Shaheed Bhai Swaran Singh Hamira
Shaheed Bhai Swaran Singh Hamira
Sikh Student Federation/ Khalistan Commando Force
Shaheed Bhai Swaran Singh was born on 15th October 1968, in the house of Sardar Surjit Singh and from the blessed womb of Mata Jasbir Kaur in village Hamira, district Kapurthala. In the family, Bhai Swaran Singh was the youngest of the 4 siblings, eldest being Bhai Mukhtiar Singh, Bhai Satnam Singh, Bibi Sukhwant Kaur, Bibi Rajwant Kaur and olde r than one sister, Bibi Balwinder Kaur. Bhai Sahib found it hard to gain weight from childhood, but with the grace of God, he recovered and started studying at the village school at the age of 5 years. While studying in the 6th grade, Bhai Swaran Singh’s food pipe got blocked and he had a major operation with 18 stitches. After completing his studies up to the 7th grade from the village school, he got admission in the 8th grade at ITI School, Kapurthala in 1983.
In June 1984, Indira Gandhi’s government attacked Sri Darbar Sahib and Sri Akaal Takht Sahib and martyred thousands of Sikh youths, elders, women and children. Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji Maharaj was desecrated. This injustice had a profound impact on the Sikh youth and they embarked on the path of Sikh struggle. Bhai Swaran Singh was also greatly affected by this injustice and in 1984-85 he joined the Sikh struggle at the age of 15-16 years. While studying in the 9th grade, Bhai Swaran Singh came in contact with Shaheed Bhai Gurjit Singh Patwari, Shaheed Bhai Satpal Singh Dhillon, Shaheed Bhai Kuldeep Singh Dhilwan, Shaheed Bhai Raghbir Singh Nimana and became an active member of Sikh Students Federation and started taking part in the activities of the Federation. Becoming a member of the Sikh Students Federation was not a crime because the purpose of the Sikh Students Federation was to give good thoughts and guidance to the youth so that the youth could become good leaders who would lead the Sikh nation by adopting a good way of life but the government did not approve of this.
From his childhood, Bhai Swaran Singh was very cheerful, sociable and courageous. He had a great passion for writing and singing. While studying in the 9th-10th grades, Bhai Swaran Singh had an argument with the police DSP. The policemen used to let their acquaintances pass through the check posts and did not allow anyone else to pass. Bhai Swaran Singh said, “Either everyone should pass through here or no one should pass, the law should be equal for everyone.” The police arrested Bhai Sahib on false cases because he showed courage to step up against injustice. At the age of 17, the police tortured Bhai Sahib a lot in Kapurthala police station and asked him to apologise. But Bhai Swaran Singh said, “Why should I apologise if I have not done anything wrong?” After that, he was released by the police.
Kartarpur Janata College was under the Congress leader Chaudhary Jagjit and he would not allow the Sikh Students Federation unit to be formed there. Bhai Swaran Singh took admission in the 11th grade to form the Federation unit here, at the behest of Shaheed Bhai Kuldeep Singh Dhilwan, Shaheed Bhai Gurmeet Singh Patwari, Shaheed Bhai Raghbir Singh Nimana and other Singhs. After many difficulties, Bhai Swaran Singh established two units of Sikh Students Federation in the college, one for Sikh youth and the other for Sikh sisters. The Sikh sisters also started participating in the Sikh struggle. Bhai Swaran Singh was made the President of the Sikh Students Federation. Bhai Swaran Singh’s aunt’s son, Bhai Sarabjit Singh also studied in the same college and lived with them. Both brothers used to go to college together and participate in the activities of the Sikh Students Federation. Bhai Swaran Singh’s personality was such that everyone was impressed by him. He had dedicated himself to the Sikh struggle. He was serving in the freedom struggle with full dedication and hard work.
During this period, many wrongdoings were being done by the government and its agencies, this was to defame the Sikh struggle so that the Sikh struggle would be undermined. A letter came to the college gate-keeper (woman) allegedly from the Jhujaru Singhs, demanding money in return for her safety. When Swaran Singh investigated this matter, he found out that it was the relative of the gate-keeper who had wrote that letter. Bhai Swaran Singh warned that person not to do wrong things in the name of Jhujaru Singhs, but this culprit complained to the police that Bhai Swaran Singh had links with militants. The police arrested Bhai Swaran Singh from his house early in the morning while he was sleeping, but he was soon released. Many sisters also talked to Bhai Swaran Singh while studying, who said that, “When Bhai Swaran Singh was there, we did not care about anything. We were very proud of our Swaran brother.”
