Shaheed Bhai Harbhajan Singh Nihalke

Khalistan Liberation Force

 

Bhai Harbhajan Singh was born in the year 1968 to the blessed womb of mother, Mata Lakhbir Kaur and father, Sardar Joginder Singh in the village of Nihalke, near Makhu. He was the eldest of three children, with a younger brother and sister. Bhai Harbhajan Singh was very young when his father passed away. The family earned their livelihood from farming.

 

Bhai Harbhajan Singh studied up to tenth grade at his local school village. After this, he went onto learn motor mechanics and setup his own workshop in his local village of Rode Jallewala, Makhu. His business grew with great success and he was very comfortable earning a hard earned, honest living. Being the eldest, Bhai Harbhajan Singh had the responsibility on his shoulders of being the main bread winner. Bhai Harbhajan Singh was a very devote Gursikh and had been blessed with Amrit as a young adult, from the respected Sikh institution of Bidhi Chand Dal. He had also taken learnings on how to read the entire Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji Maharaj, and he would regularly perform readings of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji Maharaj at scheduled events, known as Rauls.

 

Bhai Harbhajan Singh had two very close friends, Bhai Kulwant Singh Kala & Bhai Joginder Singh. They were known Jhujaru Singhs in the area. Many times, the police had started to visit Bhai Harbhajan Singh at his workshop probing for information about the Jhujaru Singhs. Seeing that Bhai Harbhajan Singh would not disclose any information, the police increase their harassment and continued to disturb him. This escalated into picking him up and taking him to the police station where he would be tortured. This got to a point where Bhai Harbhajan Singh had enough. By middle of 1990, he too decided to join the Jhujaru Singhs and left his family home indefinitely. He joined Bhai Kulwant Singh Kala to serve for the militia group of Bhai Satnam Singh Bhogpur Mattewal, Khalistan Liberation Force.

 

On 19th January 1991, the Jhujaru Singhs were sat amidst Jakhira Garden of Nihalke village in full discussion on a very important meeting. Unfortunately, an infiltrated traitor touted them to the Punjab police. At the time, eight Jhujaru Singhs were present including Bhai Harbhajan Singh; Bhai Kulwant Singh Kala (village Nihalke, Makhu), Bhai Rajinder Singh Bhola (village Sabra, Patti), Bhai Rashpal Singh Billu (village Gadayike Mand), Bhai Jaswinder Singh (village Valtoha, Patti), plus three other Jhujaru Singhs.

 

The police had completely surrounded the area and mercilessly began shooting at the Jhujaru Singhs. The Jhujaru Singhs came out like lions and retaliated with great valour. This firing battle continued for some hours. The amount of police force and the CRPF was immense and the Jhujaru Singhs eliminated hundreds. The police forces kept coming and eventually, the Jhujaru Singhs were fired at and attained Shaheedi (martyrdom). The police were quick and crafty to pick up the deceased bodies of the great Jhujaru Singhs. They did not want this evidence for show in public. However, the family were quick to follow the police back to Zira and demand they give the bodies. The police refused and after much protest from the families, they were only returned the body of Shaheed Bhai Kulwant Singh Kala. This was a great battle of eight Jhujaru Singhs facing hundreds and hundreds of police and CRPF forces. They fought valiantly till their last breath. They had dedicated their lives to the Khalistan movement and armed struggle.

 

Information given by the family of Shaheed Bhai Harbhajan Singh Nihalke