Time to Regroup

Bhai Sahib realised that many valuable Gursikhs had been lost during the Operation Blue Star and Operation Woodrose. The Government had also attacked 40 other Gurdwaras, aswell as Siri Darbar Sahib complex, and in total many thousands of Sikhs had died.

The Babbars had to regroup a mount a long term sustainable guerrilla movement to establish Khalistan. The Babbars were instructed to cross the border into Pakistan. In Pakistan and other foreign countries, the Babbars started buying better quality weapons, and set up training camps. They created a plan to re-integrate into Punjab, under numerous disguises and set up an elaborate communication procedures.

The Indian Intelligence Services were always of the opinion that Jathedar Sukhdev Singh lived in Pakistan. They stuck to this theory for many years. However Bhai Sahib never went to Pakistan. He just sent a cell of Gursikhs there to organise activities. Instead he continued his practice of leading from the front, and took part in actions in Punjab.

Day by day as more and more missions were accomplished by the Singhs, daily reports came out in Press. Bhai Sahib was always quiet, but when he said something it had a lot of impact. People knew that everything he said happened, or Panthic dushts he targeted did get eliminated. Slowly his name from the press reports, came unto the lips of every person in Punjab. Young boys in schools, when arguing in the playground, would say to each to other, “Who do you think you are? Are you Sukhdev Singh Babbar?” The name and the icon became born……

Bhai Sahib very cleverly became active under the disguise of a building contractor. He posed as a rich man, which allowed him to rub shoulder with those in power in Punjab. This way he kept in touch with all those, who made decisions to that affect Punjab everyday. It is also allowed him to keep faxes, and other elaborate communication devices, by which he communicated with Gursikhs on a world wide level, without raising suspicion.

As a building contractor, he was also in touch with those controlling the construction of the canals which led Punjab river waters to other states. He subtly ensured that the contracts would not be completed, and the projects are continuously delayed. Plus being a rich man, he made politic contacts which gave him access to information about which police officers were active against the Singhs, and who was torturing and killing the Singhs.

Further he began creating links with other Sikh Youth Jathebandies with like minded aims and objectives. This way he created a network called the “5 Member Committee”. This joined the forces of Babbar Khalsa, Khalistan Liberaton Force, (Avtar Singh Brahma, then Gurjant Singh Budsinghwale), Khalistan Commondo Force ( Parmjit Singh Panjwar), Bhinderawale Tiger Force (Rashpal Singh Chandra), Sikh Students Federation (Daljeet Singh Bittu).

Later after losing all confidence in the leaders of the Akali Dal like Badal and Tohra. Bhai Sahib set up the Babbar Akali Dal to give a political voice in Punjab, and a voice for the widows of Delhi. However many of its leaders were given life imprisonment under TADA with no trial or charges.

Discipline Amongst the Ranks

It is essential in any successful organisation to have discipline amongst the ranks. Bhai Sahib would initially only allow Spiritual and Rehitvaan Gursikhs into the ranks of Babbar Khalsa. However over the years, many of the diamonds of the Movement became Shaheed such as Bhai Anokh Singh, Bhai Sulakhan Singh, etc. Some say joining forces with other Jujahroo groups led to Babbar Khalsa losing its Rehit. It is easy to sit back and criticise and hard to do Seva.

When the first generation of Singhs became Shaheed, the new recruits that were coming in, were not fighting as much because they Khalsa, and wanted to establish a homeland Khalistan on high ideals. They were coming in because of Police excesses, rape & torture in villages. As a result all Jujarhoo groups lost Singhs who had full faith in Gurmat, and never compromised their ideals. Many of the new recruits were mere kids, and the experienced Jujarhoos, themselves such as Jathedar were just in their late twenties, early thirties.

So in this new atmosphere maintaining discipline was very important. It was difficult to do, because without exposing who you are, how can you directly communicate with the ranks? You never know which youth will succume to torture in the future, or maybe a spy infiltrating the group.

The way Bhai Sahib would keep an eye on the ranks, was to sometimes pretend to be a simple Singh fighting with some cells. He would go on missions with grass roots Singhs. But these Singhs never knew that this six foot, well built Singh was the Jathedar. This way he kept an eye on the ranks, without exposing himself.
Punjab Police and the Movement

Between 1978 till the late 1980`s, many Punjab police officers actually helped the Singhs, or ignored their activities. The government was aware of this, which is why during the early days they relied more on the army. When the 5 Jujahroo groups joined forces, one of the first statements was made by Jathedar ji. In this statement, he asked all freedom fighting Singhs to not kill innocent Police Officers, and no one was to harm any families of Police Officers. This was a visionary statement, and went along way to reducing tensions between them. Jathedar ji knew the fight was not against other Punjabis, but it was against the Brahmins who used the Indian Government machinery to destroy Sikhi.

Security Services realising the impact of this statement, and also realising that the Singhs were now during the period of 1986-1989, completely controlling Punjab, they changed their tactics. The Security services via Police Commander Ribero created groups called “Black cats”. These were security services personnel, cruel police officers, some nihangs, and criminals. They would dress up as Singhs, and commit heinous crimes against innocents in Punjab. This would include kidnapping, murder, rape, torture, looting, etc. They did this dress as Singhs in bana, and after their crimes drop names of leading freedom fighters to give them a bad name in the Punjab villages which sympathised and protected the Singhs. This policy was used very effectively against Baba Manochal group, and others. The policy worked in many ways, it stopped villagers sympathising with groups, it caused problems within groups, who were not sure if the tales of woe were true. Plus the victims were those who need most protection, and the “black cats” were always richly rewarded. Many times, it was the same police officers who dressed as Singhs at night to pare and loot, then in the morning they would go and investigate, only to get recognised by the victims.

