Shaheed Bhai Balwant Singh Takhanwadh
Shaheed Bhai Balwant Singh Takhanwadh
Khalistan Liberation Force
Whenever there is talk of Jhujaru Singhs who struggled for the establishment of Khalsa Raj (Khalistan), the name of Bhai Balwant Singh Bant, a warrior of village Takhanwadh, also comes to the fore. Bhai Balwant Singh, who was considered the right hand of Jathedar Bhai Gurjant Singh Budhsinghwala, the head of Khalistan Liberation Force, was a close associate of Shaheed Bhai Darshan Singh Billa. Bhai Darshan Singh Billa and Bhai Balwant Singh Bant were residents of the same village and Bhai Balwant Singh accompanied Bhai Darshan Singh from childhood to martyrdom. They stayed with eachother like shadows.
Shaheed Bhai Balwant Singh Bant was born on 15th October 1955 in the house of Sardar Kartar Singh and from the blessed womb of Mata Surjit Kaur in village Takhanwadh, District Faridkot (now Moga). Bhai Balwant Singh was third among the nine siblings. He studied up to sixth grade from the government school in the village, after which he worked in his farms.
In 1982, when Damdami Taksal’s 14th head, Sant Jarnail Singh Ji Khalsa Bhindranwale along with his Jatha, came to village Buttar Kalan (Moga) and there he organised religious programs for two days for the propagation of Sikhi. Impressed by the influential personality of Sant Bhindranwale, Bhai Balwant Singh took Amrit from Panj Pyare the next day and became Singh. Waking up at Amrit Vela, meditating of Waheguru, doing Nitnem, going to the Gurdwara, seeing Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji Maharaj and helping the needy from the economic point of view was an important task of Bhai Sahib’s life.
When the Dharam Yudh Morcha was started at Sri Amritsar for the achievement of the Anandpur Sahib resolution, Bhai Darshan Singh Billa Takhanwadh and Bhai Balwant Singh Takhanwadh also gave voluntary arrests along with other Jathas.
When in March 1984, the Punjab Police arrested Bhai Jagjit Singh Rode, the elder brother of Sant Jarnail Singh Ji Khalsa Bhindranwale, the Khalsa Panth protested in front of Gurdwara Bibi Kahan Kaur in Moga City for his release. In this protest, Bhai Darshan Singh and Bhai Balwant Singh also participated with great enthusiasm along with the youth of their village. Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale’s father, Bapu Joginder Singh Rode was leading this protest.
On 26th April 1984, CRPF and the police cordoned off the Gurdwara Sahib and started firing. Bhai Gurmail Singh Ajitwal (Sarpanch) and Bhai Karnail Singh Granthi were martyred by police bullets (who was the brother of Bhai Gurjant Singh Budhsinghwala’s grandfather) and many more Singhs were injured. Bhai Darshan Singh and Bhai Balwant Singh took care of the injured and martyred Singhs at that time. After this incident, there was a stir in the entire Punjab and the Sikh community came into anger, there were strong demonstrations in many places and protest marches were taken out. When the Khalsa Panth started gathering in village Ajitwal, the police cordoned off to stop the flood of Sikh congregations. When the police surrounded the Jatha of Bapu Joginder Singh Rode and did not allow them to proceed further, Bhai Darshan Singh, Bhai Balwant Singh and other Singhs beat the policemen with sticks.
When in June 1984, the government of India attacked Sri Darbar Sahib, Sri Akaal Takht Sahib and additional 40 other Sikh shrines, Bhai Balwant Singh’s heart was deeply hurt and the Sikh genocide in November 1984 shook Bhai Balwant Singh’s mind even more. Bhai Balwant Singh, filled with anger, decided to drop the farming tools from his hands and pick up an AK47 assault rifle and he decided to teach a lesson to the enemies of the Sikh nation with bullets. Soon, Bhai Balwant Singh came into contact with Bhai Gurjant Singh Budhsinghwala and Bhai Kulwant Singh Khukhrana and together with them Bhai Darshan Singh Takhanwadh, Bhai Balwant Singh Takhanwadh left the luxuries of their homes and started doing Jhujaru actions to punish anti-Sikh elements.
