Shaheed Bhai Tarsem Singh Kohar

Lt. General Khalistan Commando Force

Ik Oankaar Satgur Prasaadh

Aap Sahaa-ee Ho-aa. Sachay Daa Sachaa Dho-aa.

Tayree Bhagat Vadi-aa-ee Paa-ee. Naanak Parabh Sarnaa-ee.

Parmesar Dita Banna. Dukh Rog Ka Dera Bhanna.

 

The Lord is One and He can be attained through the grace of the true Guru.

He Himself has become my help and support. True is the support of the True Lord.

Glorious and great is devotional worship to You. Nanak has found God`s Sanctuary.

The Transcendent Lord has given me His support. The house of pain and disease has been demolished.

A mission started by Sant Jarnail Singh Ji Bindranwale to abolish the flag of slavery that hangs over the Sikh nation, in which thousands of Sikhs gave their lives to gain equal rights for Sikhs. From old men and women to children young as 2months have been tortured and killed, all because they were Sikhs. After the Sikh rule of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the Sikhs have been under the slavery of British and when the Sikhs the freedom from the British not just for themselves but also the Hindus. Once free India was established the Hindus betrayed the Sikhs and put the handcuffs of slavery on Sikhs. Many Khadkus have givenm their lives to break these handcuffs of slavery and gain a free state for Sikhs. In those names of Khadkus is the name of Bhai Tarsem Singh Kohar, a name that is spoken about within the Sikh Freedom Movement with honour.

Bhai Sahib was born in 1961 to Sardar Kehar Singh and Mata Inder Kaur in the village of Kohar near Kadiyan, district Gurdaspur. Bhai Sahib had 4 brothers and 3 sisters. Bhai Sahibs family were in the agricultural trade. Bhai Sahib studied at the village local school but increased his qualifications at D.A.V High School in Kadiyan. Bhai Sahib did a Pre-Engineering course at Bearing Union Christian College which he passed with good results. As Bhai Sahibs career was looking bright, Bhai Sahib went on to apply for higher education as an Engineer but no universities accepted Bhai Sahibs application. Bhai Sahibs dream of becoming an Engineer was crushed. Bhai Sahib was so keen in studying that Bhai Sahib finally got into Pally Technical College. A student, Mann Singh was murdered at Pally Technical College and Bhai Sahib was arrested in connection with the murder. Bhai Sahib was sent to Gurdaspur Jail for 2 years. Bhai Sahib was sentenced to life in prison but after appealing at the High Court Bhai Sahib proved his innocence and was freed. Bhai Sahib wanted to travel abroad but was unsuccessful. Bhai Sahib tried working in many trades but no job felt right. While in prison Bhai Sahib met Bhai Nirmal Singh, Bhai Gurmeet Singh and from there Bhai Sahibs feeling for the Sikh Freedom Movement grew.

September- October 1983, Bhai Sahib went to do Darshan of Sri Harimandir Sahib, Amritsar. There Bhai Sahib listened to Sant Jarnail Singh Ji Bindranwale’s lecture. After listening to the lecture it was clear why Sikhs were slaves and why Sikhs deserved freedom and the Sikh identity. Bhai Sahib went to visit Sant Jarnail Singh Ji Bindranwale at least once a week. Slowly Bhai Sahib won the trust of Sant Jarnail Singh Ji Bindranwale, Bhai Amrik Singh and General Subeg Singh. Bhai Sahib took amrit from Panj Pyare of Dam Dami Taksal. General Subeg Singh gave Bhai Sahib the combat training. Bhai Sahib was now ready for the Sikh struggle and to punish the anti-Sikh elements. Bhai Sahib was given the sewa of keeping a close eye on suspicious people that entered the Sri Darbar Sahib. Bhai Sahib also did sewa of being a bodyguard of Sant Jarnail Singh Ji Bindranwale. Couple of days before the 1984 attack on Sri Darbar Sahib, Bhai Sahib was ordered to go home back to village Kohar by Sant Jarnail Singh Ji Bindranwale. Sant Jarnail Singh Ji Bindranwale told Bhai Sahib not to get lazy while at home as Bhai Sahibs skills will be tested in the hard times coming soon. The Sikhs will face hard obstacles and that Bhai Sahib must keep the Sikh Freedom Movement on its feet till a free land for Sikhs is made. Every single word of Sant Jarnail Singh Ji Bindranwale came true, on 2ndJune 1984, Sri Harimandir Sahib was attacked including 40 surrounding gurudwaras by the Indian army under the orders of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Sikhs that came to pay their respects to Sri Darbar Sahib on the Shaheedi Diwas of Guru Arjun Dev Ji, were massacred in thousands. After seeing these evil atrocities of the Indian government Bhai Sahib was restless and wanted justice to be done to the people that were responsible for this mass murder of Sikhs. The Hindu soldiers were mocking the Sikh soldiers within the Indian army. 31stOctober 1984 Sardar Beant Singh and Sardar Satwant Singh punished the Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi by shooting her in the chest many times early in the morning in the garden of her own house. Instead of the Hindus realising the mistake of the Hindutuva Government, RSS, BJP, Congress and Shiv Sena all these parties ganged up on Sikhs in Delhi, Kanpur and other major cities, and killed Sikh men, raped Sikh women and burned Sikhs by putting burning tyres around the necks. All this injustice on the Sikhs made the Sikh youth want to punish the culprits.

