Shaheed Bhai Nachhattar Singh Manochahal

Khalistan Liberation Force

 

Khalistan Liberation Force’s top fighter, Shaheed Bhai Nachhattar Singh Manochahal was born in the house of Sardar Major Singh Ji and from the blessed womb of Mata Surjit Kaur in the village of Manochahal, District Sri Amritsar (now Tarn Taran). Bhai Sahib had one brother, Bhai Balwinder Singh and one sister, Bibi Baljinder Kaur. Bhai Sahib had studied up to 12th grade. From childhood he was very brave, smart and agile. As soon as he stepped on the threshold of his youth, Bhai Sahib joined the army and then leaving the army job, he joined the police and became the gunman of the SSP. When Bhai Sahib saw how the cruel police force was committing atrocities against Sikhs and innocent Sikhs were being taken out of their homes and martyred in staged encounters, this is when Bhai Sahib decided to teach the Brahmin government a lesson. 

 

Then one day, Bhai Sahib took his police issued AK47 assault rifle and ran away from police duty, and joined Khalistan Liberation Force under the command of Bhai Anar Singh Para alias Chhota Brahma to start doing Jhujaru actions. Due to Bhai Sahib’s army experience, he was an expert in operating all kinds of weapons and knew the strategies of the army well. He fought many battles alongside the Jhujaru Singhs of the Khalistan Liberation Force and Bhindranwala Tiger Force of Khalistan. Bhai Sahib challenged and punished the enemies of the Sikh nation. Bhai Sahib also brought countless weapons from Pakistan across the border and was amongst Jhujaru Singhs who brought the Khalistan struggle to its peak.

 

On 23rd October 1990, Bhai Nachhattar Singh Manochahal and four other Jhujaru Singhs, Bhai Gurmukh Singh Dasaunda (Kalia Sakatran), Bhai Sukhdev Singh Sukha (Kalia Sakatran), Bhai Gursahib Singh (Kalia Sakatran) and Bhai Jaswant Singh (Sursingh) were resting at a hideout near Bhura Karimpur, a village near the Indo-Pakistan international border in the Khemkaran area. A police informant gave this information to the police and straight away, the Indian security forces laid a strict siege to the village at 4am. A house-to-house searches started to be conducted. By the time police and the army had advanced towards Bhai Sahib’s hideout, the Singhs had left and taken positions in the fields further up. This was done to avoid any harm coming upon the family who was aiding the Jhujaru Singhs. The army had seen the armed Singhs leaving the house and going into the field with a hoe, this was possibly dig up their positions in the field. The army not wanting to get into a battle with Jhujaru Singhs made many announcements for them to surrender, otherwise action will be taken. These announcements were more like begging for the Jhujaru Singhs to surrender. But the brave Jhujaru Singhs were already ready to be martyred.

 

When the Indian forces opened fire, the Khalistani warriors also returned fire and a fierce battle began from both sides. The Singhs had assault rifles and the army had state-of-the-art weapons, machine guns and grenades. The army bombed the field so heavily that nothing could be seen but the soil and smoke. On one side were hundreds of policemen and soldiers, but on the other side were only 4 brave sons of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji Maharaj, who were fighting fearlessly. Despite having limited weapons, the Singhs fought the Indian army for eight hours, when the Indian army had no control over them, they asked the police to set fire to the fields from which the Jhujaru Singhs were fighting from, but the crops could not catch fire due to being wet. The Singhs stopped firing for a short time and the army thought that they must have killed the them. When the army started searching for the dead bodies of the Jhujaru Singhs and entered field, Bhai Nachhattar Singh Manochahal’s eyes fell on a CO (commanding officer) at that time, he aimed and fired, the CO was killed there and then. Bhai Sahib was a skilled marksman and none of his shots went astray, he could aim by closing his eyes and listening to the sound of the enemy’s footsteps. 

 

Similarly, 13 other Indian soldiers were also killed by the Jhujaru Singhs. Bhai Nachhattar Singh shot down an Indian soldier from the top of a water tank who was heavily firing with a machine gun towards the Singhs. Then more army and police vehicles were called for back-up via the wireless sets. The Jhujaru Singhs were showered with bullets from all sides and during this time, 4 Singhs had attained martyrdom. Bhai Nachhattar Singh Manochahal managed to get out of the area but the army chased after him in their Jonga Jeeps. Bhai Nachhattar Singh, who kept firing his AK47 assault rifle backwards, was killing many soldiers. While running away, he reached the house of Sardar Gurcharan Singh and Sardar Amarjit Singh in village Kalia Sakatran, where there was a small sugarcane field. Bhai Sahib sat in this field, which was 3 kilometres away from the place of encounter. The Indian army’s major was also chasing Bhai Sahib with his force. When the major advanced into the sugarcane field, Bhai Nachhattar Singh Manochahal shot him there and killed him. Now Bhai Sahib has ran out of ammunition. The Indian army realised that their major had been killed, so they vigorously fired thousands of bullets into the field and Bhai Sahib attained martyrdom. 

 

Further ahead, Jhujaru Bhai Bagicha Singh Khalsa of Kalia Sakatran was also preparing to fight with the army, but then the army did not advance because the army had already suffered a lot of damage. This was the biggest encounter of Kalia Sakatran village in which the Singhs killed an army major, CO and more than 20 soldiers of Indian force. Even today, people sing praises of Bhai Nachhattar Singh’s bravery. The people of Kalia Sakatran village say that Bhai Nachhattar Singh Manochahal, like the ancient Singhs, created a glorious history by fighting with the enemies. Under its supervision, the police cremated the bodies of Bhai Nachhattar Singh Manochahal, Bhai Gursahib Singh, Bhai Gurmukh Singh, Bhai Sukhdev Singh and Bhai Jaswant Singh at the cremation ground of Patti and after the panchayat insisted, the police handed over their ashes to the family, which according to Gur Maryada, were flowed at Sri Goindwal. 

 

Tavareekh Shaheed-E-Khalistan 3 – Ranjit Singh Damdami Taksal