When the Congress leader Beant Singh came to power he created a policy of “Shoot to Kill” any Sikhs, without any reason. To ensure the Punjab police do not lose their hunger for genocide. He took the “black cat” policy to another level. KPS Gill is able and highly violent Commander of Police, even went as far, as sending “black cats” to kill innocent Police Officers and their families. The horror of this motivated all police officers to wipe Punjab`s earth of any Sikh youth. It kept them motivated to mass murder, pillage, loot, and annihilate any family linked to any freedom fighter.

Fake Police encounters became everyday practice, and were treated as a points scoring game. Every evening for years, KPS Gill would phone each of his main officers in each district, and they would have to report numbers of Sikh youth they had killed that day. So one would say 25, another 30, another 45. Whoever was the lowest would be frowned upon, or told he was not patriotic enough. These were the genocidal days of 1989 -1992

Jathedar Sukhdev Singh's Jeevan

Bhai Sahib had a very high Jeevan. His eyes shone, and his stature was like Purataan Gursikhs. He was very quiet, but was highly intelligent. He never raised his voice, and always spoke with a sweet voice. Jathedar jee was very close to Bhai Anokh singh. Both singhs would live for days on sholay de daane (chick peas) and Naam. Even during great hardship, moving by the night and living undercover they managed to keep there Bibekta and amrit vela.

His daily prayers would last many hours, as he meditated peacefully on God. He was a very humble and caring man, soft-spoken, yet very determined and strong of character. He was a perfect example of a Gursikh.

The Punjab Police and Indian Intelligence Services made capturing and eliminating Bhai Sahib their top priority. They realised he was the backbone of the movement. As other Generals were being Shaheed, they were being replaced, however Bhai Sahib was so iconic and organisationally effective, he would be irreplaceable. Many Singhs were tortured in the cruelest of manner to find out the where-abouts of Bhai sahib. However such was their love and respect for him, that they never uttered a word.

Both Bhai Anokh Singh and Bhai Sulakhan Singh had amazing spiritual Jeevans. Both when captured were severely tortured. Bhai Anokh Singh jis was tortured for many days, his eyes were removed, his tongue was cut off, and his insides were exposed and hot peppers pushed in. Bhai Sulakhan Singh was Shaheed just as Bhai Mani Singh ji was, as he was cut joint from joint.

Bhai Manmohan Singh just stated to his torturers that his name was Manmohan Singh. He said ask me anthing else you want, that is all I will tell you. After many days torture, the only words the police heard from his mouth were “Waheguru”, until he also was ultimately Shaheed. Another Singh, close to Bhai Sahib had his legs tied between two jeeps, which drove off, ripping him in half.

For 14 years Bhai Sukhdev Singh led the Khalistan movement in Punjab. He ensured many responsible for the genocide against sikhs, met there suitable ends. During the late 80`s and early 90`s, the Singhs were so strong, that they virtually ran a parallel government in Punjab.

Even international magazines, such as article in India Today had reported that Bhai Sukhdev Singh Jee was the "most prominent militant leader since 1978, who had, over the years, acquired an aura of Invincibility". With Bhai Sukhdev Singh at its helm "Babbar Khalsa had acquired a reputation as the most puritanical, austere, and ideologically committed militant organisation". Most Indian journalists regarded the organisation as above the other groups as it owned up to its assassinations and condemned the killings of innocent civilians. There was another report in India Today where an un-named Police officer told the paper that when they tortured Gursikhs by cutting there muscles and pouring chilli powder into the cuts and also using hot poke into the eyes and muscles and ripping the muscles of the bones he used to hear Naam-Simran and also Paath. In one such case was when he witnessed the death of Bhai Anokh Singh Jee Babbar. He left the police shortly afterwards due to stress and mental problems.

To really understand what Bhai sahib was you have to consider one thing. If we youth today, most of whom are the same age as these Singhs were when they did all this Seva, had intelligence services, police, black cats, sikh informers after us. How long do you think we would last? Probably a few days. Bhai sahib lasted 14 years. Virtually hundreds of Singhs were shaheed under torture in efforts by Punjab police to find Bhai sahib. They had there families annihilated. But such was the love and respect for Bhai sahib, no-one ever spoke. How much love does someone have for someone to do that? They saw their families killed, and were tortured limb by limb themselves, but never told where Jathedar Sukhdev Singh was. Then you understand what he was, and how highly he was held by so many. To become a singh with him, meant death, not only of you, but your whole family. There was no culture of fear around him, it was a culture of Love and Respect.

Another mark of Jathedar ji, was after his Shaheedi, no group was for many years capable doing any major operation in India, until Bhai Dilavaaar Singh Babbar blew up the genocidal Beant Singh, Congress Chief Minister of Punjab. Even after that, the movement has never been the same. So many Dushts against Sikhi are still alive and active today. The Panth needs Gursikhs of the Calibre of Jathedar Ji.

Never was there a better example of a Gursikh worthy of the title "Jathedar Ji". This was the mark of his Jeevan, the mark of the man and the Legend.