Shaheed Bhai Baldev Singh Poonia

Babbar Khalsa 

 

Shaheed Bhai Baldev Singh Babbar, who fought against the Indian government for the freedom of the Sikh nation, was born on 16th April 1967 in the house of Sardar Swaran Singh and from the blessed womb of Mata Surinder Kaur in village Poonia, near Banga, District Nawashaher (Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar), Punjab. Sardar Swaran Singh was a farmer and he was also a high spirited Gursikh. Bhai Baldev Singh was the eldest among five siblings. Bhai Sahib had three younger brothers, Bhai Sukhdev Singh, Bhai Paramjit Singh, Bhai Bahadur Singh and a sister, Bibi Amarjit Kaur. Bhai Sahib studied till 10th class at Khalsa School in Banga and then passed his BA from Sikh National College. As a child, Bhai Sahib had taken Amrit from the Panj Pyare and followed the Sikh code of conduct. 

 

The attack on the Sri Darbar Sahib in June 1984 shook his soul. After this, he joined the Sikh Students Federation. Seeing his services and love for the Sikh faith, Bhai Sahib was appointed the Federation president of his college by the senior leadership. Bhai Sahib became active member of the Federation and started promoting Gurmat and mobilising young students for the rights of Sikhs and Punjab. Whatever duties was given by the leadership of the Federation, Bhai Sahib completed them with upmost energy and respect. Now on the other hand, Bhai Sahib became a nuisance in the eyes of the police and the police started harassing him. The situation became such that he had to leave his home and family after being fed up with the oppression of the Punjab police and Bhai Sahib joined the Jhujaru Singhs of Babar Khalsa and started doing Jhujaru actions undercover. 

 

A butcher police officer by the name of Thanedar Ghora, from the Banga police station was known to oppress the Jhujaru Singhs a lot and this cruel officer was very much feared by the locals in the area. One day Bhai Baldev Singh came face-to-face with this Thanedar. Bhai Sahib wrestled him to the ground and started beating him, giving him the taste of his own medicine. Bhai Sahib did not kill the Thanedar, but warned him not to commit such atrocities upon Sikhs. After this, being afraid of Bhai Sahib, the Thanedar got himself transferred from the area. During Bhai Sahib’s Jhujaru life, the police tried target his family, the police used to arrest his father and bring him to the police station, but no police officer had the courage to shout at his father, because they trembled with fear of Bhai Baldev Singh Babbar. Bhai Sahib killed many enemies of Sikhs and had established a Khalsa rule in his area.

 

One day, on the tip of an informer, the police arrested Bhai Baldev Singh Poonia and Bhai Paramjit Singh Pamma (Bhangla Khurd) from a house in Ludhiana. The police took the two Sikh warriors first to Ludhiana and then to the CIA Staff of Jalandhar, where they were blindly tortured and then on 15th November 1988, the Banga police team took both Jhujaru Singhs to the riverside of Kamam village where they were martyred in a staged encounter by the police. 

 

According to Ajit Newspaper:

SSP (Butcher) Izhar Alam said that the police had put a reward of thirty thousand rupees on the two militants who were killed. These two militants were wanted by the police in a dozen murders. Among the murders they committed was the murder of Pawan Kumar Jain and they were also related to the shooting incident in village Bahal Khurd. An AK47 Chinese assault rifles have been recovered from them.

 

The family and friends took the martyred bodies of the two Jhujaru Singhs from the police and crammed them according to Sikh code of conduct. A Bhog of Sri Akhand Paath Sahib was held the Poonia village on 30th November 1988, in which thousands of local public came to pay their respects to the martyrs of Khalistan, Shaheed Bhai Baldev Singh Poonia and Shaheed Bhai Paramjit Singh Pamma. 

 

Tavareekh Shaheed-E-Khalistan – Bhai Ranjit Singh Damdami Taksal