuldeep Singh Fauji of Babbar Khalsa. I was continuously asked for information of other Jhujaru Singhs and locations of weapons. I was given many offers to turn Bhai Sukhdev Singh Babbar in. When I refused all the bribes, I was taken to 33 Battalion of CRPF in Jalandhar, even here I was non-stop tortured.” Bhai Sahib also exposed the Indian security forces by stating that many Jhujaru Singh that they had claimed had escaped or attained Shaheedi were actually being kept in similar Head Quarters of the BSF. When Bhai Sahib was asked how he managed to escape, Bhai Sahib answered, “On 23rd March 1992, at 4.30am one of the CRPF soldiers sympathised with me and with his help I escaped.”

Bhai Sahib was then asked if he had been married, Bhai Sahib confidently replied, “I have been engaged to death, I’m just waiting to get married to her.” Bhai Sahib was then asked about Khalistan and his answer was, “Where everyone is treated equal, no matter what religion, caste or gender they are, that is Khalistan!” Bhai Sahib also assured the journalists that Khalistan will definitely be established, as the foundation has been laid with the blood of the Sikhs.

Even after escaping from the BSF custody, Bhai Sahib continued to do actions under the Babbar Khalsa and progress in the Khalistan movement. On the night of 15th November 1992, Bhai Sahib along with another 4 Jhujaru Singhs were confronted by the Indian security forces. A fierce battle took place and in the early hours of 16th November 1992, the ammunition of the Jhujaru Singhs had finished and all five Jhujaru Singhs attained Shaheedi. The actions and immense sewa of Bhai Sahib will be remembered forever.

Punjab Times International – 3rd December 1992