Bhai Sahib got married in April 1984 to Bibi Paramjit Kaur daughter of Sardar Harbans Singh from the village Dyalgarh. On 4thJune 1984 Bhai Sahib had a baby son named Bhujangi Ranjodh Singh. After the 1984 attacks Bhai Sahib was regularly depressed and restless. Bhai Sahib met Baba Ranjit Singh Dyalgarh, Bhai Wassan Singh Zaffarwal, Bhai Manjit Singh Khujala, Baba Makhan Singh Joga Vishnandi, Bhai Waryam Singh Faridkot Katapian-Wali and Bhai Harjinder Singh Jinda Arjunpur. All these Khadku Singhs including Bhai Sahib teamed up to punish the Indian government. March 1985 the singhs formed Khalistan Liberation Army, Bhai Wassan Singh Zaffarwal was chosen the leader and Bhai Sahib was given the rank of Lt. General. For the freedom of the Sikhs the singhs started an armed struggle. 25thJanuary 1986 to create a Panthic Committee a secret meeting was held at Mehta Sahib. In the meeting Bhai Sahib was elected to become one of the 5 singhs of this committee. But Bhai Sahib put forward Bhai Wassan Singh Zaffarwal to become the member instead of himself. The Committee was formed and the 5 memebers were Bhai Dhanna Singh, Baba Gurbachan Singh Manochahal, Bhai Gurdev Singh Maanwala, Giani Arur Singh and Bhai Wassan Singh Zaffarwal. The duty of the Panthic Committee was to plan and construct the missions for the singhs of the Sikh Freedom Movement.

As Bhai Wassan Singh Zaffarwal was elected for the Panthic Committee, Bhai Sahib was given the leadership of Khalistan Liberation Army. Another secret meeting was held in 1986 which was attended by Bhai Sahib and Bhai Manvir Singh Chaheru, at the meeting both singhs gained unity and formed the Khalistan Commando Force. The leadership of Khalistan Commando Force was given to Bhai Manvir Singh Chaheru also known as Bhai Hari Singh. Bhai Sahib was given the role of Lt. General. All the responsibilities of Khalistan Commando Force were on Bhai Manvir Singh Chaheru and Bhai Sahib. Khalistan Commando Force was well known all over India due to their success of punishing enemies of the Sikhs. Also in 1986 the Khadku Singhs started getting weapons and ammunition from across the borders of India.

According to the police records Khalistan Commando Force recruited more than 50 Khadku Singhs and also the Kohar group was equipped with 7 Sten Guns, 9 ‘455’ Revolvers, 1 ’38’ Revolver, 1 Mauser, 5 ‘303’ Rifles, 3 12’Gauge Shotguns and 2 Grenades. These weapons taken from the dead Indian Security forces, when the Khadku Singhs had encounters. Khalistan Commando Force was of 50-60 Sikh youth from the villages of Punjab. Khalistan Commando Force entered the battlefield against the 5thstrongest the country in the world. The Khadku Singhs won many real encounters with the Indian Forces.

Bhai Sahib is said to be involved in the killing of Judge Mirchian and the bus killings in Lubania-Wali. 12THAugust 1984 Bhai Sahib and Bhai Sukhdev Singh of village Litheran met somebody near the Hamira Mill. The person the singhs met had informed the police, as the singhs were travelling back on their scooter, the police had arrested them. The police tortured Bhai Sahib and Bhai Sukhdev Singh to get information on top Khadku Singhs., but the police was unsuccessful. In those days a law was passed. Which allowed the police to put Sikhs in prison without any evidence or any criminal charges. This was called the ‘Kala Kanoon Tande’ under this act Bhai Sahib and Bhai Sukhdev Singh were sent to Nabha Jail, later the singhs were sent to a jail in Pune for a year and then top Nasik Jail.

From Nasik Jail Bhai Sahib and Bhai Sukhdev Singh were taken to the fields of village Agvan-Khurd by the Punjab Police. There the Punjab Police shot dead Bhai Sahib and Bhai Sukhdev Singh. The next day the police released a statement that to an average person was a pack of lies. The police stated; ‘The police had arrested 2 dangerous terrorists, as the police transported to terrorists the members of the group the Khalistan Commando Force attacked the police. The police gave return fire and as the 2 terrorists try to escape the police shot them dead. The names of the 2 terrorists were Bhai Tarsem Singh Kohar and Bhai Sukhdev Singh. The 2 were wanted for many killings and robberies.’ The Chief Minister of Punjab Surjit Barnala from the Akali Dal party had turned his back on the Sikh nation and ignored the killing of innocent Sikhs by the police in fake encounters. The head of Punjab Police, Julio Francis Rebeiro had ordered his officers to kill baptised Sikhs in Punjab.

The families of both Singhs went to the police in big numbers and asked for the shaheedi saroop of Bhai Sahib and Bhai Sukhdev Singh, but the police directed the families to Dera Baba Nanak. When the families got to Dera Baba Nanak, they then directed the families to Kala-Nor Police Station. When the sangat got to the Kala-Nor Police Station they found nothing there as well. A police officer who had sympathy for the families said, 4 bodies of singhs are being cremated at the Gurdaspur Cemetery. The family rushed to Gurdaspur only to find that only ashes of these 4 bodies remain and there is no name to any of the singhs cremated. The families took ashes of all 4 Singhs and according to maryada did a funeral.

The families of many Shaheed Singhs/Singhnia tried to take the police to the court but ministers like Barnala, did not allow any justice to be given to the Sikhs. It’s the same story today also.

Khadku Yodhe – Maninder Singh Baja