Shaheed Bhai Balvir Singh Billa Kalgarh

Babbar Khalsa

 

Shaheed Bhai Balvir Singh Billa was born in 1965 in the house of his father, Sardar Wassan Singh and mother, Mata Kashmir Kaur in village Kalgarh Dapaiyan, near Jandiala Guru, District Sri Amritsar. The details of Bhai Billa’s eight siblings are as follows: – eldest being Bibi Harjinder Kaur, Bhai Jasbir Singh, Bhai Balvir Singh, Bhai Balwinder Singh, Bhai Gurjinder Singh, Bibi Kulwinder Kaur, Bhai Angrej Singh and the youngest, Bibi Jaswinder Kaur. Bhai Billa studied till 5th grade. His father used to cultivate the land on lease, and Bhai Billa 

used to help his father.

 

Meeting with Sant Bhindranwale

When the great Sikh of the twentieth century, the general of generals, the 14th chief of Damdami Taksal, Sant Jarnail Singh Ji Khalsa Bhindranwale launched the Dharam Yudh Morcha for the rights of the Sikhs and Punjab, many Punjabis started attending Sri Darbar Sahib and giving their voluntary arrests. Bhai Billa and his family were amongst these Punjabis. One day, when Bhai Billa went to Sri Darbar Sahib for worship, he was so impressed by the spiritual and passionate words of Sant Bhindranwale that he became a Singh by taking Amrit from the Panj Pyare of Damdami Taksal and started guarding the Khalsa principles. Bhai Billa told his family that, “Now I will not do household chores and will serve the Sikh nation by staying in the company of Sant Bhindranwale.” Bhai Billa served countless services during the Dharma Yudh Morcha, mostly he used to stay at Sri Darbar Sahib.

 

June 1984

The fierce attack by the Indian Army in June 1984 on Sri Darbar Sahib and Sri Akaal Takht Sahib struck Bhai Billa’s mind so deeply that he decided to teach the enemies a lesson. In those days, he and his family gave shelter to some of the injured Singhs of village Tarsikka, who were injured during the attack and gave them medical care. 

 

Struggle, Services and Jail Journey

After the Sikh genocide of 1984, Bhai Balvir Singh Billa met Bhai Sukhjinder Singh Brar (Village Jabowal), a top fighter of Babbar Khalsa, and together with Bhai Ranjit Singh of Tarsikka and other warriors, Bhai Billa started doing Jhujaru actions while keeping a low profile. When the police got wind of his activities, Bhai Billa was arrested and remained in Amritsar jail for about one and a half years. When he was released on bail, the police raided his house again to catch him, at that time he was harvesting in the fields. Seeing the police vehicles, he escaped through the fields. The police squads chased him for a long time but Bhai Billa could not be caught.

 

Now Bhai Billa had gone into hiding and was fighting fearlessly in the war of independence of Khalistan. According to his brother, Bhai Jasbir Singh, Bhai Billa used to roam mostly in Bhikhiwind, Ghariala, Kalia Sakatran, Algo Kothi and Khemkaran border areas. Bhai Pargat Singh Samra, who was also with him in jail, assigned him the duty that he should bring weapons from across the border and deliver them to the groups of Bhai Sukhjinder Singh Jabbowal, Bhai Ranjit Singh Tarsikka and Bhai Seetal Singh Mattewal in the Majha area. Bhai Billa fulfilled this responsibility well and he also stayed in Pakistan for four months. In the border area, he had several encounters with the Indian security forces and killed countless BSF personnel. All the Jhujaru Singhs associated with Bhai Billa’s group used to recite a lot of Gurbani, besides Nitnem, they used to do Sri Sehaj Paath every day. Almost all the Singhs had received the Santhiya of Gurbani and before going into every action, they used to make Karah Prashad, do Ardas and take the Hukamnama before going on Jhujaru actions to punish the enemies of humanity. When Bhai Billa was engaged in the struggle, the police inflicted a lot of atrocities on his family. His father and brothers were subjected to severe torture and his mother was also picked up and taken to the police stations regularly. 

 

Martyrdom in a real police encounter

Giving information, his brother Bhai Jasbir Singh told us that it was the month of Sawan in 1987 when Bhai Balvir Singh Billa along with his three other Jhujaru companions stayed at a location in village Algo Kothi near Bhikhiwind in Tarn Taran district. The 4 Jhujaru Singhs were bathing at Bambi when an informant informed the local police. The police and CRPF reached in large numbers and cordoned off the area. As soon as the Jhujaru Singhs learned about the siege, they raised slogans of, “Bole So Nihal Sat Sri Akaal” and opened fire. There was a fierce battle for about 10 hours. 

 

It was such a blessing of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji Maharaj, that the 4 Jhujaru Singhs killed 17 policemen and 9 CRPF personnel, even though the government, ashamed the next day, did not allow the loss to be published in the newspapers. But the locals say that the police had to carry three vehicles full of corpses.

 

During the encounter, all three of Bhai Billa’s Jhujaru companions drank the cup of martyrdom and then Bhai Balvir Singh Billa alone took shelter of the straw musal and continued the encounter and when he ran out of bullets, the CRPF came upon him. He tried to break the siege by throwing bricks and stones at them, then he suddenly ran towards a CRPF soldier and when he tried to snatch the gun from him by pushing and shoving, the police and CRPF from behind rained bullets on him. With which he attained martyrdom on the spot. 

 

Tavareekh Shaheed-E-Khalistan 2 – Ranjit Singh Damdami Taksal