The day after the Vaisakhi of 1987, Bhai Gurjant Singh Budhsinghwala, Bhai Darshan Singh Billa Takhanwadh, Bhai Balwant Singh Takhanwadh and Bhai Lakhwinder Singh Lakha Dhalleke, the 4 Jhujaru Singhs were sitting at Bhai Gurdeep Singh’s house in village Dhurkot Charat Singh Wala in Moga district, when a spy gave this information to the local police and had the warriors of the Sikh nation surrounded. The Guru’s beloved’s sons were eating Langar when they learned that the police had surrounded them. But at that time, the Jhujaru Singhs only had one AK47 assault rifle and the rest of the weapons were in the wheat harvesting machine. The situation became such that the police surrounded the Singhs quickly and there was no chance to take out the rest of the weapons. The Singhs adopted war tactics and assigned the duty of fighting to Bhai Darshan Singh Takhanwadh and the other three Jhujaru Singhs tried to escape from the siege. When Bhai Gurjant Singh Budhsinghwala, Bhai Balwant Singh and Bhai Lakhwinder Singh tried to jump over the wall after to escape the siege, the police rained bullets onto them and it was during this firing, Bhai Balwant Singh Takhanwadh was shot in the leg. But still all three Singhs managed to break the siege and later Bhai Darshan Singh also came out of the siege fighting courageously. Bhai Balwant Singh was treated at bullet would at Moga Hospital.
Sukhminder Comrade, a police tout from village Chogawan, used to spit venomous insults against the Sikh faith and the Sikh struggle. He was also accomplice in having Singhs martyred in collaboration with Butcher Thanedar Mitt Singh of Bagha Purana. Bhai Gurjant Singh Budhsinghwala, Bhai Darshan Singh Takhanwadh, Bhai Lakhwinder Singh Dhalleke and Bhai Balwant Singh Takhanwadh surrounded Sukhminder Comrade in the village and first paraded him with slippers around his neck, then shot him with bullets and later poured kerosene on him and set him on fire. The entire area celebrated the death of this wicked man.
Bhai Balwant Singh Bant completed every Jhujaru action with pure courage and dedication, that was assigned to him by the Chief of Khalistan Liberation Force, Jathedar Gurjant Singh Budhsinghwala. Adding to it, Bhai Balwant Singh Takhanwadh played an unprecedented role. During the struggle, Bhai Sahib took part in many major actions in the Malwa region and punished many black cats, traitors, police touts and butcher policemen according to Khalsa traditions. Bhai Gurjant Singh Budhsinghwala appointed Bhai Darshan Singh Takhanwadh as Lieutenant General of Khalistan Liberation Force and Bhai Balwant Singh Takhanwadh as Area Commander.
In November 1987, Bhai Balwant Singh Takhanwadh and his Jhujaru companions were staying at a house in Moga City. Bhai Balwant Singh was on duty guarding the outside door and inside the room Bhai Gurjant Singh and Bhai Darshan Singh Takhanwadh were cleaning their weapons. When Bhai Lakhwinder Singh Dhalleke came in, the Singhs had a revolver loaded inside. Bhai Lakhwinder Singh did not know that it was loaded with a magazine and when he came, he grabbed the revolver, Bhai Lakhwinder Singh accidentally fired a shot, which hit Bhai Balwant Singh’s leg. Immediately the Singhs picked up Bhai Balwant Singh and admitted him to Gill Hospital in Moga, where Bhai Balwant Singh was treated for twenty days but the leg could not be cured. Bhai Sahib became unable to walk. Then the Singhs had Bhai Balwant Singh rest and recover at the house of an acquaintance in Rauke Kalan village for a few days. Here, a village informer informed the police. Then the CIA staff of Moga police arrested Bhai Balwant Singh unarmed from village Rauke Kalan. The police tortured Bhai Balwant Singh continuously for ten days.
When no information was gained, on the 11th day, the police killed Bhai Balwant Singh Bant in a false police encounter at village Chaudhari Wala (near Chandu Wala) on 10th November 1987. The police neither handed over the body of Shaheed Bhai Balwant Singh Bant to the family nor gave any identification. After conducting the postmortem, the police themselves cremated Bhai Sahib’s body at the cremation ground in Moga. The family and the Sikh nation came to know about this through newspaper reports that Bhai Balwant Singh had attained martyrdom. On 19th November 1987, for the spiritual peace of Shaheed Bhai Balwant Singh Bant, Sehaj Paath Sahib of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji Maharaj was performed at his home (Village Takhanwadh), thousands of Sikh congregation of the area reached to pay tribute to this warrior of the Sikh nation.
Tavareekh Shaheed-E-Khalistan 2 – Ranjit Singh Damdami Taksal