Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer and navneet Kaur Bhullar (wife of Prof Davinder Singh Bhullar)

Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer and navneet Kaur Bhullar
(wife of Prof Davinder Singh Bhullar)

Marriages of 5th, 6th and 10th Guru (Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer) Punjabi version

is`KW nUM duSmxW dI koeI loV nhIN

gurU Arjn swihb, gurU hirgoibMd swihb qy goibMd isMG swihb dy ivAwhW dw mslw

(fw: hrijMdr isMG idlgIr)

is`K roz rOlw pwauNdy hn ik Awr.AYs.AYs. aunHW dI qvwrI^ Aqy i&lws&I nUM ivgwV rhI hY[ ies ivc koeI S`k nhIN ik Awr.AYs.AYs. is`K qvwrI^ Aqy i&lws&I ivc imlwvt kr rhI hY[ pr, mYnUM nzr AwauNdw hY ik keI is`K ^ud Awp vI aunHW vwlw rol Adw krn ivc swrw zor lw rhy hn[

is`K qvwrI^ Aqy i&lws&I ivc rlwA pwaux dw mu`F audwsIAW qy inrmilAW ny ihMdUsqwn dy bRwhmxW Aqy jMmU dy fogirAW dI hkUmq vyly audoN r`iKAw sI jd 1765 ivc is`KW ny pMjwb ivcoN muZlW dI hkUmq ^qm kr ky mulk Awzwd krvw ilAw sI[ aus vyly audwsIAW qy inrmilAW ny Aw ky AMimRqsr ivc fyrw lw ilAw sI[ pihlW, 1770 qoN 1790 dy ivckwr, aunHW ny BweI mnI isMG dy nW hyT gurU nwnk swihb dI jnmswKI, is`KW dI Bgqmwlw, igAwn rqnwvlI iqAwr kIqIAW; iPr 1839-40 ivc guriblws pwqswhI CyvI iqAwr kIqw; iPr, 1840 ivc, is`KW dy nIly inSwn swihb dI jgh, audwsIAW dw Bgvw JMfw drbwr swihb dy mUhry lihrwieAw (jo hOlI hOlI kysrI bx igAw)[ iPr 1843 ivc sMqoK isMG dw sUrj pRkwS Aqy grbgMjnI (tIkw jpujI) AwieAw[ ies mgroN ptnw ivc pihlW swkq mq dIAW imQhwsk Aqy kMjr kivqwvW nUM iqAwr kr ky dI ikqwb (AKOqI) dsm gRMQ bxw ky gurU gRMQ swihb dw SrIk bxwaux dI muihMm clweI geI[ ieh qW sI rol bRwhmx eyjMtW dw[

hux kuJ icr qoN is`KW ivc iek hor hI nvIN lihr auTI hY[ ies lihr dy jnmdwqw kuJ nklI jW k`c GrV  imSnrI hn (Asl imSnrIAW ny qW is`KI bcweI hY; ieh nklI hn jW k`cGrV)[ ienHW lokW ny is`K qvwrI^ ivc Aijhy BulyKy KVHy krny SurU hn ijnHW nwl pwTk burI qrHW aulJ jwx[ ienHW ivc iek nukqw gurU hirgoibMd swihb qy gurU goibMd isMG swihb dy iqMn iqMn ivAwhW dw hY[

hux qk is`K qvwrI^ dIAW sYNkVy ikqwbW Aw cukIAW hn ijnHW ivcoN drjnW ikqwbW 1700 Aqy 1900 dy ivckwr dy smyN dIAW hn qy 1926 dw ‘mhwn koS’ vI hY[ ienHW swrIAW ivc dohW (CyvyN qy dsvyN) gurU swihbwn dIAW pqnIAW, s`s-shury, ipMfW dy nW Aqy SwdIAW dIAW qwrI^W, Aqy hr iek v`loN jMmy b`icAW dy nW vI hn[ 99% nhIN blik swrIAW 100% ikqwbW iek rwey hn ik dohW gurUAW dy iqMn-iqMn ivAwh hoey sn[ bhuqy purwxy somy gurU Arjn swihb dy do ivAwhW dw izkr vI krdy hn[ ieh iqMny nukqy shI hn[ bwkI swry gurU siwhb dI iek-iek SwdI sI[ BweI kwnH isMG nwBw ny iksy Zlq somy dy ADwr ‘qy gurU hir rwie dy s`q ivAwh ilK id`qy[ ieh Zlq sI Aqy iksy vI somy qoN jW iksy vI p`K qoN vI swibq nhIN kIqw jw skdw[

A`j klH dunIAW Br  swry mulkW (muslmwnW mulkW qoN isvw) dy kwnUMn hyT koeI vI iek qoN vD SwdIAW nhIN kr skdw[ ies kwnUMn dy AwV hyT kuJ bysmJ is`K ies pwsy v`l cl pey ik gurU jI dy iqMn dI jgh iek ivAwh drswieAw jwey[ aunHW ny ies vwsqy qvwrI^ ivgwVn qk dI hrkq krnI SurU kr id`qI[ iek kcGrV lyKk ny qW ieh XHblI vI mwr id`qI ik gurU goibMd isMG jI dy iqMn ivAwh nhIN sn blik ieko AOrq dy iqMn nW sn: iek bcpn dw, iek ivAwh mgroN aqy iek lwf dw vZYrw[ pr aus ivcwry nUM ieh i^Awl nw irhw ik mwqw jIqo qW 5 dsMbr 1700 dy idn AnMdpur swihb ivc cVHweI kr gey sn qy Agmpurw ipMf ivc aunHW dI Xwdgwr vI bxI hoeI hY[ dUjIAW mwqwvW, ijnHW ny 1731 qy 1747 ivc clwxw kIqw aunHW dIAW smwDW/XwdgwrW id`lI ivc hn[ (Aws hY ik hux iek nvI XHblI mwr id`qI jweygI hY ik ieh XwdgwrW qy gurduAwry nklI hn)[

cwhIdw qW ieh sI ik iek qoN vD SwdIAW krn dw kwrn d`isAw jWdw pr kc GrV lok ies dw jvwb nw l`B sky Aqy qvwrI^ nUM ivgwVn vl cl pey[ aunHW bysmJ lokW nUM ieh iKAwl nw AwieAw ik aunHW dI g`l swibq krn vwsqy qvwrI^ dw iek vI somw nhIN pr iqMn ivAwh dw izkr hr iek ikqwb ivc AwauNdw hY[

ies soc vwly toly v`loN hor iek hor XHblI ieh vI mwrI geI ik gurU gRMQ swihb ieko SwdI dI isiKAw dyNdw hY; ies kr ky gurU jI ny iqMn ivAwh nhIN kIqy ho skdy[ pr auh lok gurU gRMQ swihb ivcoN iek quk vI pyS nw kr sky ijs ivc iek SwdI dI g`l khI hovy[ iPr aunHW ny auh qukW l`BIAW ijnHW ivc ikhw sI ik AwpxI pqnI qoN isvw iksy v`l q`kxw vI pwp hY[ pr ienHW qukW ivc ikqy nhIN ikhw ik AwpxIAW pqnI jW pqnIAW nwl sMg mwnxw pwp hY jW isr& iek pqnI r`KnI cwhIdI hY[

iPr aunHW ny iek hor quk BweI gurdws dI pyS kIqI ijs ivc ‘eykw nwrI jqI hoey...’ dI g`l sI; ies dw mwAnw ieh hY ik isr& ‘AwpxI nwrI nwl sMg mwnxw hY’ Aqy dUjIAW bIbIAW nUM mwvW, BYxW, DIAW smJxw hY[ ies ivc iek ivAwh dI g`l Ais`Dy rUp ivc vI nhIN hY[

kuJ s`jxW ny (Swied Fu`cr vjoN) svwl kIqw hY ik kI AOrq vI iek qoN vD ivAwh krvw skdI hY? ieh s`jx (Swied) ies msly nUM 21vIN sdI dy ihswb nwl vyK rhy hn, aunHW dw ADwr nw qvwrI^ hY qy nw gurbwxI[ dUjw AsIN mrd-pRDwn smwj ivc rih rhy hW[ ijMnIAW mrzI fINgW mwrI jwvy qy ijMny mrzI nwAry lweI  jwvy, qkrIbn hr mrd, A`j vI, AOrq bwry 'kbzy dI Bwvnw' rKdw hY[ qIjw, kuJ ielwikAW Aqy kuJ simAW ivc AOrq dy do ivAwh vI Zlq nhIN rhy (mhWBwrq ivc dropdI dw pwqr XkInn iksy Gtnw 'qy ADwrq hovygw) Aqy A`j vI AOrqW dy iek qoN vD pqI huMdy hn (mYN injI qOr 'qy jwxdw hW ik pMjwb ivc A`j vI Aijhw hY)[ ies dw kwrn mrdW dI kmI sI jW mwlI sI jW koeI hor: ieh mslw ieQy crcw krn vwlw nhIN[ mslw ieh hY ik kI AOrq dy iek qoN vD pqI ho skdy hn? aus dw jvwb hY: hW, mOky, smyN qy zrUrq muqwibk Aijhw huMdw irhw hY qy ho vI skdw hYY[

gurU Arjn swihb dy ivAwh

gurU hirgoibMd swihb dy jnm sbMDI Awm qOr ’qy ikhw jWdw hY ik aunHW dw jnm bwbw bu`Fw dy (AKOqI) vr nwl hoieAw sI[ ieh JUTI khwxI mIixAW ny prcwrnI SurU kIqI sI[ ieh khwxI ipRQI cMd dy pu`qr imhrbwn ny GVI sI[ mIixAW dw mksd ieh sI ik gurU Arjn swihb nUM inqwxy qy kmzor d`s ky lokW ivc aunHW dw drjw GtwieAw jwvy[ aunHW ny bwbw bu`Fw dw nW vrq ky ieh hrkq auvyN hI kIqI sI ijvyN ik hMdwlIAW/ibDIcMdIAW ny hMdwl nUM au~cw cukx vwsqy nvIN jnmswKI bxw ky kIqI sI[ hMdwlIAW ny vI bwbw bu`Fw vWg hMdwl nUM gurU nwnk swihb qoN v`fw prcwrn dI koiSS kIqI sI[

AslIAq kI hY?: gurU Arjn swihb Ajy Coty hI sn ik Awp dy nwnw gurU Amr dws swihb Awp dI kuVmweI maU (mO) ipMf (qihsIl i&lOr, izlHw jlMDr) dy BweI ikSn cMd sUrI dI bytI rwm dyeI nwl hI kr gey sn[ pr Awp dI SwdI dI rsm 20 jUn 1579 dy idn pUrI kIqI geI sI[ pr keI swl AwpxI ishq ^rwb rihx kwrn mwqw rwm dyeI ibsqr nwl hI b`J gey[ d`s swl ieM\ hI rihx mgroN aunHW ny bwbw bu`Fw jI nUM bzurg jwx ky gurU swihb kol ByijAw Aqy dUjw ivAwh krvwaux vwsqy zor pwieAw[ pihlW qW gurU swihb ny nWh kIqI pr bwbw bu`Fw jI dy vwr-vwr zor dyx ’qy aunHW nUM hW krnI peI[ kysr isMG iCbr (bMswvlInwmw dsW pwqswhIAW dw ivc) sw& ilKdy hn ik gurU Arjn swihb dy dUjy ivAwh ivc aunHW dI pihlI pqnI (mwqw) rwm dyeI dw v`fw h`Q sI[ iCbr muqwibk mwqw rwm dyeI ny is`KW nUM sunyhw ByijAw ik jy koeI AwpxI suqw (DI) gurU swihb nwl ivAwhuxI cwhvy qW auh d`s pwey[ lwhOr ivc rihx vwly, irK rwE zwq dy, BweI sMgq rwE dIAw do bytIAW sn: gMgw v`fI qy jmnw CotI sI[ aus ny gurU swihb nUM dohW dI pySkS kIqI[ gurU swihb ny v`fI nUM cuixAw:

mwqw is`KW AwpixAw nUM smJwieAw[ jy iksy is`K dy Gr hovy suqw, qW swihb nUM cwhy dvwieAw[

lwhOr ivc KqrI is`K, hYsI irK rwE[ qw ky Dwm doey suqw, nwauN sMgq rwE[19[

iqs ko mwqw kihAw buJwey[ so mMn ky, folw lY phucw Awey[20[

iek gMgw, dUjI jmnw, nwauN dohW BYxW[ qjI jmnw, gMgw v`fI nUM kIqw lYxw[

sMmq solW sY CqwlI, hwV gey idn bweI[ mwqw gMgw kr ivAwh foly cVH AweI[ 21[

A`gy lyKk iek bMd ivc dohW mwqwvW (rwm dyeI qy gMgw) dw iek`Tw izkr vI krdw hY:

mwqw rwm dyeI qy CotI mwqw gMgw[ h`Q joV bynqI kr ienw im`Tw myvw mMgw[ 47[

ieM\ gurU Arjn swihb dw dUjw ivAwh 22 hwV sMmq 1646 (19 jUn 1589) dy idn (mwqw) gMgw nwl hoieAw (mwqw gMgw ny rwm dyeI dI bhuq syvw kIqI pr auh TIk nw ho sky qy CyqI hI cVHweI kr gey)[ gurU hirgoibMd swihb dw jnm bwbw bu`Fw dy vr nwl hox dI (JUTI) khwxI iesy Gtnw ivcoN GVI geI jwpdI hY[ ies ivAwh ivcoN iek swl dy AMdr-AMdr hI, 19 jUn 1590 dy idn (gurU) hirgoibMd swihb dw jnm hoieAw sI[ (kuJ lyKk Awp dw jnm ñõùõ ivc mMndy hn, jo shI nhIN hY)[

        ieh kihxw ik gurU Arjn swihb bwbw bu`Fw nUM (gurU hrgoibMd swihb dy  jnm dw ‘vr’ dyx dw) ‘mwx dyxw’ cwhuMdy sn dw mqlb ieh inkldw hY ik gurU Arjn swihb Awp gurbwxI ’qy XkIn nhIN krdy sn qy bwbw bu`Fw nUM gurU gRMQ swihb dI isiKAw dy ault ‘vr dyx vwlw’ swibq krnw cwhuMdy sn[ ies khwxI muqwibk qW gurU swihb nUM gurU gRMQ swihb dI isiKAw dy ault kwrvweI krdw d`isAw igAw hY[ (suxn nUM suhxIAW jwpx vwlIAW, pr gurU-inMdw dIAW qy gurbwxI-ivroDI, ieho ijhIAW bhuq swrIAW khwxIAW, bRwhmx qy hor is`K-ivroDI lyKkW ny GVIAW hoeIAW hn)[

gurU hir goibMd swihb dy ivAwh

gurU hirgoibMd swib dw pihlw ivAwh gurU gRMQ swihb dy pihly pRkwS idn (16 Agsq 1604) qoN isr& pMj idn bwAd, 21 Agsq 1604 dy idn ipMf f`lw (izlHw kpUrQlw) dy BweI nwrwiex dws julkw Aqy mwqw BwgBrI dI bytI dmodrI nwl hoieAw[ ies vyly Awp dI aumr 14 swl dI sI (Aqy jy Awp dw jnm 1590 dI QW 1595 dw mMn leIey qW Awp dw ivAwh 9 swl dI aumr ivc hoieAw mMnxw pvygw)[

        gurU hirgoibMd swihb jnvrI 1613 qoN AkqUbr 1619 qk, qkrIbn swFy Cy mhIny gvwlIAr dy iklHy ivc kYd rhy sn[ irhweI mgroN Awp dw dUjw ivAwh (mwqw) nwnkI nwl 28 mwrc 1620 dy idn Aqy qIjw ivAwh (mwqw) mhWdyvI nwl  10 julweI 1620 dy idn hoieAw sI[ ienHW dohW ivAwhW dy kwrn kI sn? bhuqy lok 21vIN sdI dy hwlqW muqwibk socdy hn[ iek qW aunHW zmwinAW ivc iek qoN vD ivAwh dw Awm irvwz sI[ dUjw, lok AwpxIAW b`cIAW nUM rwijAW, pIrW, irSIAW, gurUAW nwl ivAwhux vwsqy mMnq mMn lYNdy sn (qy keI vwr kuVIAW vI pRx kr lYNdIAW sn ik auh ivAwh iksy mhwn S^sIAq nwl krngIAW Aqy auh Awpxy Awp nUM Aijhy ivAwh vwsqy Aripq vI ho jWdIAW sn[ ieh irvwz keI jgh sI; mIrw bweI dI khwxI kuJ AijhI hY)[ ^Yr, gurU hirgoibMd swihb dy ieh do ivAwh ieM\ hI hoey sn; ienHW kuVIAW nUM aunHW dy mwpy ilAw ky Arpx kr ky ivAwh gey sn[ ies mgroN gurU hirgibMd swihb ny sMgqW nUM pYZwm Byj ky ies kwrvweI qoN pUrI qrHW vrj id`qw[

        keI lok gurU hirgibMd swihb dy iqMn ivAwh vI nhIN mMndy[ jy aunHW dI izd nUM mMnxw cwhIey qW hwsohIxw nqIjw inkldw hY[ ikhw nhIN jw skdw ik kI ieh swieMs dI nvIN Koj hY ik is`K qvwrI^ nwl iek hor mzwk!

