Shaheed Bhai Shinder Singh Raja

Khalistan Commando Force 

 

In the battle for the freedom of Khalistan from the oppressive hands of India, many Sikh youth fought and gave their lives for the cause. Amongst these martyrs of Khalistan, many young Sikh men of Kalian Sakatran village, district Tarn Taran, joined the struggle with open arms, and one of them was Shaheed Bhai Shinder Singh, who was born in the year of 1965, in the house of Sardar Gurcharan Singh and from the blessed womb of Mata Jageer Kaur. Bhai Sahib had an older brother, Bhai Rashpal Singh, an elder sister, Bibi Amarjit Kaur and younger brother, Bhai Jang Singh. Bhai Sahib was a very humble person and only spoke when needed.

 

When the 3rd Sikh holocaust started from June 1984, as the then Indian prime minister, Indira Gandhi sent her army to kill and destroy the Sikh spirit by bombing and killing Sikhs at Sri Darbar Sahib, Amritsar, the Sikh nation was sad and wanting revenge started to assemble groups in villages to defend themselves and also to achieve a Sikh homeland, Khalistan, where no further killing of Sikhs or other minorities will happen. It was from the village of Kalian Sakatran that 3 Sikh youth accepted martyrdom as their destiny and left home to fight for Khalistan. These 3 Jhujaru Singhs were, Bhai Shinder Singh Raja l, Bhai Bagicha Singh Khalsa and Bhai Salwinder Singh Dhamaka. They joined the Jhujaru Singhs of Khalistan Commando Force under the command of Bhai Surjit Singh Jhakkar. The 3 Jhujaru Singhs started attacking CRPF and border security force’s checkpoints in their area and punishing anti-Sikh elements also.

 

The Indian security forces were unable to capture the Jhujaru Singhs, hence they started targeting their families. Following this the Jhujaru Singhs started to think how to stop CRPF from raiding their family homes. One day, Bhai Shinder Singh laid explosives on the road towards their village and took positions in the farms awaiting the Indian security forces to come to their village. Bhai Shinder Singh started walking opening in his village, this was to entrap the Indian security forces. An informant rushed to CRPF checkpoint and told them that Bhai Sahib is unarmed and have come to Kalian Sakatran to see his family. The CRPF got happy and quickly got in their jeeps to rush to Bhai Sahib’s house. As they passed the planted explosives, the Jhujaru Singhs detonated the bomb which blew up the CRPF jeep, killing the Indian soldiers onboard. Then the Jhujaru Singhs opened fire on the remained CRPF jeeps. And like this, who came to hunt Bhai Sahib, became hunted themselves by the Jhujaru Singhs.

 

Following this action, the BSF (Border Security Force) set up a base in the village to stop Jhujaru Singhs and their activities. The same night, the Jhujaru Singhs attacked the BSF base and it was in this battle another Jhujaru Singh of Kalian Sakatran, Bhai Akbar Singh attained martyrdom as he tried to loot the weapons of the BSF soldiers.

 

Once Bhai Sahib along with his Jhujaru brothers, Bhai Satnam Singh Satta of Valtoha and Bhai Salwinder Singh Dhamaka were staying at a house in village Lakhana. The Punjab police and CRPF surrounded the house on 30th July 1990. The Jhujaru Singhs were sleeping, and the elderly woman of the house was making tea. She saw the Indian security forces marching towards the house and quickly woke them up and alerted them. The Jhujaru Singhs quickly grabbed their AK47 assault rifles and fired at the Indian security forces forcing them to run back and away from the house. At this point the Sons of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji Maharaj had killed 3 CRPF soldiers and wounded many more. Bhai Salwinder Singh was successful in escaping in the darkness from a window at the backside of the house. Meanwhile Bhai Sahib and Bhai Satnam Singh Satta of Valtoha village carried on battling the Indian security forces for 6 hours. While the Jhujaru Singhs had ammunition, the thousands of Indian soldiers could not come close to the 2 Jhujaru brothers. Once the ammunition had finished, the Jhujaru brothers decided not to be caught alive by the enemy and gave their martyrdom by swallowing a capsule of cyanide each.

 

Even after the 2 lions attained martyrdom, the Indian security forces were too shaken to go near the house, they got some locals to go see why there was no firing. The villagers discovered only the bodies of Shaheed Bhai Shinder Singh Raja and Shaheed Bhai Satnam Singh Satta of Valtoha. The Indian soldiers were not satisfied, so they shot the bodies to make out as if they had killed the Jhujaru Singhs. The bodies of both Jhujaru Singhs were taken to a hospital in Patti where a post-mortem was done. By now the locals of Kalian Sakatran and Valtoha had reached the hospital in Patti and demand the bodies of the martyrs to be given to their families.

 

The cremation of both Jhujaru Singhs was done under a heavy presence of Punjab police and limited family members at the cremation grounds of Patti. The family gathered the ashes and flowed them at Sri Goindwal Sahib, in the Beas River.

 

Khadku Yodhe 2 – Maninder Singh Baja