Gurbachan Singh Manochahal

Chief General, Jathedar, Baba Gurbachan Singh Manochahal (6 June 1954 – 28 February 1993) was Jathedar of Akal Takht who founded the Bhindranwale Tiger Force of Khalistan in 1987.^[1] Manochahal was responsible for over 1,000 killings by the time of his death as the head of a pro-Khalistan militant outfit.^[2] He was a farmer, soldier, religious preacher, social worker, militant, militant leader and a politician, though was not directly involved in politics.^[3]

Early life

Gurbachan Singh was born on 6 June 1954 in a Chahal Mazhabi Sikh family of village Manochahal, Tarn Taran district in the Indian state of Punjab to S. Atma Singh Manochahal and Gurmej Kaur, and studied in a local school.^[3]

He worked in his uncle's 12 acre farm near Naushera-Pannuan growing wheat and seasonal vegetables.^[3] He was always noted to be very patriotic and religious.^[3] From 1966 to 1971 he was a farmer.^[3]

Military career

He joined the military after he was inspired by the Indian Army in 1971, he did not fight in any combat though was noted to be very patriotic, "If I had a gun, I would mow down all those Pakistanis" he had stated.^[3] His brother Tarlochan Singh Manochahal (who mutinied after Operation Blue Star) was also in the army.^[4] He was a gunner in the Artillery Regiment.^[3] When the Havildar threw jibes at Manochahal for not waking up on time there was an altercation, and Manochahal punched the Havildar in the face.^[3] He was court martialed and found guilty, spending a year in jail afterwards and was very bitter ever since.^[3]

Spiritual career

He started his career with a series of speeches.^[5] His oratory skills were praised by Sikh scholars and public alike.^[3] He raised a Gurdwara in memory of Bhai Dhanna Singh on top of a Muslim Pir's grave and worked there, the Gurdwara currently hosts 6 Hukamnamas written by Guru Gobind Singh himself collected by Gurbachan Singh Manochahal.^[3] Manochahal was shot in the arm during the 1978 Sikh–Nirankari clashes. After this incident, he had maintained a relationship with Damdami Taksal and became acquainted with other members of the organization, such as Amrik Singh and Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.^[6] He soon became a close aid and associate of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.^[7]

His association with Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale led to his undoing, the Punjab Police caught him but he was able to jump out of the lorry that was transporting him during the same time as Operation Blue Star.^[3]

Militant career

On November 11, 1985 Manochahal was surrounded in his home, in Manochahal the village, by a group of 20 officers led by the head of Punjab Police operations, Superintendent of Police M.M. Seti.^[3] The police had surrounded Manochahal based on a tip revealed from an informent. Manochahal opened fire on the police killing 1 officer on the spot.^[3] Seti and the remaining 19 officers fled from the scene dropping their weapons. Manochahal collected their weapons and left the scene. Seti and all officers involved faced ridicule for fleeing the scene.^[3]

Another time the CRPF had tried to catch him in a sympathizers farmhouse, he had to undress and keep his kurta in a pile of hay, afterwards he left from the window.^[3] The police, believing Manochahal was in the pile of hay shot at it, but by the time they found out it was too late.^[3] These daring escapes made him a folk-figure. He was once again charged with killing one constable in Harike when he was surrounded.^[3]

Another time, Manochahal was visiting his family, when they heard the police vehicles coming. Manochahal dived into a Khurli and disappeared, the police entered, though they did not find anything of suspect hence left the scene.^[3]

Manochahal was said to the head of Kharkus by police in the end of 1985. He would appoint specific Kharkus to led the actions and Kharku in certain districts. He appointed Dhana Singh to lead Gurdaspur, Manbir Singh to lead Jalandhar, and Jarnail Singh Halwara, the killer of Harcharand Singh Logowal, to lead Ludhiana and Patiala.^[8] He had not openly created a militant organization though was an absconder and militant leader himself.

Manochahal led a resolution at the 1986 Sarbat Khalsa to declare the resolve of a separate Sikh homeland and also formed a Panthic committee which would lead Sikhs per this resolution.^[9] He was appointed Jathedar of Akal Takht in April 1986 and resigned from the post in January 1987 in the “larger interest of the panth”.^[10] In the early days of the insurgency Manochahal lived in a hideout in the swamps of the Mand areas. He created many huts there and a Gurdwara. It is said that even if Manochahal was in battle he would complete his daily prayers. On top of the standard Sikh daily prayers he did two hours of meditation on Waheguru and 5 Sukhmani Sahibs.^[11]

In 1987 Manochahal was removed from the Panthic Committee. He would later rejoin and be removed in May 1989. The reason was claimed to be for alleged misuse of funds by him.^[12] Although the real reason was internal differences. Manochahal wanted to participate in the elections, and so did Seetal Singh Mattewal though it did not resound with the other members.^[13] He had also officially started his militant journey in 1987, by creating the outfit known as the Bhindranwale Tiger Force of Khalistan.^[3]