gurU hirgibMd swihb dIAW iqMn SwdIAW ’coN 6 b`cy sn: gurid`qw (jnm 14 sqMbr 1608); gurU qyZ bhwdr (jnm 1 ApRYl 1621); sUrj m`l (jnm 5 sqMbr 1623); AxI rwey (jnm 24 AkqUbr 1623); Atl rwey (jnm 6 &rvrI 1626); bIbI vIro (jnm 11 julweI 1626)[ hux jy Fu`crW vwly nvyN-ivdvwnW dI g`l mMn leIey qW sUrj m`l (jnm 5 sqMbr 1623) Aqy AxI rwey (jnm 24 AkqUbr 1623) ivc isr&  1 mhInw 19 idn dw &rk hY; kI ieh shI ho skdw hY ieko mW ieM\ b`cw jMm skdI hY[ ieM\ hI Atl rwey (jnm 6 &rvrI 1626) Aqy bIbI vIro ((jnm 11 julweI 1626) ivc 5 mhIny 5 idn dw &rk hY[kI ieh shI ho skdw hY ieko mW ieM\ b`cw jMm skdI hY[ vwh beI vwh! ieh qW nvIN Koj hY, swieMs vwilAW nUM kho b`icAW dy jnm nUM 9-10 mhIny dy &rk nwl nhIN 49 idn qy 150 idn mgroN vI jMimAw jw skdw hY[

gurU goibMd isMG swihb dy ivAwh

gurU qyZ bhwdr swihb mwrc 1673 dy Aw^rI h&qy qoN 10 julweI 1675 qk c`k nwnkI ivc rhy[ ienHW idnW ivc swry pwsy qoN is`K sMgqW c`k nwnkI Awaux lg peIAW[ ienHW idnW ivc hI lwhOr qoN BweI hirjs suiB`KI vI drSnW vwsqy AwieAw[ aus dI bytI bIbI jIqW/jIqo dI mMgxI goibMd dws nwl 12 meI 1673 dy idn kIqI geI[

kSmIr dy bRwhmxW nUM jbrI muslmwn bxwey jwx dy i^lw& gurU qyZ bhwdr swihb ny Awvwz auTweI qW aunHW nUM 11 nvMbr 1675 dy idn ShId kr id`qw igAw[ gurU qyZ bhwdr swihb dI ShIdI mgroN gurU goibMd isMG swihb ny is`K pMQ dI vwg-for sMBwlI[ 1677 ivc BweI hirjs suiB`KI ny gurU swihb dI SwdI vwsqy zor pwauxw SurU kr id`qw[ aus dI cwh sI ik gurU swihb brwq lY ky lwhOr Awaux[ pr gurU swihb ny lwhOr, ih&wzq p`KoN, jwxw shI nw smiJAw[ pr, hox vwly shury dI ^wihS pUrI krn vwsqy, gurU swihb ny AwnMdpur swihb qoN XwrHW ku iklomItr dUr ‘gurU dw lwhOr’ dI nINh r`KI[ 21 jUn 1677 dy idn gurU goibd isMG swihb dw ivAwh iesy jgHw ’qy hoieAw[

mwqw jIqo lwhOr vrgy v`fy Sihr ivc jMmI, plI qy v`fI hoeI sI[ au~Qy aus dIAW bcpx dIAW swQxW qy irSqydwr sn[ ivAwh mgroN auh iek in`ky ijhy ipMf ‘c`k nwnkI’ ivc Aw vsI sI ij`Qy auh Awpxy Awp nUM iek`lI mihsUs krdI sI[ BwvyN hzwrW sMgqW au~Qy AwauNdIAW sn pr auh swry gurU swihb dy drSnW vwsqy AwauNdy sn, aunHW dw mwqw jIqo nwl koeI rwbqw nhIN sI huMdw[ ies iek`lpx kwrn auh bImwr rihx lg peI[

A^Ir jd s`q-ku swl bIq gey qy auh TIk nw ho skI qW aus ny gurU swihb nUM mjbUr kr ky dUjw ivAwh krn vwsqy zor pwieAw[ gurU goibMd isMG swihb dw dUjw ivAwh suMdrI (mgroN suMdr kOr) nwl hoieAw[ 1685 ivc gurU swihb pwauNtw cly gey[ au~Qy suMdr kOr ny 26 jnvrI 1686 dy idn AjIq isMG nUM jnm id`qw[ b`cy nUM jnm dyx mgroN mwqw suMdrI bImwr pY geI[ swihbzwdw AjIq isMG nUM mwqw jIqo ny sMBwlxw SurU kr id`qw[ hOlI hOlI  AjIq isMG vDyry mwqw jIqo dI godI ivc hI rihx lg ipAw[ ies bwl nwl Kyfx kwrn mwqw jIqo hOlI-hOlI TIk hox lg peI[ dUjy pwsy mwqw suMdrI dI bImwrI lmk geI[ mwqw jIqo TIk hox mgroN swry kMm ivc pUrI idlcspI lYx lg peI[ ies mgroN mwqw jIqo ny iqMn b`icAW nUM jnm id`qw[ auh mwqw suMdrI  dI syvw vI krdI rhI[ieh sI gurU swihb dy ivAwhW dI AslIAq[ kuJ lyKkW ny ies msly dw h`l krn vwsqy ieh khwxI bxw leI ik gurU swihb dI pqnI dw nW jIqo bcpx dw sI, suMdrI ivAwh mgroN r`iKAw igAw qy swihb kOr KMfy dI pwhul mgroN[ ieh lyKk ieh nhIN ds sky ik mwqw gujrI dw bcpx dw nW ikauN  nhIN bdilAw qy bwkI mwqwvW dy nW bcpx dy nW ikauN nhIN sn bdly gey qy gurU pRvwrW dIAW aunHW mwqwvW dy nW, jo 1698/99 ivc ijaUNdIAW sn, KMfy dI pwhul mgroN ikauN nhIN bdly gey[ bhuq swry lyKk sm`grI nw imlx kr ky AijhIAW khwxIAW GV lYNdy hn jo dlIl dI ksv`tI ’qy pUrIAW nhIN auqrdIAW qy lok nUM AslIAq pqw nhIN lgdI[

gurU swihb hI nhIN bhuq swry mhwn is`K ShIdW dIAW vI iek qoN vD SwdIAW sn:

4 ivAwh: rwm rwie (pu`qr gurU hir rwie swihb; ijhVw 1685 ivc dobwrw is`KI ivc Swiml hoieAw sI)[

do ivAwh: gurid`qw (pu`qr gurU hirgoibMd swihb), BweI mweI dws (ipqw BweI mnI isMG), BweI mnI isMG, bMdw isMG bhwdr, hTI isMG (pu`qr AjIq isMG, poqw gurU goibMd isMG)[

ieh sI gurU swihb dy ivAwhW dI AslIAq[ kuJ lyKkW ny ies msly dw h`l krn vwsqy ieh khwxI bxw leI ik gurU swihb dI pqnI dw nW jIqo bcpx dw sI, suMdrI ivAwh mgroN r`iKAw igAw qy swihb kOr KMfy dI pwhul mgroN[ ieh lyKk ieh nhIN ds sky ik mwqw gujrI dw bcpx dw nW ikauN  nhIN bdilAw qy bwkI mwqwvW dy nW bcpx dy nW ikauN nhIN sn bdly gey qy gurU pRvwrW dIAW aunHW mwqwvW dy nW, jo 1698/99 ivc ijaUNdIAW sn, KMfy dI pwhul mgroN ikauN nhIN bdly gey[ bhuq swry lyKk sm`grI nw imlx kr ky AijhIAW khwxIAW GV lYNdy hn jo dlIl dI ksv`tI ’qy pUrIAW nhIN auqrdIAW qy lok nUM AslIAq pqw nhIN lgdI[

iek qoN vD ivAwh dy kwrn kI sn? mYN qW ies nukqy nUM spSt krn dI koiSS kIqI hY[ kuJ AD-pVHy, 'qMg qy sImq soc vwly', ‘nvyN rUVIvwdI’, kmzr& lokW nUM ies 'qy qklI& hoeI ik mYN Koj dI g`l ikauN kIqI Aqy JUT nUM mnzur ikauN nhIN kIqw[

ie`Qy ieh smJx dI vI loV hY ik mYN iek qoN vD ivAwh dw pRcwr nhIN kr irhw blik qvwrI^ ivgwVn nUM r`d kr irhw hW[

mYnUM qW Ajy ieh vI fr lgdw hY ik ikqy ieh lok ienHW iqMnW gurUAW dy i^lw& &qvw hI nw jwrI kr dyx[ Eey! qrs kro !! kOm ‘qy qrs kro!!!

Punjabi version: Indian Army's attack on Darbar Sahib (Dr harjinder Singh Dilgeer)

jUn 1984 dy drbwr swihb ‘qy hmly bwryy kuJ Anjwxy rwz

fwktr hrijMdr isMG idlgIr

(a) drbwr swihb ‘qy hmly dw ipCokV

Drm dy ADwr ‘qy mulkW dw kwiem hoxw

1947 ivc jd AMgryz swaUQ eySIAw qoN ru^sq ho rhy sn qW aunHW ny Awpxy kbzy hyTly dySW, ijs nUM aunHW ny ieMqzwmIAw p`K qoN ieMfIAw nW dy id`qw sI; nUM Drm dy ADwr ‘qy vMf ky jwx dw &Yslw kIqw sI[ pr ies ivc auh iqMn muK Drm mMn ky vI is`KW nwl zulm kmw gey qy aunHW dy mulk nUM ihMdU Aqy muslmwn zon dy rihmo-krm hyT C`f id`qw[ is`KW nUM mjbUr ho ky Bwrq dy kbzy hyT rihxw ipAw[ l`KW is`KW nUM p`CmI pwiksqwn ivc kqlyAwm dw iSkwr hoxw ipAw[

mOjUdw Bwrq dI kwiemI dw ADwr ihMdU mulk sI, pr eyQy coxW dw ADwr hox kr ky swrI isAwsq vot bYNk dy ihswb nwl c`lx lg peI[ ies i&rkU pYNqVy dw sB qoN pihlw qy v`fw iSkwr is`K hoey[ Agsq 1947 qk ihMdU AwgU (sxy gWDI, ptyl Aqy nihrU) ksmW KWdy rhy sn ik is`KW nUM ‘Bwrq dy auqr ivc AzwdI dw Aihsws dyx vwsqy iek iK`qw mih&Uz kIqw jwvygw’ pr ieh Pryb Bry bol 15 Agsq dy idn hI Alop ho gey[ sgoN ies dy ault i&rkwpRsqI dw bol bwlw SurU ho igAw[ is`KW nUM Zulwm, dUjy drjy dy, ZYr Drm dy, dUjI zbwn dy, ZYr klcr dy lok drsw ky aunHW nwl mlyCW vwlw slUk SurU ho igAw[ aunHW nUM AzwdI dw in`G dyx dI bjwie bhuigxqI dy mzhb, zbwn qy klcr ivc jzb hox vwsqy mjbUr kIqw jwx lg ipAw[ is`KW nwl hr p`K qoN ivqkrw krnw Swied .Bwrq dI kOmI ^UbI. bx igAw sI[

ieM\ kuJ swl lMG gey[ hOlI-hOlI kWgrs pwrtI dy mukwbly ivc nvIAW isAwsI s&bMdIAW SurU ho geIAW[ ies nwl kWgrs nUM vot bYNk hwisl krn vwsqy pYNqVy bdlxy pey[ ies mOky ‘qy soSilst pwrtIAW ny AwrQk p`K qoN lwmbMd hoxw SurU kIqw[ aunHW nUM bhuq kwmXwbI hwisl koeI[ audoN rwm mnohr lohIAw, mDU ilmey, AcwrIAw ikRplwnI, jY pRkwS nwrwiex  qy rwjgopwl AcwrIAw vrgIAW S^sIAqW mOjUd sn[ pr, ienHW dy tur jwx nwl isAwsq dw nkSw bdl igAw[ ies mOky ‘qy jnsMG (hux BwrqI jnqw pwrtI) jQybMd ho cukI sI[ ies pwrtI ny is`Dw hI i&rkU p`qw vrqxw SurU kr id`qw[ bysmJ lok Drm dy nW ‘qy mUrK bxny SurU ho gey[ ies nwAry dw Asr pihlW QoVHw qy iPr bhuq hox lg ipAw[ votW hwisl krn vwsqy is`K qy muslm vot bYNk bx cuky sn[ jnsMG (Bwjpw) is`K qy muslm dy i^lw& n&rq dw nwArw lw ky vot mMgdI sI qy kWgrsies dy ault[ pMfq jvwhr lwl nihrU ny ^Ub cwlwkI nwl dovyN p`qy vrqI r`Ky[ iek pwsy qW auh is`K, pMjwbI qy pMjwb dI mu^wl&q kr ky auqrI Bwrq dI ihMdU vot hwisl krdw irhw qy dUjy pwsy muslmwnW dw (idKwvy dw) hmdrd bx ky musilm vot vI hwisl krdw irhw[

ieMdrw gWDI dI pwlsI qy skIm

nihrU dI mOq mgroN aus dI DI ieMdrw gWDI ny BwvyN is`KW dy msly ‘qy iehI pwlsI jwrI r`KI pr 1965 dI jMg kwrn jdoN pMjwbI sUbw bxwauxw pY igAw qW ies ivc vI aus ny AYNtI-is`K pwlsI vrq ky auqr dy ihMdU votr nUM h`Q ivc r`Kx dI koiSS kIqI (ieh g`l aus ny AwpxI ikqwb ivc vI mMnI hY)[ ies mgroN 1967 qoN 1980 qk aus ny ZrIbI htwE Aqy hor AwrQk nwAirAW nwl vot bYNk ‘qy kbzw krn ivc kwmXwbI hwisl kIqI[ pr aus ny mihsUs kIqw ik hux ieh nwArw AglI vwr kwmXwb nhIN ho skxw ikauN ik 1977 ivc bxI jnqw pwrtI dI soc ivcoN nvIAW iDrW dy auT pYx Aqy qwkq ivc Awaux dy Awswr kwiem rihxy sn[ ies kr ky aus ny nvW vot bYNk kwiem krn dI pwlinMg kIqI[ aus kol do vot zon sn: musilm, is`K qy drwivV iek pwsy Aqy bMgwlI, mrh`tw qy phwVI lok dUjy pwsy[ ivckwrlw ihMdUsqwnI vot (XU.pI., AYm.pI., ibhwr qy kuJ kU gujrwq qy rwijsQwn)[ ienHW swirAW nUM auh iek`iTAw vot bYNk vjoN nhIN vrq skdI sI[ aus ny mihsUs kIqw ik sB qoN v`fy vot bYNk, Xwin ihMdUsqwnI vot bYNk, nUM hwisl krn vwsqy aunHW nUM jzbwqI kr ky Aqy BVkw ky hI vot hwisl kIqI jw skdI sI[ ies vot nUM hwils krn vwsqy aus kol do hiQAwr sn: is`K Aqy drwivV[ ienHW dy nW ‘qy hI auh ihMdUsqwnIAW dIAW votW hwisl kr skdI sI[

ies soc nwl aus ny pihlW drwivV vot bYNk vrqx dI skIm bxweI[ ies mksd vwsqy aus ny sRIlMkw ivc qwimlW nUM KVHw kIqw[ aus in`ky ijhy mulk ivc qwimlW dI AzwdI dy nW ‘qy hiQAwrbMd jMg SurU krvweI[ ies ip`Cy aus dy do inSwny sn: iek ieh ik drwivV lok aus dy v&wdwr rihxgy (Aqy vKry drwivVsqwn dI soc C`f fyxgy) Aqy dUjw auh sRI lMkw ivcoN qwiml eIlwm Awzwd krvw ky Awpxy Awp nUM 1971 ivc bMglw dyS kwiem krn vrgw nwArw lw ky ihMdUsqwnI votrW vwsqy iPr dyvI bx jwvygI[ pr sRI lMkw aus nUM ieh morcw C`fxw ipAw qy ies nwl ihMdUsqwnI votr aus dy nwl nw juiVAw[

ies mgroN aus ny is`K p`qw vrqx dI skIm GVI[ aus ny ^u&IAw ‘Qrf eyjMsI’ kwiem kr ky ies rwhIN pMjwb ivc gVbV krvw ky ihMdUAW ivc fr Aqy n&rq dw Aihsws pYdw kr ky Aqy is`KW dy i^lw& n&rq dw mwhOl pYdw kIqw[ pr aus dI ies pwlsI nUM aultw BwrqI jnqw pwrtI Aqy ies dIAW swQI pwrtIAW iSv sYnw, ivSv ihMdU pRISd vZYrw ny sgoN vDyry kYS krnw SurU kr id`qw[ hux ieMdrw gWDI vwsqy ieh hiQAwr sgoN Gwqk swibq hox lg ipAw[ pr auh 1984 dIAW coxW hr hwlq ivc ij`qxw cwhuMdI sI qy aus kol koeI hor nwArw jW hiQAwr nhIN sI[  ies kr ky aus ny Bwjpw qoN A`gy inklx dI skIm bxweI[ ieh sI: drbwr swihb ‘qy hmlw kr ky ‘ihMdU rwStr dI dyvI’ bx ky ihMdUsqwnI vot hwisl krnw[

drbwr swihb ‘qy hmlw krn dw hukm

1984 dIAW coxW qoN fyF swl pihlW aus ny ieh PYslw kr ilAw sI ik auh is`K p`qw vrq ky hI kwmXwb ho skygI[ ies skIm nwl aus ny 1983 dIAW grmIAW ivc BwrqI &Oj dy muKI jnrl AYs. ky. isnhw kol AwpxI ^wihS zwihr kIqI[ pr jnrl isnhw ny ieMdrw gWDI nUM ieh hrkq krn qoN roikAw[ (isnhw ny ieh g`l 26 jUn 2011 dy idn ‘fyA AYNf nweIt’ tIvI qoN SryAwm khI sI)[ ieMdrw gWDI ny jd jnrl isnhw ‘qy zor pwieAw qW aus ny AgwaUN irtweirmYNt hwisl kr leI[ aus mgroN ieMdrw gWDI ny Arux SRIDr vYdXw nUM &Oj dI kmwn dy id`qI[ sqMbr 1983 ivc ieMdrw ny jnrl vYdXw nUM drbwr swihb ‘qy hmlw krn vwqy iqAwrI krn vwsqy hdwieqW id`qIAW[ aus dy nwl hI vYstrn kmWf dy jI.E.sI. ikRSn svwmI suMdrjI nUM vI ifptI vjoN qweInwq kIqw[ ieh dovyN ieMdrw gWDI dy v&wdwrW vW| aus dy hukm mMn ky drbwr swihb ‘qy hmly vwsqy iqAwrI krn lg pey[ ies mksd vwsqy sB qoN pihlW ‘puzIsn pypr’ iqAwr kIqw igAw ijs ivc swrI AYkSn plwn sI[ dsMbr 1983 ivc ies plwn nUM ieMdrw gWDI kol pyS kIqw igAw[ aus ny 15 jnvrI 1984 dy idn vyYdX qy suMdrjI nUM drbwr swihb ‘qy hmlw krn vwsqy iqAwr rihx dw hukm dy id`qw[ ieh hmlw iksy vyly vI kIqw jw skdw sI[

jnrl vYdX ny &Oj dy swry ih`isAW ivc sB qoN vDIAw 600 kmWfo cux  ky iek &ors iqAwr kIqI Aqy id`lI qoN 240 ikomItr dUr, fyhrwdUn dy nyVy BwrqI &Oj dy sB qO Aihm A`fy ckrwqw dIAW phwVIAW ivc drbwr swihb dw iek pUry sweIz dw izMdw mwfl iqAwr kIqw igAw Aqy drbwr swihb ‘qy kbzw krn vwsqy lgwqwr rIhrsl SurU kr id`qI geI[ kuJ hI h&iqAW ivc &Oj ny AYlwn kr id`qw ik aunHW dI plwinMg kwmXwb hox ivc koeI ksr nhIN hY Aqy auh hmlw krnm dy 36 GMitAW ivc hI drbwr swihb ‘qy kbzw kr lYxgy[

