Shaheed Bhai Avtar Singh Kalanaur

Khalistan Commando Force

 

Bhai Avtar Singh was born in the year 1966, from the blessed womb of Mata Gurbachan Kaur and in the house of Sardar Sudagar Singh in village of Kalanaur, Gurdaspur. Bhai Sahib was the fourth eldest of his siblings with three brothers and four sisters. Punjab was a land of agriculture and was the backbone of village life and family income. Like most Punjabi families in the village, Bhai Avtar Singh’s family also worked in agriculture to earn a humble living. Bhai Avtar Singh also came from a very religious Gursikh family upbringing. He had never been to school. From a young age, he had worked alongside his family members in farming and cultivating their land.

 

Bhai Avtar Singh was blessed and baptised with Amrit at a young age. He lived a very devote and religious lifestyle. He was strict on his daily prayers and would wake up in the early hours known as Amritvela. From a very young age he would join Bhai Jagir Singh Kalanaur (Shaheed) at their local Gurdwara Sahib (Gurdwara Baba Banda Bahadur) and do Nitnem together. Bhai Avtar Singh lived and breathed a Gursikh lifestyle, always reciting Gurbani and adorned in complete Gursikh Bana (religious attire). During Nagar Kirtans, Bhai Avtar Singh would be honoured with the Sewa of being one of the designated Panj Pyare leading the Nagar Kirtan.

 

The attack on Sri Harmandir Sahib in June 1984, left Bhai Avtar Singh distraught and emotionally pained. He was only a young adult, at the age of 18, when he decided to immediately join the Jhujaru Singhs and serve justice against the perpetrators for their heinous attack and fight for a free homeland, Khalistan. In the year 1986, whilst secretly serving with the Jhujaru Singhs, he was falsely accused by the police and charged under a fabricated firearms case. The case went to court and Bhai Avtar Singh was cleared of the case. However, during the trial period Bhai Avtar Singh was mercilessly tortured many times and his family members were also harassed. All this further reinforced, his anger and hatred against the government. Despite being cleared of the charges and case dropped. The police raid Bhai Avtar Singh’s home regularly, harassed him and his family members. The police would then take him away to the police station where he was brutally tortured. He would be freed, only to be left with pain and injuries on his way back home. The frustration and anger of this situation and the discrimination he’d received was more than he could deal with. He realised there was no lawful justice left and had to take matters into his own hands. Many of Bhai Sahib’s childhood friends from the same village had joined Jhujaru Singhs to fight for freedom. Bhai Sahib knew there was no other way but to also join the Sikh struggle for freedom. Bhai Sahib joined Khalistan Commando Force and started doing Jhujaru actions alongside the likes of Bhai Karnail Singh Dedh Gawar, Bhai Ajit Singh Bhagtana, Bhai Ajit Singh Qadian and Bhai Jagir Singh Kalanaur.

 

On 6th March 1992, Bhai Avtar Singh and Bhai Davinder Singh had just returned from Pakistan. They had crossed the border back into Punjab and were heading towards the village of Kalanaur. Unexpectedly, there was a new CRPF checkpoint enroute and the Singhs were stopped. Immediately, this turned into a shootout situation. The police did not take any haste in shooting the Singhs outright. Both Bhai Avtar Singh and Bhai Davinder Singh attained Shaheedi (martyrdom). The family of both these brave Jhujaru Singhs were not ever given the bodies of the martyred family members.

 

Information given by the family of Shaheed Bhai Avtar Singh Kalanaur