On June 23, 1988, Manochahal was appointed as official Jathedar of Akal Takht.^[14][15]

To make Manochahal surrender himself police illegal detained many of his family members. Manochahal refused to surrender which led the detention, torture, and death of his family members.^[6] Per Maloy Krishna Dhar, a former Joint Director, Intelligence Bureau, India, he was given the task to negotiate with Gurbachan Singh Manochahal. He contacted Manochahal through a journalist source, was blindfolded and taken a few hundred kilometres from Amritsar to meet with him where he secretly held negotiations for three hours before he was blindfolded again and transported back.^[16][17]

His most famed encounter was known as the Ratauwalla Encounter, when Manochahal had a meeting with 10-12 of his men, the police had received information about it.^[3] They laid seige on the Vanchari village.^[3] When a sepoy noticed steps leading to a bunker, Manochahal was able to fire a burst of shots, dropping him to the floor.^[3] A 47 hour-long encounter ensued, with the Punjab Police, CRPF, BSF and some local militia all combining their efforts, yet they were not able to catch their main absconder.^[3] The Babbar Khalsa who used to call Manochahal a 'Sarkari' (Government man) were convinced that he was not after the encounter.^[3] Right after the encounter he sent an audio recording addressing K.P.S. Gill and Beant Singh and then the President and Prime Minister of India in the typical ruffian style, invoking the names of Zakariya Khan and Mian Mannu.^[3] His loud voice in the recording was laced with wrath, arrogance and anger using a language both brazen and pompous, asking the Indian Government to slug it out with him.^[3]

Attacks on Hindu-right wing

In the Panthic Committee meeting he was deputed to be in charge of curtailing Hindu right-wing activity. He was known to be particularly brutal in his methods which were criticized by leaders and locals.

On June 14, 1987, BTFK claimed responsibility for the killing of 12 and injuring 20 in Delhi in a shooting. BTFK said, “'Killings squads have reached (New) Delhi and they will take revenge for the November 1984 anti-Sikh riots.”^[18] Surjit Singh Penta carried out the killings.^[19] On July 30, 1987, BTKF claimed responsibility for an attack on Hans Raj Sethi, a BJP representative on the New Delhi City Council. He was shot dead with 6 bullets. He was considered a “father figure” for the BJP and RSS in Delhi. They next walked up to Sudarshan Munjal, a BJP member, in his driveway and killed him. Surjit Singh Penta carried out the killings.^[19] On the morning of June 25, 1989 KLF and BTFK members attacked Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) members at their meeting at Nehru Park in Moga. 21 RSS members were killed with a police officer, a paramilitary home guard and a couple dying of a bomb blast after the shooting leaving a total of 25 dead and 31-35 injured. It has since been renamed to Shahidi Park meaning Martyr Park. According to police Sikhs opened fire with automatic weapons from a van killing 21 and injuring many. According to survivors bullets were sprayed on everyone. They then left the scene. Soon after a powerful bomb blast occurred which killed 4, injured more, and caused damage. A second bomb also blew up after, but it caused no damage or injuries. A curfew was announced immediately following the incident.^{[20][21][22][23][24][25][26]}

On March 2, 1990, KCF faction chief Gurjant Singh Rajasthani and BTFK chief Gurbachan Singh Manochahal claimed responsibility for killing Amritsar Jail Superintendent Pyara Lal. They claimed he tortured Sikhs in prison.^[27]

Use of Non-Militant Tactics

Gurbachan Singh Manochahal and Harminder Singh Sandhu collaborated to fight the elections in a manner that Khalistan would be achieved through using Democracy and Insurgency.^[28] They both also collaborated to install Khalsa Panchayats as a parallel government system to solve rural and domestic cases in Punjab.^[28]

During the Indian General election Manochahal selected candidate Resham Singh Malmori to fight against Simranjit Singh Mann.^[28] He also infiltrated the Punjab Police, for example, leading PAP constable Balwinder Singh Manochahal was his cousin,^[29] and Major Singh Uboke helped Manochahal establish Panthic presence in Punjab's business and economic sectors through various land grabs across Tarn Taran.^[30]

Manochahal had insight over how to go about the militancy, an insight which was only shared by Seetal Singh Mattewal and Harminder Singh Sandhu. He contacted various other militia which were creating unrest in India. The Panthic Committee supremo, according to interrogation reports, had gone to Asansol, West Bengal in 1992 to meet "Gorkhaland" militants.^[31] Details of his talks are not known.^[31] He had also sent feelers to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Madras and Naxalites in Andhra Pradesh^[32] and had stated in an interview that he had connections with Assamese and Kashmiri militants.^[33]

Political career

In April 1990 Manochahal with his BTFK, Khalistan Commando Force (Rajasthani), and Dashmesh Regiment (Matthewal) formed an alliance and created their own Panthic Committee.^[34] In 1992, a separate Panthic committee headed by Dr. Sohan Singh was formed which called for the boycott of the 1992 Punjab Legislative Assembly election. Manochahal's support for fighting in the elections prompted remarks comparing him to a government puppet. The formation of this committee undermined the influence of Manochahal who was criticized for his support for political participation and led to a divide between the armed groups within Punjab.^[35] The formation of this committee undermined the influence of Manochahal who was criticized for his support for political participation and led to a divide between the armed groups within Punjab.