&rvrI 1984 ivc jnrl vYdXw qy suMdrjI ny ieMdrw gWDI nUM kih id`qw sI ik auh hmly vwsqy pUrI qrHW iqAwr hn[ ieMdrw gWDI ny ieh swrw kuJ Awpxy nzdIkIAW (Arux nihrU, Arux isMh qy rwjIv gWDI vZYrw) nwl ivcwirAw[ &rvrI Aqy ApRYl ivc do vwr drbwr swihb ‘qy hmlw krn dw pRogrwm bixAw pr, dovyN vwr, AYn mOky ‘qy ies nUM mulqvI kr id`qw jWdw irhw[ A^Ir 31 meI 1984 dI rwq nUM ieMdrw gWDI ny jnrl vYdXw nUM hmlw krn dy hukm jwrI kIqy Aqy pihlI jUn nUM qkrIbn iek l`K &OjW AMimRqsr v`l c`l peIAW[

hmly dI q&sIl

qkrIbn iek l`K &Oj ies swrI muihµm ivc, iek jW dUjy qrIky nwl, Swiml sn[ ienHW ivc, AwrmI, nyvI qy eyAr&ors, iqµny Swiml sn[ pihlI jUn ƒ cµfIgVH kol cµfI mµdr ‘2 kor’ dy hY~fkuAwrtr ivc ky.AYs. brwV, lY&tInYNt jnrl ky. suµdrjI, Awr.AYs. idAwl Aqy keI hor &OjI A&sr iek`Ty hoey[ ienHW ivcoN suµdrjI pwiksqwn nwl hoeI 1965 dI lVweI ivc iek rjmYNt dw kmWfr irhw sI qy idAwl vI iesy lVweI ivc ih`sw lY rhI pYrwSUt rjmYNt dw iek myjr sI[ cµfI mµdr CwauxI ivc hoeI[ ies mIitµg ivc &Yslw hoieAw ik igAwnI zYl isMG* Aqy ieMdrw vloN id`qI hdwieq muqwibk drbwr swihb ’qy hmlw kIqw jwxw sI Aqy swry kµplYks pUrw kbzw 48 qoN 72 Gµty ivc mukµml kIqw jwxw sI[ ies AYkSn dy do muK ih`sy sn: drbwr swihb ’qy hmlw Aqy kbzw krnw (ApRySn blU stwr) Aqy AµimRqsr dI pwiksqwn v`l Aqy bwkI pµjwb nwl srh`d sIl krnw (ApRySn vu`f roz)[ srh`d sIl krn dw kµm 11 kor XUint, ijs dw muKI lY&tInYNt jnrl ky. gOrI Sµkr sI, ƒ sONipAw igAw sI[ (*ieh korw JUT hY ik igAwnI zYl isMG nUM hmly dw pqw nhIN sI qy aus ny dsq^q nhIN sn kIqy[ drAsl ieh hmlw aus dI mrzI nwl hoieAw sI)[

ky.AYs. brwV pihlI jUn ƒ svyry qVkswr Awpxy ifptI brgyfIAr AYn.ky. qlvwV nwl AµimRqsr pu`j cu`kw sI[ ies vyly qk 15 ipAwdw fvIzn &Oj ƒ iqAwr kr ilAw igAw hoieAw sI[ ienHW dy hY~fkuAwtr ivc drbwr swihb, Akwl q^q swihb qy hor swry pwisEN imµt-imµt dI ^br puj rhI sI[ id`lI nwl ienHW dw is`Dw rwbqw sI jo &on rwhIN hw`t-lweIn ’qy ho irhw sI[ ies dy nwl hI lY&tInYNt krnl ky.AYs. rµDwvw qy brgyfIAr fI.vI. rwE dI AgvweI hyT, drbwr swihb ’coN sUhW hwisl krn dI ingrwnI kr rhy sn[ ies sbµD ivc aunHW dI mdd vwsqy 12 ibhwr btwlIAn qy 10 gwrf iqAwr KVHIAW sn[ vDyry sUh lYx vwsqy kYptn jsbIr rYxw drbwr swihb ’c swdy kpiVAW ivc igAw[ ieµ\ 2 qwrI^ Swm qk &Oj ny drbwr swihb ’qy hmly dI pUrI iqAwrI kr leI sI[ iesy rwq svw nON vjy ieµdrw ny tI.vI. ’qy qkrIr kIqI[ tI.vI. ’qy bolx l`igAW ieµdrw QkI hoeI, frI hoeI qy ‘^udkuSI qoN pihlW vwlI hwlq’ ivc nzr Aw rhI sI[ ies qkrIr ivc aus ny &OjI hmly dI g`l nhIN kIqI, pr ijs vyly auh tI.vI. qy bol rhI sI, aus vyly iek ipAwdw btwlIAn ‘12-ibhwr’ dy &OjI drbwr swihb ƒ Gyrw pw rhy sn[ sI.Awr.pI.AY&. ny pihloN hI drbwr swihb dy duAwly puzISnW leIAW hoeIAW sn[

id`lI ivc ‘AprySn blU stwr’ dI swrI kwrvweI dI ingrwnI ieµdrw, rwjIv, Arux nihrU, Arux isµh vZYrw Awp kr rhy sn[

3 jUn ƒ qVky hI 12 ibhwr dy &OjIAW ny drbwr swihb dy Awly-duAwly swrIAW iemwrqW ivc morcy sµBwl ley sn[ aunHW kol hr qrHW dy mwrU hiQAwr sn[ ies XUint dw kmWifµg A&sr lY&tInYNt krnl rµDwvw sI[ aus ny hmly vwsqy itkwixAW dI inSwn-dyhI kr leI sI[ pihloN, pihlI jUn ƒ, sI.Awr.pI.AY&. ny vI drbwr swihb ’qy AµnHy-vwh &wieirµg kr ky koiSS kIqI sI ik aus ƒ pqw lg sky ik mukwblw ik`QoN-ik`QoN hoxw hY[ pr aus idn KwVkUAW ny sI.Awr.pI.AY&. dI kwrvweI dw jvwb nhIN id`qw sI, ikauNik auh Aslw guAwauxw nhIN sn cwhuµdy[

3 jUn ƒ rwq dy 9 vjy swry pµjwb ivc 36 Gty vwsqy kri&aU lw id`qw igAw (mgroN ies ƒ hor vDw id`qw igAw sI)[ ies qoN sw& smiJAw jw skdw sI ik &Oj drbwr swihb ’qy hmlw kr dyvygI[ drbwr swihb dy Aµdr bYTy KwVkUAW dI kmwn jnrl subyg isµG kol sI[ aus ny ies hmly dw Aµdwzw lw ilAw sI Aqy v`K-v`K QwvW ’qy moricAW ivc KwVkUAW ƒ qweInwq kr id`qw sI[

3 qwrI^ dI rwq ƒ hI drbwr swihb qoN isr& 300 mItr dUr &Oj ny Awpxw kµtrol rUm kwiem kr ilAw sI[ ieh iek au~cI eImwrq dI auprlI mµizl ’qy sI[ ies jgHw ‘Awrfrz grup’, ijs ƒ brwV ny hukm dy ky lwgU krvwauxw sI, Aqy hor A&sr hwizr sn[ ienHW ivc 350 ipAwdw brgyf dw kmWfr Aqy ies hyT rKIAW cwr ipAwdw btwlIAnW dy kmWifµg A&sr vI sn[ ieh cwr btwlIAn sn: 10 gwrf, 26 mdrws, 12 ibhwr qy 9 kmwaUN[ iesy Swm ƒ jnrl suµdrjI Aqy idAwl vI fvIzn dy hY~f-kuAwtr ’qy phuµc gey[

ies vyly AMimRqsr dw ifptI kimSnr gurdyv isMG sI[ aus ny rsmI qOr ’qy vI drbwr swihb ’qy hmly dI mnzUrI dyx vwsqy dsq^q krn qoN nWh kr id`qI[ ies ’qy aus nUM Cu`tI ’qy Byj ky aus dI QW ’qy rmySieMdr isMG nUM lw id`qw igAw ijs ny cupcwp dsq^q kr id`qy[ (ies rmySieMdr nUM bwdl ny cI& minstr bxn ’qy dovyN vwr Awpxw cI& sYktrI lwieAw sI)[

3-4 jUn 1984 dI rwq ƒ drbwr swihb dI ibjlI pwxI dw kunYkSn k`t id`qw igAw[ svyry cwr vj ky cwlI imµt ’qy BwrqI &Oj ny drbwr swihb ’qy hmlw kr id`qw[ sB qoN pihlW A`gy ByjIAW jwx vwlIAW cwr ipAwdw btwlIAnW Aqy do kµpnIAW dI igxqI dy brwbr kmWfo sn[ ies pihlI hmlwvr &Oj ƒ ieµ\ vµifAw igAw sI: (a) Akwl q^q swihb Aqy drbwr swihb dIAW au~qr-p`CmI bwhIAW (Gµtw Gr qoN Akwl q^q swihb qk dw ielwkw) = iek ipAwdw btwlIAn, iek kµpnI pYrw kmWfo, iek kµpnI spYSl bwrfr &ors (AYs.AY&.AYs.)[ (A) drbwr swihb vwsqy = kmWfo toilAW dI h`lw-bol tolI[ (e) drbwr swihb dIAW d`KxI qy pUrbI bwhIAW (Awtw mµfI, is`K rY&rYNs lwiebryrI, mµjI swihb, bwbw Atl) = iek ipAwdw btwlIAn[ (s) ienHW swrIAW vwsqy rIzrv = iek ipAwdw btwlIAn[ (h) GyrwbµdI = iek ipAwdw btwlIAn[

&Oj ny hmlw krn vyly sB qoN pihlW rwmgVHIAw buµigAW Aqy gurU rwmdws srW dy ip`Cy vwlI tYNkI au~qy 106 AYm.AYm. dI qop Aqy 3.7 ieµc dI hwaUivtzr lwl goly dwgxy SurU kr id`qy[ ies lgwqwr golwbwrI nwl tYNkI tu`t geI Aqy buµigAW dw auprlw ih`sw burI qrHW qbwh ho igAw[ ies dy nwl hI ieh morcy ibnW iksy lVweI qoN ^qm ho gey[

BwvyN Asl lVweI 4 jUn svyry 4 vj ky 40 imµt qy SurU hoeI sI, pr &OjI hmly dw cI& brwV AwpxI ikqwb AprySn blU stwr ivc ies ƒ pµj jUn Swm swFy cwr vjy qoN ilKdw hY, jdoN aus muqwibk, &Oj ny lwaUf spIkrW rwhIN lokW ƒ drbwr swihb ’coN bwhr Aw jwx vwsqy AwiKAw[ brwV muqwibk ieh AYlwn Swm 7 vjy qk kIqy jWdy rhy[ aus dw kihxw hY ik 7 vjy dy krIb isr& 129 AwdmI, AOrqW Aqy b`cy hI bwhr Awey[ ienHW bwlgW ivcoN bhuqy bImwr sn[ pr, brwV dI id`qI qwrI^ Aqy vkq dovyN Zlq hn[ brwV dI id`qI qwrI^ drAsl ‘Aw^rI v`fy hmly’ dI SurUAwq dI qwrI^ hY[

brwV muqwibk &Oj ny aus rwq 10 vjy qk hotl ‘tYNpl ivaU’ Aqy bRhm bUtw AKwVw ’qy kbzw kr ilAw sI[ ies qoN iqµn Gµty qoN vI G`t smyN dy Aµdr-Aµdr BwrqI &Oj dI ‘10 gwrf’ Gµtw Gr vloN drbwr swihb v`l dwi^l hoeI[ dwi^l huµidAW hI Øies dy 50 &OjI KwVkUAW h`QoN mwry gey[ z^mI hox vwlIAW ivc jsbIr rYxw vI sI (jo 3 jUn ƒ drbwr swihb dy Aµdr jw ky, jwsUsI kr ky AwieAw sI)[ jsbIr rYxw ƒ lgIAW golIAW kwrn mgroN aus dI l`q vI ktxI peI sI[ (lok ies ƒ ‘ZdwrI dI szw’ AwKdy hn)[ Gµtw Gr vloN 10 gwrf dy nwl-nwl pYrw kmWfo Aqy AYs.AYs.AYP. ny vI AprySn SurU kIqw sI[

sYNkVy &OjI QoVHw-QoVHw kr ky ieDroN Akwl q^q swihb v`l vDdy gey qy mwry jWdy rhy[ aunHW dw inSwnw Akwl q^q swihb dI iemwrq nyVy phuµc ky ies dy Aµdr gYs dy goly su`txw sI, ijs nwl KwVkU byhoS ho jWdy jW mwry jWdy[ pr ies inSwny ’c &Oj ƒ kwmXwbI hwisl nw hoeI qy sYNkVy &OjI mwry gey[ aunHW zmIn ’qy srk-srk ky, irVH-irVH ky vI A`gy v`Dx dI koiSS kIqI pr KwVkUAW vloN &rS ’qy i&t kIqI mSIngµn ny sYNkVy &OjI mwr id`qy Aqy keI GµitAW bwAd hI BwrqI &OjI drSnI ifauFI dy nyVy pu`jx ’c kwmXwb hoey, pr audoN hI hvw dw ruK aunHW v`l ho igAw, ijs nwl gYs dy goly aultw aunHW vwsqy hI musIbq bx gey[ hux qk Akwl q^q swihb, drSnI ifauFI qy inSwn swihb dy ivckwr isr& lwSW hI lwSW sn qy koeI vI &OjI bc nhIN sI sikAw[

ies AprySn dOrwn &Oj ny prkrmw dy swry kmirAW, ij`QoN-ij`QoN &Oj lµGdI geI, ivc grnyf su`t ky au~Qy hwizr hr iek S^s ƒ mwr id`qw[ pr Aijhw kridAW vI drjnW &OjI mwry gey[ bcy-Kucy &OjIAW dI AgvweI lY&tInYNt jnrl iesrwr ^wn ny sµBwlI hoeI sI[

dUjy pwsy rIzrv kµpnI ny AlmInIAm dI iek pOVI lweI qy auh prkrmw dI iemwrq dI pihlI mµizl ’qy pu`j geI[ aunHW ny grnyf su`t ky Aqy golIAW dI vwCV kr ky Gµtw Gr dy iblkul nyVy dy kmirAW ’qy kbzw krn dI koiSS kIqI[ ies AYkSn ivc vI bhuq swrI &Oj mwrI geI qy keI KwVkU vI jwn guAw bYTy[

auDr Akwl q^q swihb v`l BwvyN &OjIAW ƒ mOq qoN isvw kuJ nhIN sI hwisl ho sikAw, pr iPr vI aunHW ny Awpxw AYkSn jwrI r`iKAw[ hux lY&tInYNt jnrl ky.sI. p`fw Awpxy sUbydwr myjr qy 30 kmWfo lY ky A`gy viDAw[ pr auh swry hI mwry gey[ ies qoN bwAd &Oj dI iek tukVI gurduAwrw QVHw swihb dy nwl dI iemwrq ’qy pu`j geI qy Akwl q^q swihb ’qy goly vrHwxy SurU kr id`qy[ auDr hOlI-hOlI AYs.AYs.AY&. dI gYs su`tx vwlI tolI drSnI ifauFI vl vDI qy 20 mItr qoN Akwl q^q swihb ’qy AµnHy-vwh goly su`txy SurU kIqy pr vrHdIAW golIAW ny aunW dw s&wieAw kr id`qw[ ienHW gYs-goilAW dw vI KwVkUAW ’qy koeI Asr nw ho sikAw ikauNik Akwl q^q swihb dI iemwrq dy drvwzy, iKVkIAW qy rOSndwn sB pUrI qrHW bµd sn[ dUjw, JroiKAW ’coN &OjIAW ’qy golwbwrI ho rhI sI qy &OjI mwry jw rhy sn[ qIjw, gYs dy DUµey dw ru^ &Oj vwly pwsy hox kr ky vI &Oj dw bhuq nukswn ho irhw sI[

auDr 26 mdrws rjmYNt ny rwq 10 vjy jilHAW vwlw bwZ qoN gurU rwmdws srW v`l hmlw krnw sI jdoN ieh rjmYNt gurU rwmdws srW vwly pwsy dy myn gyt ’qy pu`jI qW aus koloN ieh gyt Ku`l hI nw sikAw[ AKIr aus ny tYNk mµgvw ley qy tYNkW nwl srW vwly pwsy dw myn gyt qoiVAw[ ies vyly srW, lµgr Aqy bwbw Atl vwly moricAW qoN golIbwrI ny BwrqI &Oj dw A`gy vDxw rok id`qw[ hux tYNkW ny KwVkUAW dy moricAW ’qy zbrdsq golwbwrI SurU kr id`qI[ ies dy bwvjUd 26 mdrws bhuqw A`gy nw v`D skI[ hwlWik ies dw inSwnw drbwr swihb ’c dwi^l ho ky prkrmw ivc d`KxI pwisEN Akwl q^q swihb v`l vDxw sI, pr ieh rjmYNt keI Gµty srW dy nyVy hI gih-g`c lVweI ivc PsI rhI[

jdoN 26 mdrws burI qrHW dI lVweI ’c aulJ geI qW 9 gVHvwl dIAW do kµpnIAW ƒ Awtw mµfI vwly Gµtw Gr vloN hmlw krn vwsqy AwiKAw igAw[ aunHW dy ip`Cy 15 kmwaUN (2 kµpnIAW Gt) ny Awauxw sI[ 15 kmwaUN dI ieh &Oj gurU rwmdws invws, Akwl rYst hwaUs, qyjw isµG smuµdrI hwl Aqy SRomxI AkwlI dl dy d&qr ’qy kbzw krn vwsqy rIzrv r`KI hoeI sI[ hux ies ƒ ies AYkSn dI jgHw d`KxI drvwzy v`l tor id`qw igAw[

