Shaheed Bhai Resham Singh Makhu

Babbar Khalsa

Bhai Resham Singh Makhu (Birth name Bhai Palwinder Singh Waryam) was born in the house of Sardar Tarlok Singh and from the womb of Mata Pritam Kaur in the village of Variah, near Makhu. Bhai Sahib had 3 brothers and 2 sisters, Bhai Sahib’s whole family were Gursikhs. Bhai Sahib studied till 3rd class and never went school again after that. From a young age Bhai Sahib was looking after the family farms. Bhai Sahib’s village is near Sardaruala village where Baba Thakur Singh Ji Bhindranwale was born. From his childhood Bhai Sahib stayed well dressed, everyone would think that he had been highly educated. Bhai Sahib remained very quiet and would always love to recite Gurbani and sing songs of Sikh warriors such as Baba Deep Singh Ji Shaheed and Baba Banda Singh Ji Bahadur. Before the Indian army attacked Sri Darbar Sahib in June 1984, Bhai Sahib and Bhai Khajan Singh Sardaruala (Nephew of Baba Thakur Singh Ji Bhindranwale) would regularly go Sri Darbar Sahib to do Darshan and listen to the speeches of Sant Jarnail Singh Ji Khalsa Bhindranwale. On 14th April 1984, Bhai Surinder Singh Sodhi attained martyrdom, Bhai Sahib was at Sri Darbar Sahib complex on this day and witnessed the whole ordeal. Bhai Sahib was very close to Baba Nand Singh Mundepind, it was under their guidance that Bhai Sahib had his Anand Karaj.

Then in June 1984, the Indian army did the most unimaginable thing by attacked Sri Akaal Takht Sahib and killing thousands of Sikh pilgrims who had come to pay respect on the anniversary of Guru Arjan Dev Ji’s martyrdom. Indian tanks and cannons destroyed the Sikh throne, Sri Akaal Takht Sahib and the foundation of Khalistan was laid. Bhai Sahib was deeply hurt after the attack of June 1984 and had stopped talking to anyone, Bhai Sahib wanted to take revenge for the desecration of the Sikh throne and the murder of thousands of Sikhs. Soon the armed struggle for Khalistan started and Bhai Sahib became interested and wanted to join the Jhujaru Singhs to punish the anti-Sikh elements. Bhai Sahib soon came in contact with some local Jhujaru Singhs and did sewa of serving them Langar and slowly he started taking part in local actions secretly too. This could not have been kept a secret for long and soon the Punjab police found out about Bhai Sahib’s involvement in the movement. Bhai Sahib was arrested from Gurdwara Shaheeda Sahib, Amritsar and after being charged with many cases, mostly fake, he was sent to jail.

Bhai Sahib spent 2 years in jail and then his sister had Him released from Nabha jail. Soon as Bhai Sahib was released, he met his family for the last time and left home to openly join Jhujaru Singhs in the armed struggle for Khalistan. Bhai Sahib gathered all the local likeminded Sikh youth and formed a small group on his area under the command of Babbar Khalsa. Bhai Sahib’s group had brave Singhs like Bhai Heera Sabra, Bhai Davinder Singh Sabra, Bhai Hari Singh Patti, Bhai Puran Singh Kuharhka, Bhai Bira Singh Duhal, Bhai Sukha Singh Sangatpura and few others. In his area, Bhai Sahib and fellow Jhujaru Singhs had made it dangerous for the Indian security forces to move around. The senior officials from the local police force were scared of Bhai Sahib’s name. There was a Lakh Rupees reward on Bhai Sahib’s head. Bhai Sahib had many battles with the Indian security forces and with the blessing of Dhan Guru Gobind Singh Ji Maharaj, he escaped safe and after causing heavy damage to the enemy. While underground, Bhai Sahib’s Anand Karaj was done with Bibi Kulbir Kaur in the year of 1989. Only few weeks after the wedding, the Punjab police arrested Bibi Kulbir Kaur and charged her with many fake cases which gave the police more remand time. Bibi Kulbir Kaur was blindly tortured for information on Bhai Sahib, but she did not know anything and could not give any information. The police sent Bibi Kulbir Kaur to jail and only after the martyrdom of Bhai Sahib (6 months) she was released.

In October 1989, Bhai Sahib was resting in the house of his in-laws in the village of Madar, near Khemkaran. Few days prior to this Bhai Bira Singh Duhal and Bhai Puran Singh Kuharhka had been arrested by the police. Bhai Sahib was alone and had no Singhs with him, hence he went to his in-laws and was staying here till he heard anything from fellow Jhujaru Singhs. The police was informed of Bhai Sahib’s location and within few minutes, hundreds of officers surrounded the village of Madar. Soon as Bhai Sahib realised the presence of enemy, he grabbed his assault rifle and ran towards the fields to battle in open rather than amongst innocent people. But as Bhai Sahib ran towards the fields, he was shot in the leg and seriously wounded. The police managed to grab Bhai Sahib and interrogated him for information on high command of Babbar Khalsa, but the police were given no information. Then on 29th October 1989, Bhai Sahib along with Bhai Balvir Singh Bira (S/o Sardar Hazara Singh of village Duhal Kohna, Patti) and Bhai Puran Singh Kuharhka were made shaheed in a false encounter in the village of Madar. In memory of Bhai Sahib, a Nishan Sahib was put up in his home village.

After the police gave a press conference in which they boasted about how brave they were to kill 2 Jhujaru Singhs in a fierce encounter. It was stated by the Tarn Taran Police Chief, SSP Baldev Singh that Bhai Sahib had killed more than hundred enemies of the Sikh panth. The police also mentioned other actions of Bhai Sahib such as, an fierce encounter the village of Mughal Chak in which a fellow Jhujaru Singh, Bhai Heera Singh Babbar had attained shaheedi and Bhai Sahib escaped. Then Bhai Sahib attacked a CRPF jeep in the village of Bure Kohna, in which 1 soldier was killed and 7 wounded. SSP Baldev also stated that before joining Babbar Khalsa, Bhai Sahib did actions in the Mand with Bhai Nishan Singh Makhu of Khalistan Liberation Force.

Information given by family of Shaheed Bhai Resham Singh Makhu