Elections resulted in a Congress Government under Beant Singh of the Congress Party. Though he did not create a political outfit himself, he gave support to militant-supporting candidates from all parties contesting.^[33] He was opposed to Simranjit Singh Mann as well due to the previous associations of his candidates.^[33] He also met Akali candidates who boycotted the election like Sukhjinder Singh, Captain Kanwaljit Singh and Natha Singh Dalam but was disappointed, though the reason is unknown.^[33]

The candidates he had given support to included Dilbag Singh Paleke of Tarn Taran, Gurchet Singh of Valtoha, Jagir Singh of Naushera-Pannuan and few others.^[36] Chief Minister Partap Singh Kairon's son Surinder Singh Kairon gave his full support to the Bhindranwale Tiger Force of Khalistan and even went on to state that it was his first party over the Indian National Congress, he gave shelter to Sukhwinder Singh Sangha's family and allowed Manochahal to hide in his house.^[36] His usage of the Bhindranwale-style of politics, shifting through parties to gain a favorable outcome outside politics, showed good favor- but the Sikh public dismissed him as the other two Panthic Committees led by Zaffarwal and Dr. Sohan Singh with their political allies, the Shiromani Akali Dal and other parties, decided to boycott.

Death

Manochahal carried a bounty of ₹30 lakh on his head. He was killed in a fierce police encounter on 1 March 1993 by Punjab Police. Manochahal escaped from the police's dragnet on 27 February in Bagrian village before the police cornered him in the nearby Rataul village the following day.

The encounter began at 3:45 PM when Police search team were fired upon by Manochahal and others. The Police search team requested immediate assistance. Soon 2 quick reaction teams led by 2 different Majors and the Commanding officer of the Rashtriya Rifles, Colonel arrived, SP Khubi Ram was the one who had been able to track Manochahal. In 30 minutes over 225 army and police personnel began to cordon the area.^[7]

After defending himself for an hour with a machine gun, he was dead. The chief of the Punjab Police, Kanwar Pal Singh Gill later proclaimed, "Now I can say that we have finished militancy in Punjab."^[37][38] Manochahal killed 12 officers including DIG (Deputy inspector general) Ajit Singh during the encounter.^[39] Manochahal was responsible for over 1,000 killings by the time of his death.^[2]

Myths have spread over the years over what happened to Manochahal, his family states that he committed suicide, many of his supporters state that he was poisoned by his aide Sukhwant Sukha and the media said that he was shot dead.^[3]

Views

Manochahal had strong views on many issues. When asked about the size of the Sikh state he fights for Manochahal answered with, “Due to the foolishness of our leaders, the area over which the Sikhs once ruled has been allowed to shrink… What we do have in mind is the rule of Khalsa over the Delhi Takht because our war is against the Brahmin-Bania combine, which will not budge an inch without a struggle. We shall fight to the end.”^[33]

When asked about whether he was willing to negotiate for something less than Khalistan Manochahal answered with, “Nothing short of Khalsa raj will be acceptable now. We shall negotiate only if Khalistan is on the agenda.”^[33]

When asked what will happen to Sikhs outside lf Punjab and Hindus in Punjab Manochahal answered with, “Sikhs outside Punjab have been oblivious of our problems. Now I suggest that they set up a base in Punjab. It will be pragmatic, for some day they will have to shift here. We are not keen to expel or drive out Hindus from Punjab but they will have to reconcile to the existence of Khalistan.”^[33]

Manochahal also pledged to die and not be arrested. Saying, “There is no going back now. My promise to the Waheguru is that I shall never be caught alive."^[7]

"Though we have no faith in the Indian Constitution, we are still in favour of participating in elections. Even after seven years we have gained little international recognition. This we will get only by wresting political power. Without this our image will remain that of killers."^[33]

"If we get a majority and form a government we will pass a resolution for Khalistan. If we are not allowed to function we will say:' 'Kill us with bullets.'' Can they do that to elected representatives?"^[33]

Bibliography

• Van Dyke, Virginia (2009), "The Khalistan Movement in Punjab, India, and the Post-Militancy Era: Structural Change and New Political Compulsions", Asian Survey, 49 (6): 975–997, doi:10.1525/as.2009.49.6.975

References