9 gVHvwl dIAW kµpnIAW ny qVky fyF vjy qk is`K rY&rYNs lwiebryrI Aqy ies dy dohIN pwsIN mkwnW ’qy kbzw kr ilAw sI[ ies vyly qk 15 kmwaUN AYkSn Pors, lY&tInYNt jnrl AYn.sI. pµq dI kmwn hyT AYkSn ivc r`uJI hoeI sI[ brwV muqwibk 6 jUn qVky 2 vjy qk hwlwq ieµ\ sI:

(1)  10 gwrf dw bhuq v`fw nukswn ho cu`kw sI qy aus ny au~qrI Gµtw Gr ’qy kbzw kr ilAw sI, pr Ajy vI prkrmw dy kmirAW ivc KwVkUAW dIAW golIAW BwrqI &OjIAW dIAW jwnW lY rhIAW sn[

(2)  26 mdrws d`KxI bwhI ivc phuµc cu`kI sI[

(3)  9 gVHvwl rweI&l dIAW do kµpnIAW d`KxI duAwr (is`K rY&rYNs lwiebryrI) dy dohIN pwsI kbzw kr cu`kIAW sn[

(4)  1 pYrw-kmWfo Aqy AYs.AYs.AY&. vloN Akwl q^q swihb qk pu`jx dIAW swrIAW koiSsW nwkwm rhIAW sn qy auh swry au~Qy jwx dI koiSS ivc mwry jw cu`ky sn[

drbwr swihb ’qy tYNkW nwl hmlw

ies vyly brgyfIAr ey.ky. dIvwn (ic`kI) is`K rY&rYNs lwiebryrI kol Aw igAw[ brwV ny 26 mdrws, 15 kmwaUN qy 9 gVHvwl ƒ dIvwn dI kmwn hyT kr id`qw[ aunHW ƒ hdwieq sI ik auh Akwl q^q swihb dI iemwrq dw hI inSwnw r`Kx[ qVky FweI vjy qk dIvwn ny gVHvwl qy kmwaUN dI kmwn sµBwl ky AYkSn SurU kr id`qw sI[ aus vloN s^q golwbwrI SurU ho cu`kI sI[ pr ies dy bwvjUd BwrqI &Oj Akwl q^q swihb dI iemwrq v`l iek sYNtImItr vI nhIN sI v`D skI[ ies hwlq ivc dIvwn qy brwV ny tYNkW nwl hmlw krn dI plwn bxweI[ pr auh suµdrjI nwl rwbqw nw bxw sky[ A^Ir jdoN brwV dw suµdrjI nwl rwbqw hoieAw, aus ny ieµdrw gWDI qoN hukm lY ky prkrmw ivc tYNk Byjx dI iejwzq dy id`qI[

FweI qy pOxy iqµn vjy dy ivckwr pihlw tYNk gurU rwmdws srW (pUrbI bwhI) v`loN ilAWdw igAw[ tYNk ny prkrmw ivc dwi^l ho ky Akwl q^q swihb dI iemwrq vl src lweIt su`tI Aqy nwl hI golIAW dw mINh vrHwauxw SurU kr id`qw[ hux tYNk qoN Aqy swrIAW &OjI tukVIAW vloN Aw^rW dI golwbwrI SurU ho gI[ pr ieh AYkSn vI bhuqI dyr nw c`l sikAw, ikauNik src lweIt dIAW b`qIAW iek imµt qoN v`D jgwaux nwl hr vwr ienHW blbW dI qwr sV jWdI sI[ ies hwlq ivc BwrqI &Oj ny iek hor tYNk lY AWdw[ jdoN dUjy tYNk dy blbW dIAW qwrW sV geIAW qW qIjw tYNk vI Aµdr ilAWdw igAw[ QoVHI dyr mgroN qkrIbn cwr ku vjy iek b^qrbµd g`fI vI prkrmw ivc ilAWdI geI[ ies g`fI nMU ilAwaux vwsqy pirkrmw dIAW pOVIAW tYNk nwl qoVnIAW peIAW, ikauNik phIAW vwlI skOt ienHW pOVIAW qoN lµG nhIN sI skdI[

ies vyly qk 84 AYm.AYm. dy kwrl gusqwv (svIfn dy bxy) rONd Akwl q^q swihb dI iemwrq ’qy su`ty jw rhy sn[ hux 15 kmwaUN dy kuJ dsqy b^qrbµd g`fI ivc bYT ky prkrmw ivcoN Akwl q^q swihb dI iemwrq vl v`Dy qW jo auh BwrqI &Oj dy rwktW dy hmilAW dI AwV ivc lµGdy Akwl q^q swihb qk jw pu`jx[ pr ieh b^qrbµd g`fI jdoN swFy cwr ku vjy Akwl q^q swihb dy nyVy pu`jI qW iek AYNtI-tYNk golw ies ’qy Aw v`jw qy ieh au~Qy hI jwm ho geI[ hux srGI vylw ho igAw sI Aqy inµmHI-inµmHI rOSnI ho geI sI[ svyry 5 vj ky 10 imµt ’qy ieµdrw gWDI ny Akwl q^q swihb dI iemwrq ƒ tYNkw rwhIN aufw dyx dw hukm dy id`qw[ 5 vj ky 21 imµt ’qy tYNkW ny AµnHy-vwh golwbwrI SurU kr id`qI[ ijs nwl Akwl q^q swihb dI iemwrq dw G`to-G`t qIjw ih`sw jW qW iblkul hI Fih-FyrI ho igAw qy jW burI qbwh ho igAw[ ies dy nwl BwrqI &Oj dw vI bhuq nukswn ho irhw sI[ A^Ir pOxy ku Cy vjy ey-kmWfo kµpnI dw myjr bI.ky. imSrw Akwl q^q swihb dI iemwrq dIAW pOVIAW nyVy jw pu`jw pr auh Aqy aus dy swQI auQy hI FyrI ho gey[ ies qoN ielwvw dovyN kµpnIAW, jo q^q swihb dI iemwrq v`l vD rhIAW sn, vI KwVkUAW dI zbrdsq golwbwrI dw iSkwr ho geIAW[ aunHW ivcoN bhuq swry mwry gey qy bcy-Kucy pirkrmw dy brWfy ivc Aw ky luk gey[

svyry 6 vj ky 20 imµt qk BwrqI &Oj isr& bµdy mrvwaux ivc hI kwmXwb ho skI sI qy Akwl q^q swihb dy morcy ’coN hor kuJ vI hwisl nhIN sI kr skI[ ies mgroN sUbydwr ky.pI. rmn rvI dI AgvweI hyT kuJ kmWfo q^q swihb dI iemwrq v`l vDy[ auh swry Akwl q^q swihb dIAW pOVIAW ’c pu`j gey[ KwVkUAW ny sUbydwr rvI ƒ kwbU kr ilAw Aqy aus dy ijsm dy duAwly bwrUd dIAW lVIAW bµnH ky aus ƒ aufw id`qw qy bwkI dy kmWfo vI mwr id`qy[

svyry swFy s`q vjy qk BwrqI &OjIAW dIAW lwSW dw Fyr l`g cu`kw sI[ hux ivjXµq tYNkW ny 105 AYm.AYm. dy Dmwkw^yz sUkYS hY~f goly Akwl q^q swihb dI iemwrq ’qy su`txy SurU kr id`qy[ iek somy muqwibk Gto-G`t 80 Aijhy goly Akwl q^q swihb vl su`ty gey[ dupihr 11 vjy qk ieh lVweI cldI rhI[ ies dOrwn bwbw jrnYl isµG iBµfrWvwly, BweI AmrIk isµG, (jnrl) subyg isµG Aqy drjnW hor is`K ShId ho cu`ky sn[ Akwl q^q swihb ’coN kuJ is`K ipCly pwisEN bc ky inkl vI cu`ky sn[

Akwl qKq swihb ’qy kbzy mgroN BwrqI &Oj ƒ isr& KwVkUAW dIAW lwSW Aqy cµd iek Coty-moty hiQAwrW qoN isvw kuJ vI nw imilAw[ BwvyN BwrqI &Oj ny dwAvw kIqw hY ik 6 jUn ƒ dupihry 11 vjy kuJ KwVkU Akwl q^q swihb dI iemwrq qoN inkl ky srovr vl B`jy qW jo qYr ky drbwr swihb jw skx, pr &Oj ny aunHW ƒ golIAW nwl aufw id`qw qy ieµ\ hI 10 KwVkU ic`tw J`fw lihrw ky q^q swihb dI iemwrq coN inkl ky bwhr Awey qy &Oj ny aunHW nUM igR&qwr kr ilAw[ Akwl q^q swihb qoN srovr qk pu`jx qk hzwrW golIAW dI vwCV qoN bcxw nwmumikn sI qy ieµ\ hI ic`tw Jµfw lY ky Awaux vwly ƒ igR&qwr krn dI g`l vI JUTI hY, ikauNik &Oj ny ies mOky ’qy iksy vI KwVkU ƒ igR&qwr nhIN kIqw, blik isr& golI nwl hI aufwieAw sI[ Swied brwV hiQAwr su`tx dI g`l AwK ky &Oj dI koeI ‘kwmXwbI’ swibq krnI cwhuµdw hY[ drAsl Akwl q^q swihb dy mUhry gih-g`c lVweI hoeI sI qy cSmdId gvwhW muqwibk iek vI KwVkU au~QoN ijaUNdw nhIN sI PiVAw igAw[

(A) drbwr swihb ‘qy hmly dy kuJ Anjwxy p`K

dunIAW Br dI sB qoN v`fI AsWvIN lVweI

        dunIAW Br ivc bhuq swrIAW lVweIAW AswvIAW lVweIAW mMnIAW geIAW hn ijnHW ivc iek pwsy muT kU lok sn qy aunHW kol Aslw vI QOVHw jW mwmUlI ijhw sI qy dUjy pwsy bhuq qwkqvr, v`fIA Aqy Asly nwl BrpUr &Oj sI[ ienHW ivcoN A`DIAW qoN vD jMgW is`KW ny lVIAW sn, ijvyN cmkOr (7-8 dsMbr 1705), lohgVH (30 nvMbr 1710), Akwl q^q (1 dsMbr 1764), swrwgVHI (12 sqMbr 1897)[ pr sB qoN lwswnI sI jUn 1984 dI lVweI[ 4 qoN 6 jUn 1984 dI drbwr swihb dI lVweI ny dunIAW Br dIAW jMgW dI qvwrI^ bdl ky r`K id`qI[ isr& 444 vrg Pu`t jgh ‘qy kbzw krn vwsqy iek pwsy dunIAW Br dI cOQI v`fI &Oj dy iek l`K qoN vD &OjI, dunIAW Br dy sB qoN nvW Aslw, tYknwlojI Aqy shUlqW sxy (ijs ivc hYlIkwptr, b^qrbMd g`fIAW, bMb, tYNk vI swiml sn) Aqy dUjy pwsy sn: Bu`Ky Bwxy 125 dy krIb AisiKAq nOjvwn sn[ Blky Swied qvwrI^ pVHn vwly ieh mMnx qoN Jk jwx ik kI ieh jMg scmuc hoeI sI ijs ivc AYfI v`fI qwkq nUM eynI kU jgh ‘qy kbzw krn vwsqy eyny kU bMidAW ny iqMn idn A`gy leI r`iKAw[

lVweI dy hIro kOx sn?

        ies jMg dw swrw pYNqVw jnrl subyg isMG ny iqAwr kIqw sI[ sB qoN vD qkVw morcw (jQydwr qlivMdr isMG dy swQI qy ismrnjIq isMG mwn dI srprsqI vwly) AmrjIq isMG KymkrnI dw sI[ aunHW qoN ielwvw nwgoky dy juJwrU Swied sB qoN vD lVy sn[ bIbIAW ivcoN aupkwr kOr Aqy prmjIq kOr sMDU ny bIbI iB`KW cOhwn (6 dsMbr 1705) vwlw swkw muV duhrwieAw sI[ KwVkUAW dI igxqI iksy qrHW nwl vI 125 qoN vD nhIN sI[

BwrqI &Oj ny ieh lVweI SrwbI ho ky lVI

drbwr swihb Aqy hor QWvW ’qy hmlwvr &OjIAW ny swrI lVweI SrwbI ho ky lVI sI[ iek srkwrI irport muqwibk &Oj ny isr& pµjwb ivcoN hI 7 l`K boqlW rµm dIAW, 30 hzwr ivskI dy ADIey, 60 hzwr brWfI dy ADIey qy iek l`K 60 hzwr bIAr dIAW boqlW ^rIdIAW sn[ ieh swrIAW pµjwb srkwr dy ‘tYks Aqy AYksweIz’ mihkmy ny iek notI&IkySn rwhIN tYks-&rI kr ky &Oj ƒ ‘AprySn blU stwr’ vwsqy muh`eIAw kIqIAW sn[ ies qoN ielwvw hzwrW f`bIAW isgrtW vI muh`eIAw kIqIAW geIAW[ BwrqI &OjI drbwr swihb dI hdUd ivc SryAwm isgrtW pINdy rhy[

mwry gey is`KW dIAW lwSW nwl kI slUk kIqw igAw?