In 1987, a Jhujaru Singh gave Bhai Sahib a pistol, he hid it in the sugarcane field behind his house. From there, the servant of the neighbours took it out from the fields and was caught going to Amritsar and during interrogation Bhai Sahib’s name was given to the police. On 22nd October 1987, on the day of Diwali, the police of Amritsar Mal Mandi under the command of Gurmail Bai raided Bhai Sahib’s house and arrested his father, Sardar Surjit Singh. Later Bhai Sahib was also presented to the police, but at the police station Bhai Sahib beat up the servant who had lied to the police. The police then took Bhai Swaran Singh to the special interrogation centre. Where torture tactics such as hot rods, hot presses, currents, and rollers were applied to Bhai Sahib. The police tried every method of third-degree torture, but Bhai Swaran Singh did not agree to anything.
At that time, Bhai Sahib was 19 years old. The police filed a false case that he was caught with weapons while raising slogans of Khalistan in front of Sri Akaal Takht Sahib in Sri Darbar Sahib. Bhai Swaran Singh’s was still recovering from the police torture when the police of Kartarpur brought him on remand, who then filed two false cases. Then the police of Subhanpur brought him on remand. Mata Ji went to meet her son in Subhanpur police station and Mata Ji lovingly stroked his back, but Bhai Swaran Singh grabbed her hand and moved it aside because there were wounds all over his body. At the same time, the police officer came to get the signatures of Bhai Sahib related to recovered pistol case. Bhai Swaran Singh started arguing with him and said, “It would have been interesting if you had recovered the pistol from me!” Mata Ji stopped Bhai Sahib and said, “Swaran! Don’t speak to the officers like this.” Bhai Sahib replied, “He might be officer on his chair, and whatever they had to do to me, they have done, what else can they do now?” Bhai Sahib was taken to Amritsar Jail. After almost 6 months, Bhai Sahib was released on bail from jail.
After being released, Bhai Swaran Singh joined the Jhujaru Singhs of Khalistan Commando Force and started carrying out actions in secret. Along with Shaheed Bhai Avtar Singh, Shaheed Bhai Raghbir Singh Nimana, Shaheed Bhai Satpal Singh Dhillon, Shaheed Bhai Jaspal Singh Padda, Shaheed Bhai Nirmal Singh Nimma (Chhotu), Shaheed Bhai Balveer Singh, Shaheed Bhai Manjit Singh Phulewal, Shaheed Bhai Sohan Singh Soni, Shaheed Bhai Surinder Singh Mallewal, Shaheed Bhai Surjit Singh Lita and other Singhs, Bhai Sahib continued to participate in the activities of the Sikh struggle.
When Bhai Swaran Singh, along with his companions, assassinated the police tout who informed about the Shaheed Bhai Gurdev Singh Debu, the police raided his house on the same day. Bhai Sahib was presented before Kapurthala’s SSP Swaran Ghotna, police had taken bribery for Bhai Sahib’s safety. Bhai Sahib was severely tortured by the police but he did not tell anything to the police. Bhai Sahib was released after a week.
The police arrested Bhai Sahib again and again and tortured him to the limit but Bhai Swaran Singh did not give up to the Indian oppression. Due to the oppression of the police, Bhai Sahib was forced to leave his house and went to his relatives in Makhu. Here Bhai Sahib started doing actions under the command of Bhai Gurbachana Singh Aahlaan. While living there, Bhai Swaran Singh and his companions were going on a mission when the police surrounded them and there was a fierce encounter for several hours, in which Bhai Sahib managed to escape. When Mata Ji use to meet her son, Bhai Sahib would say, “Bibi, I will to be a martyr, you will be called the mother of a martyr!” When Bhai Sahib’s close associates Bhai Joginder Singh Nikku, Bhai Amrik Singh, Bhai Jagtar Singh and other Jhujaru Singhs were martyred, Bhai Sahib went on to join the Jhujaru group of Bhai Jaspal Singh came to Pala in 1990.
A meeting of the Singhs from the Federation and Khalistan Commando Force was held in Jalandhar. In which Bhai Swaran Singh took the responsibility to carry out an action. The. Bhai Sahib and Bhai Jaswinder Singh, his companion, went to the area (DAV College, Jalandhar) on foot to carry out reconnaissance. It was from here Bhai Sahib was spotted by a police tout and arrested on 12th September 1990. Bhai Swaran Singh swallowed a cyanide capsule but it had no effect. The police took Bhai Swaran Singh to Jalandhar 32 Battalion, where Bhai Swaran Singh was brutally tortured. After Bhai Sahib was taken by Nakodar’s police team. At that time Inspector Charanjit Sharma was there, who is also involved in the Bargari scandal. On 15th September 1990, at eight o’clock at night, near the canal of village Jeevan Nangal near Nakodar, he created a false police encounter and martyred Bhai Swaran Singh Hamira and cremated his body at eight o’clock in the morning, labelling Bhai Sahib unidentified.
Tavareekh Shaheed-E-Khalistan 2 – Ranjit Singh Damdami Taksal