BwrqI &Oj nUM hukm sI drbwr siwhb ivcoN iksy vI is`K nUM igR&qwr nhIN krnw; jo vI nzr Awvy aus nUM golI mwr dyxI hY[ ies dy bwvjUd iek &OjI A&sr ny bygunwh lokW nUM golI mwrn dI bjwie aunHW nUM igR&qwr kr ilAw qy aunHW dy h`Q ip`T ip`Cy bMnH ky ibTw ilAw igAw[ pr A^Ir &OjI jrnYlW dy hukm hyT aunHW kYd kIqy is`KW nUM vI golIAW mwr ky mwr id`qw igAw[ jd kuJ lwSW dw post mwrtm hoieAw qW aunHW ivc ip`T ip`Cy bMny h`QW vwly ieh lok vI Swiml sn (rozwnw ‘tweImz’ lMfn, 14 jUn 1984)[ 6 jUn dI Swn qk drbwr swihb kMplYks ivc hr pwsy lwSW dy Fyr sn[ sYNkVy &OjIAW dIAW lwSW &OjI tr`kW ivc iljweIAW geIAW Aqy is`KW dIAW lwSW Fox vwsqy imaUNspl kmytI dIAW kUVW cu`kx vwlIAW trwlIAW ilAWdIAW geIAW[ lwSW cu`kx vwly BMgIAW (s&weI syvkW) nUM lwlc id`qw igAw ik lwSW dy boiJAW ivcoN jo vI mwl m`qw imly auh rK skdy hn[ aunHW swirAW nUM Srwb dIAW boqlW id`qIAW geIAW qy aunHW Srwb dy nSy ivc lwSW dI boA dI prvwh nw krdy hoey ienHW lwSW ƒ AimRqsr qy Awly-duAwly dy SmSwn GwtW ivc iek`TIAW kr ky ibnW iksy Dwrimk rsmW dy PUk id`qw[ lwSW Fox dw kµm 6 qy 7 jUn dovyN idn, idn rwq, cldw irhw[ieh swrw kuJ fI.sI. rmySieMdr isMG dI ingrwnI hyT kIqw igAw[ (suBwS ikrpwkr Aqy bRhmw cylwnI ny ies swrI hwlq ivcoN bhuqw kuJ nUM A`KIN vyK ky AwpxIAW ilKqW ivc ibAwn kIqw hY)[

2 qoN 12 swl dI aumr dy is`K dihSqgrd jylH ivc

BwrqI &Oj ny drbwr swihb kMplYks ivc hzwrW is`K XwqrUAW dw byrihmI nwl kql kIqw[ ienHW XwqrUAW ivcoN keIAW dy nwl in`ky in`ky b`cy vI Awey hoey sn[ijhVy b`cy drbwr swihb dI prkrmw ivc su`qy pey sn aunHW nUM qW &Oj ny mW ipE dy nwl hI golIAW nwl BuMn id`qw sI pr ijhVy b`cy srwvW ivc rih gey sn aunHW dy mwipAW dy mrn ip`CoN &Oj ny ienHW 39 b`icAW, ijnHW dI aumr 2 qoN 12 swl qk sI, nUM ‘dihSqgrd’ kih ky igR&qwr kr ilAw[ ieh ‘dihSqgrd’ b`cy luiDAwxw jylH ivc  r`Ky gey sn[ auQy ienHW vwsqy koeI ingrwn nhIN sI qy v`fy (11-12 swl dy) b`cy in`ky b`icAW dI dyK Bwl krdy sn[ aunHW nUM ieh vI pqw nhIN sI ik aunHW dy mW bwp mr cuky sn[ kwnUMn (iclfrn AYkt 1960 qy 1976) muqwibk ies aumr dy b`cy nUM jylH ivc r`Kx dI s^q mnwhI hY[ pr is`KW dy ienswnI h`k qW huMdy hI nhIN! A^Ir sqMbr ivc kmlw dyvI c`topwDIAw nW dI iek ienswnI hkUk dI iek AlMbrdwr ny ies sbMDI Bwrq dI suprIm kort ivc dr^wsq id`qI qW ienHW b`icAW dI KlwsI hoeI (ies qoN pihlW ik suprIm kort dw hukm auQy pu`jdw ienHW ivcoN kuJ b`cy nwBw jylH ivc Byj idq`y gey sn jo keI keI swl jylH ivc rhy[

zwlm &OjIAW nUM AYvwrf

        BwrqI &Oj ny lokW ‘qy eyny zulm kIqy ik iek Awm bMdw qrwh-qrwh kr auTdw hY; pr Bwrq srkwr ny ienHW &OjIAW nUM ienswnI h`kW dw Gwx krn dy bdly ivc AYvwrf id`qy[ cyqy rhy ik 1948, 1962, 1965 qy 1971 ivc BwrqI &Oj ny pwiksqwn Aqy cIn dy i^lw& jMgW lVIAW sn[ aunHW jMgW ivc duSmx dy i^lw& lVidAW keI &OjIAW ny kmwn dI bhwdrI idKwey sn[ aunHW ivcoN iksy nUM AYvwrf Aqy eInwm dyx vwsqy kdy koeI smwgm nhIN kIqw igAw sI, pr, drbwr swihb ‘qy hmly dOrwn ‘bhwdrI idKwaux’ bdly 10 julweI 1985 dy idn aucycw smwgm kr ky Bwrq dy rwStrpqI zYl isMG ny ienHW ‘bhwdr &OjIAW’ nUM AYvwrf id`qy[

BwrqI &Oj dy muKI zYl isMG dw drbwr swihb Awauxw

jUn 1984 dy pihly h&qy BwrqI &Oj v`loN drbwr swihb qbwhI ƒ ijhVw vI is`K suxdw aus dy Aµdr Bwrq vwsqy qy ieµdrw vwsqy hor Aqy n&rq suqy-is`D AwauxI hI sI[ ies swry ’qy prdw pwaux vwsqy qy is`KW dy roh ƒ TµifAW krn vwsqy frwmy vjoN Bwrq dw rwStrpqI zYl isMG 8 jUn ƒ AµimRqsr ilAWdw igAw[ ikauNik auh BwrqI &OjW dw muKI sI, ies kr ky aus ny AwpxI &Oj dI ‘kwmXwbI’ ƒ vyKxw hI sI! Akwl q^q swihb dI qbwhI, drbwr swihb ’qy 350 qoN golIAW dy inSwn, sVI hoeI kroVW ruipAW dI cwnxI, golIAW nwl z^mI hoieAw drbwr swihb ’c ipAw gurU gRµQ swihb dw 1830 dw srup, corI kr leI geI is`K rY&rYNs lwiebryrI, drbwr swihb ivc isgrtW pINdy BwrqI &OjI vyK ky aus dy idl ivc drd nw jwigAw[ aus dI murdw rUh ƒ z^mI hoey-hoey drbwr swihb kµplYks ny nw tuµibAw[ iek byZYrq, jzbwq-rihq, murdw-rUh vWg auh AwieAw Aqy tI.vI. Aqy A^bwrW ivc qsvIrW Cpvw ky clw igAw[ ieQy hI b`s nhIN ieµdrw gWDI dy ies ‘JwVU-brdwr’ ny iek qkrIr ivc ies ‘mhwn kwrnwmy’ ƒ h`k-bjwnb vI TihrwieAw qy mgroN hmlw krn vwilAW nUM mYfl vI id`qy[ zYl isMG dI PyrI vyly iek is`K ny &wieirMg vI kIqI ijs nwl (rUhwnI qOr ’qy mr cukw) zYl qW bc igAw pr iek krnl nUM golI v`jI[ aus vyly drbwr swihb is`KW vwsqy bYn sI pr zYl isMG dy Awaux ’qy drbwr swihb ivc kIrqn krn vwsqy rwgI j`Qw ilAWdw igAw; aus vyly rwgI suirMdr isMG ptnw swihb kIrqn kr rhy sn; zYl isMG dy Awaux ‘qy aunHW ny BweI gurdws dw slok ‘kuqw rwj bhwlIAY iPr c`kI c`ty’ gwieAw Aqy zYl isMG nUM aus dI AslIAq d`sI[

drbwr swihb ’qy hmly dOrwn ikMny lok mry?

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dunIAW Br ivc is``KW v`loN ros

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drbwr swihb ‘qy hmlw Aqy bwrqI isAwsqdwn

drbwr swihb ’qy hmly dI izµmydwrI, Awm qOr ’qy zYl isMG, ieµdrw gWDI, rwjIv gWDI Aqy kWgrs pwrtI ’qy pweI jWdI hY[ bhuqy qwrI^dwn ienHW ƒ hI mujirm AwKdy hn[ audoN BwrqI jnqw pwrtI Aqy kimaUinstW ny vI ieµdrw dI r`jvIN ihmwieq kIqI sI[(Bwjpw ny qW ieMdrw gWDI nUM durgw kih ky aus dI pUjw vI kIqI sI)[ AfvwnI ny mwrc 2008 ivc CpI AwpxI jIvnI ivc ieh mMinAw hY ik auh drbwr swihb ’qy hmly vwsqy ieMdrw ’qy vwr-vwr zor pwauNdy rhy sn[

auN\ swrIAW pwrtIAW AµdroN-AµdrI mµndIAW rhIAW ik ieµdrw dy ies AYkSn dy ipCokV ivc inSwnw is`KW dw p`qw vrq ky ihµdU vot lY ky coxW ij`qxw hI sI[ pr dUjy pwsy, ieµdrw qoN bwAd jdoN vI.pI. isµh, cµdr SyKr, dyvgOVw, guujrwl, vwjpweI, mnmohn isMG Bwrq dy pRDwn mµqrI bxy qW aunHW ny vI kdy vI ies hmly ƒ Zlq nhIN AwiKAw Aqy nw hI iksy ies dI srkwrI pDr ’qy muAw&I hI mµgI[ swry isr& ies ƒ ‘A&sosnwk’, ‘mMdBwgw’, ‘muV ky nw hovy’ AwK ky il&w&ybwzI krdy rhy[ hor qW hor cµdr SyKr vrgyy AwgU, ijnHW ny drbwr swihb ’qy hmly dI inµdw kIqI sI, vI mgroN jdoN srkwr ivc Awey qW aunHW dI bolI bdl geI[ pr, AYn.tI. rwmw rwE, suBrwmnIAm svwmI, rwm jyTmlwnI qy kuJ horW ny sw& l&zW ivc hmySw ies hmly dI hmySw pUrI qrHW inµdw kIqI[

bwbw jrnYl isMG iBMfrWvwlw dI ShIdI kbUlI

jQw iBMfrW-mihqw (jo Awpxy Awp nUM 1977 qoN dmdmI tkswl kihx lg ipAw hY) 1984 qoN lgwqwr iehI kihMdw irhw hY ik bwbw jrnYl isMG 6 jUn 1984 dy idn ShId nhIN hoey sn Aqy ^u&IAw rsqy rwhIN drbwr swihb ivcoN inkl ky cly gey sn[ ies fyry dy muKI Twkr isMG ny ieh g`l gurU gRMQ swihb dI hzUrI ivc keI vwr khI ik bwbw jrnYl isMG TIk Twk hn Aqy aunHW nwl aus (Twkr isMG) dw rwbqw lgwqwr kwiem hY; aus ny Aqy ies fyry dy bwkI AwgUAW ny gurU gRMQ swihb dI hzUrI ivc ieh JUT lgwqwr 21 swl boilAw; A^Ir ienHW ivcoN bhuiqAW ny, sxy bwbw jrnYl isMG dy prvwr ny, 6 jUn 2001 dy idn bwbw jrnYl isMG dI ShIdI mMn leI[

Indian Army’s attack on Darbar Sahib: the Untold Story (Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer)

Indian Army’s attack on Darbar Sahib: the Untold Story

Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer*

Why did Indira Gandhi attack Darbar Sahib ?

The Background

Although Indira Gandhi had re-captured power from the Janta Party Alliance and had become prime minister again on the 14^th of January 1980, but she knew that she had won those elections due to negative votes cast by voters against the Janta Party’s infighting; and, now, she had no new agenda for the next elections and about half of the term of Lok Sabha had passed, so she began thinking over several fronts; first she deliberated upon using the Tamil issue (in Sri Lanka) but it would not have yielded her much gains because it would have affected only Tamil or at the most Dravid votes, most of which were already with her, especially when the B.J.P. was her main opposition the South would support her because of its (South’s) clash with north on the issue of language and culture. Hence, to capture a high chunk of north Indian votes she (Indira Gandhi) needed to show something startling; hence she decided to use the Sikh card; and, for this purpose, she had to outstrip the B.J.P. and other fundamentalist and fanatic Hindu organisations to ensure the Hindus that ‘only the Congress can safeguard the interests of the Hindus’; this she could have achieved only by first establishing the Sikhs as ‘enemies of the Hindus as well as India’ and then by crushing them with all might.

            With all this in her mind, Indira Gandhi decided to use the Indian Army, the R.A.W. (the Indian intelligence network), the I.B. (Intelligence Bureau) and all the media for an all out attack on the Sikhs.

            Under this move Indira Gandhi decided to attack on the very heart of Sikhism i.e. Darbar Sahib Amritsar; she wanted to teach the Sikhs such a lesson that, what to talk of demanding their rights, they should never be able to raise their heads as honourable people; it included mass killings, desecration of their shrines, destruction of their archives, libraries and museums, their history and heritage; to create a permanent physical, social and psychological awe in their minds to make them realise that they had no pride, no civic, religious or human rights; and they were slaves and third rate beings (not humans).

Preparing Ground for invasion

            To execute this agenda, Indira Gandhi decided to first create hatred in the mind of the Hindus in order to get their full-fledged support for herself and for her actions as well as disdain for the Sikhs; hence she had to present the Sikhs as criminals, killers of the Hindus, fanatics, fundamentalists and ferocious persons; and, on the other hand, to present the Hindus, especially of the Punjab as innocent people and peaceful citizens and victims of terrorism. To achieve this agenda she had to unite all the Hindu fanatics under one umbrella and one slogan: ‘hate the Sikhs, they are traitors, they are enemies of the Hindus, they are danger to the sovereignty of the country.’

            Indira’s next move was to use all the media, Indian as well as foreign, by provoking or/and by bribing them, through national and international political manoeuvring and even through commercial publicity agencies; and it was a part of her strategy that the Sikhs should not be able to get international support or sympathy and they should rather be presented as ‘Sikh terrorists’ and not militants or Khalistanis or freedom fighters, or victims of state terrorism. She sent missions, she financed journalists and news agencies, she held dinner parties to the media folk and sent precious gifts to writers, journalists and press correspondents; and, through her own official and national media she launched an all out war against the Sikhs.

            The next move was to create differences and dissension, conflict and rebellion among the Sikh organisations so that they should point out their guns towards each other; this could have been doubly useful: firstly, a civil war among the Sikhs leading to destruction or at least major losses and a state of standstill in their struggle; and, secondly it would become an excuse to pounce upon them in many a way.

            With this colossal plan, she entrusted job to the RAW and she began seeking help from the Russian K.G.B., the Israeli MOSSAD, the American C.I.A. and the British intelligence; none of them, perhaps, knew that she was in touch with the others and/or she was using all of them.

            At home front Indira Gandhi did not fully trust the R.A.W and/or the I.B., hence she created a new agency under the code name Third Agency; she herself was the in charge of this ‘Agency’; her son Rajiv Gandhi and Arun Nehru were her main advisors;[1] all the plan regarding the Punjab had been chalked out and executed by this Third Agency;[2]it had three main objectives: (1) to clinch the Hindu votes in the rest of the country by giving the Sikh community a punch on the nose; (2) to take the wind out of the Opposition’s sail by doing exactly what they had been saying the Government should do: ‘attack Darbar Sahib’; (3) to test the efficiency of a Third Intelligence Agency camouflaged by a blundering R.A.W. and inefficient I.B.[3] According to Surya, three things prove the total involvement of the Government and its intelligence network in the Punjab operation: (1) all the senior intelligence officers serving in the Punjab, Rajasthan, J & K sector during the Akali agitation have either been promoted, recommended for a police medal or sent abroad; (2) most of the arms that were found in the Darbar Sahib, in 1984, had been smuggled into the country through Rajasthan under the actual supervision and/or connivance of a RAW officer; (3) S.K. Tripathi, in charge of RAW at Amritsar, from mid 1982 to the 3^rd of May 1984, had sent a coded telegram to Delhi with details of an impending attack on more than 40 railway stations in the Punjab – and the Government chose nothing to do about it. Surya asserts that the ‘Third Agency’ was formed only to aid the Congress Party (Indira Gandhi) in its election campaign[4] (to use the Sikh card).

            “The Third Agency had its office at Bikaner House, Shahjahan Road, New Delhi; to camouflage it a Board bearing the nomenclature ‘Cabinet Secretariat (Security) was hung at the gate of its office. This ‘Agency’ was masterminded by R.N. Kao (Chief Security Advisor to Indira Gandhi); other important organisers included: N.F. Santook (former chief of the RAW), G.C. Saxena (later chief of RAW), and R. Shankaran Nair (Director P.M.’s Secretariat) etc.”[5] H. S. Kriplani (a RAW man) who was expert in planning secret murders, was made in charge of the Punjab and was given charge of clandestine assassinations in the Punjab; he was also assigned the job of ‘gun smuggling operations’; Rabinder Ohri (Assistant Director RAW) operated from Rajasthan and coordinated with H.S. Kriplani (in smuggling of weapons); later, W.N.B. Rao (another Assistant Director RAW) took over from Ohri; after this R.N. Gupta (Assistant Director RAW) replaced Rao and supervised operations in Rajasthan; he remained on this ‘job’ till December 1983. Similarly, A.I. Vasuvada (another RAW officer) remained the in charge of Amritsar till summer of 1982; it was he who master-minded the action at Chowk Mehta on the 20^th of September 1981 (it was carried through Awtar Singh Atwal, D.I.G. Punjab Police, which led to killing of several Sikhs); in 1982 he was replaced by S.K. Tripathi who planned murders of the Hindus as well as burning of 47 railway stations; after accomplishing his ‘job’ he returned to Delhi on the 3^rd of May 1984.[6] Another remarkable feature of these operations was that she frequently transferred the ‘Third Agency’ officers in the Punjab so that none should have complete picture of her plan; even the Governors of the Punjab were transferred with short intervals; Jai Sukh Lal Hathi remained Governor till August 1981; his successor Amin-ud-Din was replaced in April 1982; he was succeeded by Chenna Reddy and then A.P. Sharma, the last to be replaced by her most confident man B.D. Pandey (in August 1983) who remained in office up to the 28^th of June 1984. The chiefs of the Punjab Police too were replaced with the extra-ordinary speed: Birbal Nath was succeeded by C.K. Sahni who was replaced by Indira Gandhi’s favourite man Pritam Singh Bhinder who remained in office up to the attack on Darbar Sahib (later he was replaced by K.S. Dhillon).[7]

Now, Indira Gandhi began preparations for attack on Darbar Sahib; but before this invasion she began another era of violence. Her ‘Third Agency’ created atmosphere for multi-way violence: (1) Killings by the Police and the C.R.P.F., (2) Killings of the Sikhs in Haryana (under patronage of Bhajan Lal, the then chief minister of Haryana); (3) Terrorist actions by fanatic Hindus terrorist groups (4) Clandestine murders; and on the other side (1) provoke and promote demonstrations and disturbances in the name of the Akalis; (2) create situation to make Sikh leaders issue aggressive and provocative statements; (3) manoeuvre promotion of disdain and enmity among various Sikh groups, both political and militants; (4) clandestine killings of the militants to be attributed to the Akalis or rival militant groups: i.e. the state of ushering civil war among the Sikhs; hence chaos in the Sikh world.

The Indian Army assigned job of attack on Darbar Sahib

In the summer of 1983, Indira Gandhi asked Lt General S. K. Sinha, then vice-chief of the Indian Army to prepare a position paper for an assault on Darbar Sahib; but, when he strongly advised her against taking such a step;[8] as a result he was transferred to Army Headquarters; later, he chose to seek pre-mature retirement. Now Arun Shridhar Vaidya was appointed the Chief of Army with Lt. General Krishna Swamy Sunderji (General Officer Commander in chief of the Western Command) as vice Chief. In September 1983, Indira Gandhi asked Vaidya and Sunderji to prepare a position paper for an attack on Darbar sahib and he agreed immediately; it (position paper) was ready by the end of December 1983; Indira Gandhi studied it for two weeks and, on the Indian Army Day, on the 15^th of January 1984, she gave final instructions to General Sunderji to make preparations for attack.[9]

            In the third week of January 1984, a commando force of 600 soldiers was selected from different units of the Indian Army; they were sent to make rehearsals for an assault on Darbar Sahib Complex, and, for this purpose a life size replica of the Darbar Sahib complex was built in the hills of Chakrata (near Dehradun), about 240 kilometres from Delhi. In January 1984, after accomplishment of the mission of practice of mock attack on Darbar Sahib Complex, Indira Gandhi was briefed about the completion of the preparations for attack; between February and May 1984 Indira Gandhi alerted the Army three times but each time she vetoed the invasion; ‘a case of nerves’ as per a senior aide.[10]

            As mentioned in the previous chapter, the Third Agency had escalated violence in the Punjab in order to justify an attack on Darbar Sahib; in 1981 there occurred just 28 incidents of violence in the Punjab, in 1982 the number was just 33; in 1983 when the Third Agency began its action for final round the number of incidents of violence rose to 138 but after this when the Commandos had completed their mock battle in Chakrata hill, number of incidents of violence began rising, and, just in five month (from the 27^th of January to the 2^nd of June 1984) 364 incidents of violence took place; of these 22 occurred in the first two days of June although the army had already taken positions in the Punjab on the 31^st of May; even out of the incidents 90% were of frivolous nature hence of no significance; after Indira Gandhi gave the first order (which was postponed) to attack Darbar Sahib, incidents of violence increased with high speed so that attack on Darbar Sahib may be fully justified. Thus the activities of the Third Agency and political manoeuvring of Indira Gandhi outwitted not only hazy minded Akalis but also the Hindus and the other political Parties. Indira Gandhi never disclosed her hidden aims, all this time. Indira Gandhi Government kept on repeating that Armed Forces will not enter Golden Temple Complex.[11]

            Though Indira Gandhi had made all preparations for attack on Darbar Sahib but as a drama she continued having dialogue with the Akalis; she had performed this ‘drama’ several times earlier too; during Tri-Party Talks ‘three times in six months an agreement was reached and three times she backed out’; she again backed out when Swaran Singh tried to mediate; she uses dilly-dallying tactics when the ‘Punjabi Group’[12] came up with a ‘formula’ in April 1984; in fact ‘Mrs Gandhi had other intentions’;[13] even Ravinder Singh Ravi, a professor of Punjabi University, tried to mediate; his efforts too met with almost similar treatment; none of them knew that Indira Gandhi was just playing drama of negotiations, she had already planned to attack Darbar Sahib and cash the Sikh Card to capture a big junk of Hindu votes.[14]

            The last drama of show of negotiations with the Akalis was played from March to May 1984; the Akali leaders met the Government delegations on the 27^th, 28^th and 29^th of March, on the 21^st of April and on the 26^th of May,[15] the last meeting took place on the 27^th of May 1984;[16] in the final meeting an agreement was reached with the Akalis and they were told that the same will be ‘announced after getting approval from Madam’; in fact this was just a drama because on that day (the 27^th of May) orders had already been issued to the Indian Army to proceed towards Amritsar (an advance party of the Indian Army had taken positions around Darbar Sahib on the 30^th of May).

            On one hand Indira Gandhi had dispatched orders on the other hand a message was sent to the Akalis that ‘Madam’ had not approved the agreement; at this the Akalis announced that if their demand were not accepted by the 2^nd of June 1984, they will launch a Non-cooperation Movement from the 3^rd of June; however, the Intelligence Bureau, the Government, almost everyone knew that the Akalis won’t launch any such Movement, they will just continue holding demonstrations and rallies and court arrests.

            Before finally attacking Darbar Sahib, Indira Gandhi had prepared ground; a mutual distrust had already been created between the Sikhs and the Hindus; the Sikhs were been projected as anti Hindu, killers of Hindus, as well as separatist, Khalistanis, anti-nationalists, ‘agents of Pakistan’, traitors, extremists (attvaadi/ dahishatgarad), fundamentalist, fanatics etc. The Government media, the A.I.R., T.V. were presenting the militants as the ‘Sikh terrorists’; and this hate-propaganda was so aggressive that not only the B.J.P.[17] but even the other non-communal Opposition Parties, including both Communist Parties, vied each other in condemning and denigrating Sikhs and demanding a military action against Bhindranwala particularly and Darbar Sahib generally; Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L.K. Advani, Chowdhry Charan Sinh,[18] Shiv Sena, Hindu Suraksha Samiti, Shiv Sena, Bajrang Brigade, Vishav Hindu Prishad, Arya Samaj all spoke in the same language; they were so ignorant that they could not read the mind of the notorious and mischievous woman; it is surprising that Harkishan Surjeet (of the C.P.M.), too sailed in the same boat in spite of the fact that he himself had been a part and parcel of negotiating team and he knew that it was Indira Gandhi who was the real culprit as she did not want a political solution and she had ‘other intentions.’

Execution of attack on Darbar Sahib

Army takes over the reins of the Punjab

            Indira Gandhi issued orders for attack on Darbar Sahib under the code name of ‘Operation Blue Star’; on the 27^th of May 1984 the troops left for Amritsar by rail, road and even by air; five Corps of Army (the 1^st, the  2^nd, the 10^th, the 11^th, and the 15^th) had reached the Punjab on the 30^th of May and the Army was still on the move. On the 31^st of May, a meeting of the operating generals was held at Chandimandir (near Chandigarh) at the headquarters of ‘Core 2’ unit of the Indian Army; it was attended by officers of the Army, Air Force and Navy which included Lt. General K. Sunderji, K.S. Brar, R.S. Dyal and others; Sunderji had been Commander of a regiment in the Indo-Pak War of 1965, R.S. Dyal had been a Major of a Parachute Regiment in the same War. This meeting discussed and planned to attack and occupy Darbar Sahib in just 24 hours; the whole ‘action’ was broadly divided into two parts: attack on Darbar Sahib (under code ‘Operation Blue Star’) and sealing of border between India and Pakistan (‘Operation Wood Rose’); operation of the sealing of the border was assigned to 11 Core Unit, Lt. General K. Gauri Shankar was the chief of this ‘Operation’.

            The advanced unit of commandos had already taken positions around Darbar Sahib, right in the evening of the 30^th of May. Although secret agents and the intelligence network of the Government had already given almost complete picture of the inside of the Darbar Sahib Complex but still, on the 1^st of June, Major General K. S. Brar, Captain Jasbir Raina, Lt. Colonel K. S. Randhawa, Brigadier D. V. Rao and Colonel Fernandes (who had reached Amritsar early in the morning of the 1^st of June) went into the Darbar Sahib in plain clothes and had a round of the whole of the Complex to assess fortification.

            On the 1^st of June 1984, the C.R.P.F. and the B.S.F. which had taken positions on all the tall buildings around Darbar Sahib since long,[19] suddenly began firing at Darbar Sahib without giving any warning; it was, in fact, an attempt to provoke the militants to retaliate, which would have given a chance to the Indian Army to assess which weapons did they have, what was the standard of their strength, where were their posts from which they could have attacked the Army. On the other hand, General Subeg Singh, commander of all the operations of the miltants, understood the strategy of the Indian Army; hence he gave orders not to give any reaction. This firing continued for more than five hours (12.40 noon to 7 p.m.), killing 8 Sikh devotees including a woman and a child) and wounding more than 25;[20] the central building of Darbar Sahib itself had been hit by bullets where there were at least 34 bullet marks.[21]When the firing was going on, Harchand Singh Longowal, President of Akali Dal, tried to contact Zail Singh, the President of India, but in spite of making several telephone calls, Zail Singh could not be reached; all the time Zail’s Secretary kept on saying that he was not available; in fact Zail was avoiding[22] because he knew all about the plan of the attack on Darbar Sahib and the firing of the 1^st of June was a part of that. Meanwhile, Longowal succeeded in contacting B.D. Pandey, the Governor of the Punjab, who confessed that he won’t be able to do anything because ‘the orders were coming straight from New Delhi'.[23]This action was repeated on the 2^nd of June 1984 when 32 bullets hit the building of Akal Takht from its backside; here too, the army wanted to test the reactions of the Sikh militants in order to know their positions from where they would be firing in situation of an attack by the Army.

Preparations by the defenders of Darbar Sahib

            The conspiracy to attack Darbar Sahib had been chalked out in the summer of 1983 and this planning had been leaked out to General Subeg Singh; he discussed the same with Baba Jarnail Singh; at first the latter resolved to leave Darbar Sahib and offer his arrest (as he had done in Chowk Mehta on the 20^th of September 1981) in order to Save Darbar Sahib from military attack but then General Subeg Singh told him that the conspiracy to attack was not simply due to him and rather it was with an intention to ‘teach a lesson to the Sikhs’; at this Baba Jarnail Singh decided that the Indian Army should also ‘be taught a lesson as per Sikh traditions’ and the Indian Army should be given a fight like that of the 1^st of December 1764 when 30 Sikhs fought against 30000 Durrani and Baloch soldiers at the same site. After this, General Subeg Singh had begun making preparations for combating the invading Indian forces. General Subeg Singh was an expert of guerrilla war; he had achieved great success in 1971 when the Indian Army fought a guerrilla war against the Pakistani Army in the battle of Bangla Desh; hence he knew how to stop advances of the enemy forces; thus he planned to give such a fight to the Indian Army that would be known as the greatest battle of resistance in the history of the world. But, Bhindranwala had just a few Sikh youth, most of them had never touched even a gun; but all of them were ready to sacrifice their lives for preserving the honour of Darbar Sahib and the Sikh Panth (and they proved what General Subeg Singh said; the battle of Darbar Sahib will be ‘the greatest battle of resistance in the history of the world’).

            Truth is that General Subeg Singh was ‘real hero of the war of Bangla Desh’ though the credit went to General Arora because the latter was chief of the Army at that time; and, General Subeg Singh was the real hero of the battle of June 1984 too.

Indira Gandhi’s broadcast from the A.I.R.:

            Though Indira Gandhi had ordered attack on Darbar Sahib but she was scared; right from the 27^th of May 1984, when she had signed final orders, she had been nervous, her behaviour had turned queer, her voice choked all these days; during this period she had called a closed-door meeting of Congress activists from all over India, and, on the 2^nd of June 1984, “when she walked up to the platform she appeared to be limping; her shoulders were hunched; she looked dishevelled; her face was drawn; she choked as she spoke; it looked like if someone in her family had died”.[24]

            A few hours later, in the late hours of the evening of the 2^nd of June, Indira Gandhi made an unscheduled broadcast from the A.I.R.; in her broadcast she blamed the Akalis for not having reached agreement (which was a lie as it was she who backed out at least three times); she stated that she had accepted all the demands of the Akalis i.e. sale of tobacco, liquor and meat had been banned in demarcated area in the walled city of Amritsar (this too was lie), consultations were being made for an All India Gurdwara Act (this was just a gossip), a Tribunal headed by a Supreme Court Judge was being constituted to decide distribution of water dispute (the Akalis had demanded that the case should be decided by the Supreme Court and not a Tribunal, but, she did not trust the Supreme Court), a Commission was being appointed to decide the issue of Chandigarh, Abohar, Fazilka and other Punjabi or Hindi speaking areas (this was a blatant lie), Sarkaria Commission has been appointed to submit its report on Centre-State relations (only this part was true; but Sarkaria Commission had been appointed on the 24^th of March 1983 i.e. more than 14 months earlier). She said that the Government had accepted their demands but they were raising fresh demands all the time (this too was a lie), and, they have announced launching of a non cooperation Movement from the 3^rd of June. In the end she played another drama by saying: ‘Even at this late hour, I appeal to the Akali leaders to call off their threatened agitation and accept the framework of peaceful settlement which we have offered. She ended her speech with the words “Don’t shed blood, shed hatred”;[25] it was like devil giving sermons because when she was speaking from the A.I.R. the Indian Army had already taken positions around Darbar Sahib three days earlier to that and had also surrounded more than 70 Gurdwaras and had been firing at Darbar Sahib for the past two days; and it (Indian Army) was ready to play with ‘blood’ and dissipate and practice ‘hatred’. Commenting upon this Kuldip Nayyar observed: ‘How could she first order military operation and then suggest negotiations? And even if the Akalis were ready to talk, how could they contact her, all the telephones had been cut off.’[26]

(turning text into bold and Italic letters is my action – author).

Events Relating to Attack on Darbar Sahib

            On the 2^nd of June 1984, the Indian Army sealed all the international border, from Ganganagar in Rajasthan to Jammu; several army tanks, a large number of army trucks and Armed Personnel Carriers (A.P.C.) as well as other Army vehicles with a large quantity of weapons were seen everywhere in the Punjab and on the international border.

            The same day, formalities of takeover by the Army were performed; the Army set up Command Headquarter in the Police Kotwali (about 300 metres from Darbar Sahib), the ‘Armed Group’ of the 350 Infantry Brigade, which was to guide ‘Operation’ (it was to act under the command of K.S. Brar), was stationed here, at the top floor of this building; and this office was direct on line with the Central Government’s Control Room at Delhi which was under the overall command of Indira and Rajiv Gandhi assisted by Arun Nehru, Arun Sinh, and K. P. Sinh Deo (Deputy Defence Minister).[27] The same day, R. S. Dayal[28] (Chief of Staff Western Command) took over as the Advisor Security[29] to the Governor of the Punjab; and, with this all the telecommunication, postal services and rail and bus transport was taken over or suspended by the Army; the Punjab Police had now virtually no role as they were just to obey orders of the Army; by the evening the Army had been posted on all the key positions: the railway stations, bus stands and all the transport, telecommunication towers and their offices, bridges and roads, canals and rivers, administration and public services; now all the infra structure in the Punjab was under the command of the Indian Army; all the foreign citizens were ordered to leave the Punjab.

Gurdev Singh refuses to sign orders to attack

Before formally launching the attack the Army needed formal signatures from the D.C. of Amritsar; at that time Gurdev Singh was the D.C. and he refused to sign permission/orders to attack Darbar Sahib; as a result he was replaced by Ramesh Inder Singh (when Parkash Singh Badal became C.M. in 1997, he appointed as the Chief Secretary in his Government); Gurdev Singh was sent on leave (but even during this ‘holidays period’ he was to remain under strict surveillance of the Army); Ramesh Inder Singh immediately signed orders to attack.

            As per planning the attack was to begin early in the morning of the 4^th of June 1984; frontal attack on Akal Takht was to be made by specially trained commandos of the Parachute Regiment from 1^st battalion, wearing black denims with bullet-proof vests; they were to be followed by the 10 Guards and the 12 Bihar Corps; they were to be assisted by 26 Madras and 9 Kumaon. The 12 Bihar Corps had already taken positions around Darbar Sahib, right in the morning of the 3^rd of June. As per planning the whole ‘Operation’ was to be completed in thirty-six hours; hence, on the 3^rd of June, at 9 p.m., a thirty-six hour curfew (later extended for another thirty-six hours) was imposed in the whole of the Punjab; and, in and around Darbar Sahib, electricity and water services were disconnected.

            On the other hand, when the electricity was disconnected General Subeg Singh understood that the attack would begin within hours so he assigned duties to the defending Sikh volunteers whose number was between 100 and 125; they took positions in the basement of Akal Takht, in and around the Parikarma (periphery), at the Ghanta Ghar (clock tower) gate of Darbar Sahib; the Babar Khalsa group took positions at the top of Ramgarhia Bunga (two eighteen century towers on the corner of Darbar Sahib) and on the water tank (in side Guru Ram Dass Saran) and the tower of Baba Atal Gurdwara.

The Launching of the Invasion by the Indian Army

            In the morning of the 4^th of June, the Army was assigned job like this: (a) North-west zone of Darbar Sahib Complex (Ghanta Ghar to Akal Takht) = one Infantry Unit, one Para Commandos, one Company Special Border Force [S.S.F.] (b) Darbar Sahib itself = one unit (c) South-east zone of Darbar Sahib Complex (Ata Mandi, Sikh Reference Library, Baba Atal, Manji Sahib) = one Infantry Battalion (d) reserve for all these three = one Infantry Battalion (e) siege of Darbar Sahib = one Infantry Battalion.

            On that day, there were more than five thousand Sikhs inside Darbar Sahib; it being the anniversary of the martyrdom day of Guru Arjan Sahib, people from the whole of the Punjab and even other places had gone there to make obeisance; a thousand strong jatha, which was to court arrest the following day had also arrived; besides some Bangla Deshis, who were to board a train to Pakistan the following day, had also gone to Darbar Sahib for meals and night stay.

            On the night of the 3^rd of June the Army had forcibly taken over ‘Braham Buta Akhara’ and ‘Temple View Hotel’; and these were, later, used for the Operation.

            At 4.40 a.m. the final assault of the ‘Operation’ began; first of all the Army attacked the water tank (inside Guru Ram Dass Saran) and the ‘Ramgarhia Bunga’ (two towers of the eighteenth century) with 106 M.M. cannon, 25 pounder 3.7 inch Howitzers guns, mortars and 3.7 Howell guns, LMG and MMG guns;[30] which blasted the water tank and the upper part of the Ramgarhia Bunga, killing all those who had taken positions there; their bodies fling off in pieces all around; thus this front was won by the Army without any battle. Bombardment of the Army was so savage that not a single person, including the defending militants and the pilgrims staying there to spend night, survived this savage attack.

            Now the Army dropped its specially trained parachute commandos through helicopters; however all of them were killed even before kanding; some of them even drowned in the Amritsar (tank).[31] The Army had not expected it so the generals were greatly shocked.

After this, 50 specially trained commandos of the ‘10 Guard’ unit moved towards ‘Ghanta Ghar entrance’ of the Darbar Sahib complex; most of them were immediately killed and the rest were wounded (among the wounded was also Jasbir Raina who, a day earlier, had gone to Darbar Sahib to collect sensitive information; later one of his legs had to be imputed; he remained handicapped for the rest of his life). When this batch of the commandos too had been eliminated, Para Commandos and the S.S.F. took their place to move towards Akal Takht. Hundreds of soldiers, in batches of 25 each, tried to reach Akal Takht so that they should throw poisonous gas canisters and ‘stun bombs’ inside the Takht building to kill or make unconscious the Sikhs present there; but none of them could proceed even a few metres towards Akal Takht; all of them were killed; some of them tried to proceed by crawling but they too were killed by a machinegun which the Sikh fighters had set on the floor; by noon hundreds of soldiers had been killed and there was not even 10% success; the whole passage between Ghanta Ghar and Akal Takht was full of dead bodies of the soldiers of the India Army. After this the Army began throwing gas shells but as the direction of the wind was towards the Army, it rather boomeranged and harmed the Army. As per an army officer, who was commanding a part of this operation, ‘when all the army commandos trying to proceed towards the building of Akal Takht were cut down by militants, on the night of the 5^th of June the military operation had to be temporarily suspended because of disaster.’[32]

            On the other hand, in the evening of the 5^th of June, the Army succeeded in reaching the roof of the periphery from where it began firing and now a battle began for the occupation of the rooms adjacent to the Ghanta Ghar entrance; this pitched battle took lives of hundreds of soldiers and also the Sikhs who had taken positions there.

            Though the Army had achieved no success, no head way, to advance towards Akal Takht still Lt. Gen. K.C. Padda, along with his Subedar Major and 30 specially trained commandos tried to advance but all of them were killed. By this time the Army had occupied the building adjacent to Thara Sahib (a few metres from Akal Takht) and began shelling Akal Takht and throwing gas shells; and with this a unit of the S.S.F. tried to advance; they too were killed in minutes; thus the Indian soldiers had achieved nothing except deaths.

            On the side of the Guru Ran Das Saran too, the Indian Army began its operation; as the main gate was locked, the Army tried to break it but the guns could not succeed in getting it opened; hence tanks had to be brought in to break the gate; but when, after getting the gate opened, the Army tried to proceed further, gun fire from Baba Atal, Langar building and the Saran blocked its (Army’s) advance; now the Army began continuous firing, but in spite of this the 26 Madras battalion could not get much success.

            When this front too was not successful, two Companies of the 9 Garhwal were sent to attack the Ghanta Ghar of Ata Mandi side; they were to be followed by the 15 Kumaon which had been, earlier, reserved for taking control of Guru Ram Das Saran, Akal Rest House, Teja Singh Samundari Hall and the office of the Akali Dal; but as the 9 Garhwal could not achieve its target the 15 Kumaon had to be sent to help it.

            After a pitched battle and loss of hundreds of soldiers, the India Army finally succeeded in occupying the Saran on the 5^th of June i.e. the second day of the battle; after this the soldiers, under the command of Lt General Israr Khan, began throwing grenades in all the rooms of the Saran where the pilgrims had been staying. Early in the morning of the 6^th of June (at about 1.30 a.m.) the 9 Garhwal had succeeded in occupying the Sikh Reference Library and a few rooms around it. On the Akal Takht front, 15 Kumaon, under the command of N.C. Pant was engaged in heavy fighting. On the 6^th of June, at about 2 a.m., the position was:

1. Though the 10 Guards had occupied northern Ghanta Ghar but it had lost hundreds of soldiers; and the soldiers were still becoming victims of firing.
2. 26 Madras had reached in the southern gate.
3. 9 Garhwal Rifles had occupied the Sikh Reference Library.
4. ‘One Para Commando’ Force and the ‘S.S.F.’ had lost several soldiers but they have not achieved even minor success to advance towards Akal Takht.

Deployment of tanks to blow off the building of Akal Takht

            By this time (at 2 a.m. on the 6^th of June), Brigadier A. K. Diwan (nickname Chikki) reached at the Sikh Reference Library; K. S. Brar assigned him command of 26 Mardras, 15 Kumaon and 9 Garhwal and directed him to target only Akal Takht; within half an hour this group began its action; hundreds of shells were fired but the Indian Army could not advance even a centimetre; and the losses of the Army were very high. At this Diwan and Brar decided to bring in tanks;[33] Brar contacted Sunderji, the Chief of ‘Blue Star Operation’ on walkie-talkie who further the got approval of Indira Gandhi through General Vaidya,[34] the Chief of the Indian Army. Between 2.30 and 3 a.m. the first tank was brought from the side of Guru Ram Das Saran; it was 38 Ton Vijayanta Tank fitted with 105 mm heavy guns. This tank entered the periphery of Darbar Sahib and threw search light at Akal Takht and began heavy shelling with 105 mm guns; it was supported by guns of the Army units which had taken positions on the roofs of the buildings of both Ghanta Ghars but, this action cold not continue long because the wires of the bulb of the search light got fused after one minute;[35] now the Army brought in another tank; this too met the same fate; then a third tank was also brought in.[36] At that time it was dark and the helicopter helped the Army in identifying the targets for attack. “The helicopters hovered above and continued to fire from above. Some of the helicopters also guided the firing squads of the Army by making a circle of light around the targets. Immediately after these circles, the cannon balls would land on the targets causing havoc. We saw a large number of boys blown to pieces.” [37]

            The tanks could not give the expected results; now Polish built eight-wheeled mechanised carriers ‘Armoured Personnel Carriers’ (A.P.C.) and cannons were brought in; to bring them into the periphery the stairs of the entrance to the periphery had to be blasted with the help of another tank because the Scott could not have crossed these stairs.

            By this time, shells of 84 mm of Carl Gustav (of Sweden) guns were being showered at the building of Akal Takht. Now some commandos of the 15 Kumaon, seated in an A.P.C., tried to proceed towards Akal Takht; all this time rockets of the Army continued shelling Akal Takht so that the Army may get the shield from the attacks by the militants; but, then an anti-tank shell, thrown by the militants, fell upon this A.P.C. and it got jammed there and then.

            Now, Brar got orders from Indira Gandhi to totally blast Akal Takht building with the help of the tanks; at 5.10 a.m. Indira Gandhi called General A. S. Vaidya, the Chief Commander of Army, and after consulting him she gave permission for this action too (she had not slept for the past two days); having got ‘go ahead’ from Vaidya and Indira Gandhi, at 5.21 a.m. the army began constant shelling of the Takht building; within hours one third of the building had disappeared but still there was heavy confrontation. From the other side, at about 5.45 a.m., Major B.K. Mishra of the Commando Company, succeeded in reaching near the stairs of the Akal Takht; the militants had in fact not attacked them deliberately and allowed them to proceed and when they reached there all of them were killed. Even by 6.20 a.m. on the 6^th of June, the Indian Army had achieved nothing but deaths and destruction.

            At about 6.20 a.m. Subedar K.P. Raman Ravi and some of his commandos too reached near the Akal Takht; the militants let them to continue moving ahead, but when they reached the stairs, the militants pounced upon them and took them inside the basement of Akal Takht and tied a bomb on the body of Raman and blasted his body; the rest too were killed.

            At 7.30 a.m. the Indian army again began shelling the building of Akal Takht; about 80 squash-head shells of 105 mm were fired at the Takht; this action continued till 11.30 a.m.; but, in spite of this the Army could not reach near the Takht. In the night, the biggest battle began; to quote an eye witness: “At about 9 p.m. on 6 June, entire city of 700,000 was plunged into darkness by a powerful outrage. Half an hour later, Amritsar was shaken by powerful shelling, mortar explosions and machine-gun fire. The big battle had begun. Half the city was on rooftops watching the battle. Tracer bullets and flares lit up the crescent moon sky. The explosion at Golden Temple rattled doors and windows miles away. While the battle was raging, the state run radio claimed that the city was ‘calm’.”[38]

To quote an eye-witness account: “From my vantage point I could see some of the army trucks and jeeps mounted with the guns moving. On Monday evening, rumbled in the tanks. The hotel staff, who had little to do, also watched the gun battles from time to time during the three days and three nights that I spent up on the terrace. So fierce was the firing that the crescends created by the vast quantities of ammunition expended became almost deafening at times. This was especially so when the tanks opened fire. Like a clap of thunder, the sound reverberated across the thousands of houses making little children cry and women shriek. Stray bullets whistled past overhead and we had often to duck or take shelter behind the tanks. I collected some used bullets as ‘souvenirs’. At night, the burst of fire from a variety of guns, including 25 pounders, lit up the sky over Amritsar. The bullets and other ammunition sped in every direction, forming patterns of red streaks.”[39]

In spite of using tanks, helicopters, and the world’s renowned latest top-most guns, the mighty Indian Army had not been able to reach near the building of Akal Takht. According to the correspondent of the Suday times London,[40] 15000 troops took part in the assault, 35000 standing by to put down any possible internal rebellion; it further says: ‘Not even in the more ruthless days of the Empire (English Empire in India) had the army been used to storm such an important religious building’; besides the number of the defenders was not more one hundred and fifty; and such a small number of defenders of the Darbar Sahib did not allow the mighty Army to win a few hectares of land for four long days; it is perhaps the greatest battle of the world history.’

            Another historical fact of this battle is that in this battle the Indian Army used more ammunition than it had used at any front, in the earlier wars (1965 and 1971 Indo-Pak War and 1962 Indo-China war); probably, in no battle, for the occupation of one small complex, so much ammunition was used throughout the history of the battles of the world. It was one of the great historic unequal battle in the history of world in which, on one side there were about one hundred defenders against fifteen thousand strong force (with another fifty thousand reserve forces as stand by); the former had just a small quantity of guns whereas the invaders had helicopters, tanks, most modern army vehicles, guns, canons, latest ammunition with endless quantity; the defenders fought without eating or drinking anything whereas the invading army had full supplies of everything; it was unequal battle perhaps the greatest event of military history of the world.[41]

            On the midnight between the 6^th and 7^th of June, Baba Bhindranwala, Bhai Amrik Singh, Thara Singh and about a dozen more Sikhs who were present in the basement of Akal Takht discussed the whole situation; they realised that in the three days’ battle, though the Indian Army has suffered colossal loss but on the other hand the building of Akal Takht has been badly damaged; the sight is awesome; they realised that they don’t have much ammunition left with them and they won’t be able to resisted for more than a few hours; hence it was resolved that those whosoever can escape from that place must do so; when someone suggested Bhindranwala that he too should escape he immediately retorted: ‘I have to embrace martyrdom’ and Bhai Amrik Singh too asserted that he won’t leave. After this, about a dozen Sikhs crossed to the adjoining buildings (at that time the building of Takht was surrounded by residential buildings) and then escaped through narrow lanes with the help of some employees of the S.G.P.C.

The next morning, on the 7^th of June, at about 7 a.m. Baba Jarnail Singh and Bhai Amrik Singh recited their nitnaym (daily prayer) and came out of the basement; Baba Jarnail Singh took position on the backside of the flagpole and began fighting; within some minutes a volley of bullets hit him and he was killed and so was Bhai Amrik Singh. Now, the major leaders of the Sikh militants were no more, the great General Subeg Singh had already embraced martyrdom a day before.

 Even after this the battle continued till noon and when all the ammunition was finished, the remaining militants too embraced death. It was only in the forenoon hours of the 7^th of June when there was no firing from the side of Akal Takht for a long time; the Indian Army realised that all the militants must have been dead and then they moved towards Akal Takht.

When the Army (26 Madras Regiment) entered the basement of the Takht, it found only 38 bodies of the defenders of the Takht; Bhindranwala’s body was found near the flag-pole. The soldiers of the Indian Army tied the dead body of Major General Subeg Singh and dragged it just to express their anger against him. Tully has reported that he had seen pictures of Subeg Singh’s dead body which show that ropes had been tied around his arms and he was dragged before he died.[42] Mark Tully is wrong that Subeg Singh was caught alive and tortured to death; in fact, he was already dead and it was the dead body that had been dragged).

            Though on the 8^th of June, the Indian Army had captured the Darbar Sahib complex, troops still had to battle pockets of resistance inside the complex and intermittent sound of mortar and machine-gun continued to be heard all over the town…[43]The stench of death pervaded the temple neighbourhood and it was ‘suffocatingly difficult to live.’ Authorities had cut power and water supply to the Golden Temple and its neighbourhoods before the siege began; people had been without power and water in temperature of 104 degree Farnheit; and to add to that misery, the heavy gunfire, shelling and mortar and grenade explosions inside the temple brought chemical fumes to houses in that zone.[44]

The Greatest Battle of Resistance in History

About fifty thousand soldiers of the Indian Army, known as the ‘third greatest army of the world’, with all its three wings (Army, Air Force and Navy), fully equipped with helicopters, tanks, cannons, guns and unlimited ammunition as well as all sorts of provisions, and with endless supply of everything and other facilities, attacked Darbar Sahib Complex to capture just 444 square feet area; and, on the other hand, just a few ordinary Sikhs, around 125, who did not have even proper training to fire guns, and had nothing to eat or drink and no back up or supply for all the period of battle, without having a wink of sleep for more than seventy-two hours, resisted such a mammoth army for more than three days; hence this was perhaps the greatest battle of resistance in the history of the world.

Devastations inside and around Darbar Sahib

            After the battle was over, though the Kotha Sahib (where Guru Granth Sahib was kept every night) had been damaged but most of the rest of the building of Akal Takht had turned into rubbles, so were the water tank (in Guru Ram Das Saran) as well as the top of the historic Ramgarhia Bungas. To quote an eye witness: “I saw these building two weeks after the terrific bombardment which were razed to the ground. I was shocked to see the extant of cruelty and brutality committed by the Army on its own people. Perhaps the Army had treated the innocent Sikh victims as enemies. General Brar when addressing the Army Jawans, before the attack had used the word ‘enemy’ for those inside the Complex...”[45]

            A day after the Army finally occupied Akal Takht, it presented Kirpal Singh, the caretaker of the Takht before TV, and the latter announced that the Kotha Sahib was perfectly OK; he did not say that the rest of the building had been fully destroyed; the man who was to act as the ‘custodian’ of the building had lied; even if he lied in order to save his life, he had exhibited his cowardice; besides this was also an act of sacrilege of the Takht and the office he was holding.

            By the time the Army had taken over the Sikhs had been performing services at Darbar Sahib; though there were two of them and they continued it one after the other; but, when the Army occupied it, it killed the person who was performing services and stopped recitation of Guru Granth Sahib; it was, thus, suspended for the first time in the past 222 years. The Army restarted service on the 8^th of June but no Sikh was allowed to enter Darbar Sahib for 21 days (on the 25^th of June 1984 only a few persons were allowed entry, for a short time; and, it was sealed again when the Army observed anger and disdain for the Army, on the faces and in the eyes of even those selected visitors); it remained under the occupation of the Army for about four months, i.e. up to September 1984.

            Not only Akal Takht, Ramgarhia Bunga and water tank but even the Darbar Sahib had been badly damaged; there were more than 350 signs of bullets on this building.[46] When the Indian Army occupied Akal Takht, two Sikhs, one of whom was blind of both eyes, were still there inside the central hall (wrongly known as centro-centrum) of Darbar Sahib; they were attending Guru Granth Sahib; the Indian Army entered this place and shot at the Sikh reading Scripture;[47] later he was identified as Bhai Awtar Singh of Purowal.[48]

            After this the Army took possession of even money and golden ornaments, which were the offerings made by the visitors; (the army had also taken possession of the money found in the S.G.P.C. treasury); total gold carried away by the Army, from the whole of the Darbar Sahib Complex, was about four quintals as well as some diamonds; besides the Army also took away a large number of other valuable items including TV sets, VCRs, refrigerators and other electronic gadgets. Several soldiers also took away money, watches, golden ornaments snatched by them from the Sikhs arrested by them. Per chance the Army did not know about the Tosha Khana (the treasure house) of Darbar Sahib which is on the first floor of the Darshani Deodi, otherwise it (the Army) would have taken away this too; in this Tosha Khana there are kept precious things, gold and diamonds and other rare relics worth billions of rupees; however, during the Army fire a precious canopy, studded with diamonds, which had been presented by the Chief of Hyderabad State, in early nineteenth century, had already been burnt.

            To quote a London newspaper: “Outside the Golden Temple scores of buildings have been reduced to rubble. Flies outnumber people who stand around, in mournful groups, outside their damaged homes. Foreign reporters have not been allowed inside the inner walled city which has been badly damaged by shell-fire. Four of the seven bazaars have been hit by shells and partly destroyed.”[49]

            To quote another newspaper: “Hundreds of houses and shops surrounding the Temple, the hub of the city, were reduced to rubble in the crossfire.[50] As a conservative estimate, more than 500 buildings have been destroyed. Many of those who died are believed to have been indoors when the ancient building collapsed under fire. Bodies are still being dug from debris. All the bodies cannot be recovered till the entire area is demolished. The destruction has left nearly 30000 people homeless.”[51]

            According to the correspondent of the Daily Telegraph (London): “The Akal Takht looks like it has been bombed. It looks like a building in Berlin after War. Everything in the Complex has been riddles with bullets and there was still a stench of death in the air.”[52]    (Stress, in bold letters, is mine – author)

Weapons exhibited by the Army    

            A few days later, the Indian Army released pictures and made an exhibition of several weapons claiming that those had been recovered from Darbar Sahib; when the media questioned that most of the weapon displayed by the army were brand new and shining, the officials had no answer; the truth is that all these were brought by the Army in order to defame the Sikh militants; had those been the weapons belonging to the militants then at least some of these must have been damaged by heavy bombardment. Moreover, for the past many months there was complete blockade of Darbar Sahib by paramilitary forces; hence it was not possible to smuggle them into the Complex without the consent or collaboration of the Government or the forces. Furthermore the total number of the weapons exhibited was not more than 250; commenting on this General Jagjit Arora (of Bangladesh fame) said: ‘Not more than 250 persons would have used them.’

                                               

How Many Persons were killed by the Indian Army?

            The Government of India’s ‘White Paper’ (which is just a bundle of lies) claims that 83 soldiers[53] and 493 Sikhs were killed in the Army attack; it also mentions that 59 persons died or were injured in other Gurdwaras[54]. It is intriguing that a Government is not willing to tell truth about the casualties. The non-official accounts mention the number of the casualties between three and eight thousand;[55] according to Jasbir Singh Sarna 1208 soldiers and 122 Sikh defenders were killed; besides the Army killed 3228 Sikh pilgrims too; the Government also claimed that 287 soldiers and 121 Sikhs were wounded, whereas according to Sarna, the number of the wounded soldiers was around 3000, whereas 12 Sikh defenders and 1526 Sikh pilgrims and Bangladeshis, who were staying there to board train the following day too had been wounded; similarly, according to this source, the number of Sikhs arrested (mostly pilgrims) was 1592 from Darbar Sahib[56] and 796 from other Gurdwaras and 2324 from other places in the Punjab (a total of 4712).[57]

            The number of the Sikhs killed was so high due to two reasons: 1. “The army which had suffered a heavy toll in the three days battle went berserk and killed every Sikh to be found inside the temple complex. They were hauled out of the rooms, brought to corridors in the circumference of the temple and, with hands tied to their backs,[58] they were shot dead in cold blood. Among the victims were many old men, women and children.”[59] 2. “The Army might have been operating under ‘take-no-prisoners’ order.”[60]In other words the Indian Army had perpetrated brutalities on innocent persons, several of them were children. It belies the statement by K. Sunderji, the Chief of this ‘Operation’ who shamefully lied that “We went inside the premises of Golden Temple Complex with humility in our hearts and prayers on our lips”[61]; whereas the truth is that having suffered heavy losses the Indian Army behaved even ordinary Sikh passengers as a savage animal who would pounce upon a lamb.

Women and Children killed in cold blood

            Chellany has reported that at Jalandhar, doctors had been rounded up and taken to Amritsar to conduct post mortem examination of civilians killed inside Darbar Sahib. “A doctor corroborated what I had been told by a deputy police superintendent in Amritsar that several of the slain Sikh militants were shot by troops with their hand tied at the back. The doctor, whose team examined four hundred corpses, including a hundred women and fifteen to twenty children, said he conducted post-mortems of several Sikhs whose hands were tied at the back with their turban cloth.”[62]

Disaster Caused by Curfew

            The walled city of Amritsar remained under curfew for seven days, though it was relaxed for two hours on 7 June and then two hours each day between 9 and 11 June.[63] During this period several people as well as thousands of animals died for want of medical help, food and water etc. To quote an eyewitness: ‘on 10 June, a UNI reporter and I saw a dehydrated body of a petty shopkeeper who apparently had died of starvation and thirst, being pulled out from a wayside stall by troops about two kilometres from the Golden Temple. Later, the district police chief admitted in confidence that six people and more than 1000 buffaloes had died of starvation because of the strictly-enforced curfew. In Amritsar Green Avenue district, where I stayed with the air force officer, babies had no milk to drink and residents were mostly eating lentils and home made bread. A village milkman who tried to bring milk to the area in violation of the curfew was shot dead by soldiers.[64]

Honouring Brutal Soldiers

            During the attack on Darbar Sahib, the Indian Army had behaved as brutal enemies; no warnings, no attempts to save innocent pilgrims, indiscriminate killings, inhuman treatment with the dead, no handing over the dead to their relatives, keeping no records of the dead, burning of bodies without identification, cremating the dead bodies by pouring kerosene oil and petrol on them, perpetrating atrocities on the arrested Sikhs by keeping them in small cells without water and thus killing several of them, killing those prisoners who begged for water (this being the hottest month of the year), detaining babies and children (for months) were among the great ‘achievements’ of the Indian Army. What the Indian Army did had no parallels in the world history; most ferocious invaders had not behaved in such savage manner; still the Indian Government presented these inhuman soldiers and generals with gallantry Awards, honours, decoration strips, promotions etc for their ‘heroic acts’; this special ‘Award Ceremony’ was performed on the 10^th of July 1985. It is amazing to note that the Indian Government had not honoured the brave soldiers who had performed acts of chivalry during the battles of 1962, 1965 and 1971; honouring of those who had perpetrated atrocities on its own people and had crossed all the limits of inhuman acts was shocking and shameful; however it exposed the Sikh-hatred of the Indian regime; further shocking is that these ‘Awards’ were given by Sikh looking President; so devoid of self respect he was!

Why This Day was especially Chosen?

            The Indian Government knew that the 4^th of June 1984 was the anniversary of the martyrdom of Guru Arjan Sahib, the founder of the Darbar Sahib (and son of the founder of the city of Amritsar) hence thousands of Sikhs, from various parts of the Punjab and other places, were sure to visit to make obeisance; besides an Akali agitation was also going on; that day a 1000 strong jatha of Nachhatar Singh Bhalwan had also arrived to court arrest on the following day; the Government chose this day especially so as to show the world that the number of the militants was so high. Even if we accept that the Army did not know about these two points still, on the first of June, several senior officials of the Army had taken a round of the Darbar Sahib on their ‘spying mission’ and had observed that the number of the visitor there was always in thousands; they could have given an ultimatum to the visitors to come out (the Army could arrest and investigate their credentials to separate militants from ordinary visitors); no such ultimatum was given, no announcement was made, no offer to surrender was made; on the other hand there is ample evidence that those who surrendered were indiscriminately killed by the Army because it (Army) did not want arrests; hence liquidations. There is ample evidence that the soldiers went around the Guru Ram Das Saran (hostel for the visitors) as well as in the rooms in the parikarma (periphery) and threw hand grenades in every room killing whosoever was there;[65]more than one thousand Sikhs were killed in such actions.

            However, the Army did make some arrests too; it seems it had special instructions that Longowal Akali Dal and his associates should not be harmed (it is this point which creates doubt that they had at least some secret understanding with the Government; however, the letters, purported to have been written by them to and from the Government and the RAW, attributed to them are fake ones). When the Army had occupied the Saran, General Brar had asked Lt. Colonel K. Bhaumik (who was the in charge of this part of the Darbar Sahib Complex) to find Longowal, Tohra and their associates; but, as there was no electricity, he had to face difficulty; however, the latter finally succeeded in finding them with the help of two Sikhs from among a group of those who had been arrested by the Army from Teja Singh Samundari Hall (the office of the S.G.P.C.). These two Sikhs, escorted by Major H.K. Palta, escorted the soldiers to a room where Longowal, Tohra, Bibi Amarjeet Kaur, Bhan Singh, Balwant Ramuwalia etc were sitting; by this time Harminder Singh Sandhu and Manjit Singh (brother of Bhai Amrik Singh) too arrived there and begged the Akalis to tell the Army that they were their (Akalis’) associates; soon after the Army escorted all of them to the military vehicles and took them to the Army camp.

            As mentioned earlier that the Army had arrested some Sikhs from the Teja Singh Samundari Hall; their number was about 350; all of them were brought out in open; within a few minutes a grenade fell among this gathering killing more than 70 of them; Gurcharan Singh (who had master-minded the killing of Sodhi Surinder Singh) too was one of these. The Army claimed that the grenade had been thrown by the militants but it is not true because by that time the Army had occupied all that zone; had this been an act by a militant then the Army would have fired shots towards the direction from where the grenade had been thrown; but this was not done hence this was an act by the Army itself; moreover if it was thrown by the militants then they would have targeted the soldiers, but not a single soldier was even hurt as a result of this explosion.[66]

Babies and Children sent to Jails

            The Indian Army killed thousands of pilgrims who had gone to Darbar Sahib to make obeisance, some of them were carrying infants or were accompanied by small children; several children were killed when the soldiers threw hand-grenades in every room of the Darbar Sahib Complex but those who still survived were taken into custody and sent to jails; these children were aged between two and twelve; 39 of these children were kept in Ludhiana Jail; and these innocent babies who had been branded as ‘terrorists’ were graded in three categories: very dangerous, dangerous and potentially dangerous. These children had no one to attend, the elder (twelve years old) would console the two years old babies; however they did get food (whatsoever its standard) in jail, every day there were tears and cries, the children begged to be sent home to their parents (they did not know that their parents had been killed and cremated by the Army).

            As per the Indian laws no child under the age of sixteen can be arrested or lodged in a jail or detained in a police station; this is categorically prohibited under the Children Act 1960 and the East Punjab Act 1976 but these acts were not applicable to the Sikh children; the Army, the jail authorities, the C.B.I. refused to bother for these Acts or the Human Rights Conventions; when the Human Rights organisations brought this inhuman treatment of babies, the Government officials, including the Governor, did not bother; perhaps for them the Sikhs had no human rights. Finally, when Kamla Devi Chattopadhya, a philanthropist social worker, approached the Supreme Court, these children were released under court orders; even here, the Jail Superintendent tried to ditch the Court order, some of them were transferred to Nabha Jail who could not released at that time and languished in jails for several more years;[67] when released, some of them had become physical and mental wrecks.[68]

                                               

Plundering of the Sikh Achieves

            By the evening of the 5^th of June 1984, the India Army had completely occupied the whole North-East (Braham Buta Akhara to Guru Ram Das Saran) and South-East (Guru Ram Das Saran to Ghanta Ghar on the South of Darbar Sahib, including Baba Atal); and it was from the roof of the Sikh Reference Library that the Indian Army was observing the scenario of Akal Takht. At that time the Library was locked; the Indian Army broke open the lock and took possession of it. On the 7^th of June, when the Army had occupied Akal Takht too, it ordered 200 new boxes in which all the precious and rare books, manuscripts, relics, rare newspapers etc were packed; besides there were hundreds of handwritten volumes of Guru Granth Sahib, some of which were as old as from seventeenth century, were also packed and taken away.[69] After this the wooden racks and newspapers of contemporary period were set on fire and, later, it (Army) announced that the Library caught fire in cross-firing; this fact was denied by Davinder Singh Duggal, in charge of the Library, who was present in the adjoining quarter, which was his residence. The Army took away the precious achieves with it which remained at Merrut Cantonment for some time; it was never returned to the Sikhs (at least up to the end of 2011). The Army carried away not only the Sikh Reference Library but also all the papers, account books, proceedings and other records of the S.G.P.C. and the Akali Dal and these too were never returned. Damage to the Sikh Museum too was enormous; 132 precious paintings had been ravaged by the bullets; from the Central Sikh Museum (situated on the first floor of Clock Tower) too the Army took away several precious items including some historical paintings, rare coins, picture albums, a rosary presented by Maharaja Daleep Singh and a hand embroidered picture of Guru Nanak Sahib presented by the famous Pakistani singer Malika Pukhraj and her daughter Tahira.

            Later, on the 14^th of June, Davinder Singh Duggal, who had been arrested on the 7^th of June, from his residence in the Darbar Sahib Complex, was brought to the Library by the Army and asked to ‘take charge’ of the Library; when he said ‘where is the Library’ he was told that he had no option but to sign a typed receipt which said ‘I have taken charge of the Sikh Reference Library’; Duggal added the word ‘ashes’ and signed ‘I have taken charge of the ashes of the Library’.[70]

Cremation of (in fact insult to) the dead-bodies

            The total loss of life in this Army attack was around than 6000, out of which more than 1200 were the soldiers of the Indian Army; funeral of the soldiers was conducted by their respective units. On the other hand, the authorities did not bother to identify or even to record the number of the casualties on the Sikh side. “When General Dyer killed people in Jallianwala Bagh, the dead bodies were given to their relatives but strangely our own Army killed our own people and did not return the bodies to their relatives.”[71] To dispose of the dead bodies of the Sikhs the Army tried to engage first some truck-cleaners and other labour but when they refused, the sweepers were engaged to carry the dead bodies to the cremation ground but as the bodies had been lying there for the past two or more days, hence decomposed and stinking; at first the sweepers refused even to touch them, but when the Army supplied them bottles of rum and big sum of money they agreed. Some of them had made tidy fortunes in the bargain.[72] As most of the dead-bodies had become highly discomposed, when the sweepers carried them to the trucks, limbs fell down and flesh came into their hands; as a result they collected fallen limbs in turbans and dupattas (scarves) of the dead Sikhs, and put these pieces in garbage-carrying vessels, buckets and stretchers and loaded them into the garbage trolleys; everywhere pieces of flesh and pools of blood, at places even ankle-deep congealed blood, created a grotesque scene. After this these bodies were taken to Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital for post mortem; first doctors expressed their in ability to perform autopsy but when threatened of dire consequences they had to make formalities of post-mortem as an eye-wash; they faced big problem in performing; post-mortem of decomposed bodies; and, after this, these dead-bodies were again loaded in garbage trolleys like dead animals and taken to the nearby Chatiwind Crematorium where these were burnt by pouring kerosene oil, diesel and petrol on them because there was not enough wood to burn them.[73] As the dead-bodies had been decomposing for three days the stench of the decomposed bodies and their burning with kerosene oil remained in the air for several weeks.

            To quote Chellany: “I visited the main city crematory on 9 and 11 June to check the fatality toll in the Golden Temple assault. Strangely while there were troops everywhere in the city, there were none at the crematrory. The ‘army probably thinks that the ghosts would take care of intruders’, said the man on duty at crematrorium. He and the police official, who were given charge of removing the dead from the temple complex, said bodies were being brought in municipal garbage trucks round the clock since early 6 June; ‘we have been really busy; to add to our woes, we don’t have enough wood to burn the dead, and we have been cremating them in heaps of twenty or more’, said the crematory official.”[74]

Near the Golden Temple I saw an estimated 50 corpses in a rubbish lorry that had sewage still smeared on its outer body. From the back of the grey truck, at least two masculine legs were sticking out and from the left one could see the hanging forehead and the long flowing hair on an apparently un-turbanned Sikh. As I peeped into the truck from the back, I could see dead bodies of at least two women and a child. That night it was difficult to sleep. I kept thinking of the dead bodies.”[75]

            According to a soldier (who had actually participated in attack on Darbar Sahib) some of the dead bodies of the Sikhs were even thrown into the rivers Raavi and Beas: “On the morning of June 6, the Golden Temple Complex was like a graveyard. Bodies lay all around in buildings, on the parikarma and in the sarovar. The Sun was shining and stench from bodies was becoming unbearable. Dead bodies of Jawans were identified and hand over to their respective regiments. I myself carried the bodies of three soldiers on my shoulders. Each regiment conducted the funeral rites of their various Jawans. The civilians, who died, about 1500 of them, were piled in trolleys and carried away. A lot of them were thrown into the rivers. The battle was a tragic one. I could not eat anything. Food made me sick. I used to drink lots of rum and go to sleep.”[76]

            This soldier’s confession of drinking of a lot of rum is confirmed by the fact that all the soldiers of the Indian Army who joined attack on Darbar Sahib were give regular supply of whiskey; as per records of the Army Canteens in the Punjab, the Army bought seven hundred thousand bottles of rum, thirty thousand halves (of bottles) of whisky, sixty thousand halves of brandy and sixty thousand beer bottles. The soldiers were also supplied thousands of packs of cigarettes too; the soldiers were seen openly smoking in the Darbar Sahib complex.[77]

The Hindus Celebrate Killings of the Sikhs and destruction of Akal Takht

            When the Army had taken full control of Darbar Sahib; it revealed the news to the local Hindus who had been serving the Army officials with tea, fruit, sweets and other refreshments since the 4^th of June; the Army brought some senior Hindus to let them have a look at the dead body of Baba Jarnail Singh Bhindranwala; after returning to their streets, these Hindu groups began dancing as if they had achieved their greatest victory of history; this was followed by distribution of sweets to the soldiers and the Hindus of the town; some Hindu women went to the extent of performing worship of the Hindu Army officers; the Hindus celebrated this as a victory of the Hindu community over the Sikh nation; in fact the Army too had fought as if it was ‘on war against the Sikhs as a nation’ and not the Khalistanis or Bhindranwala.

Fanatic Hindu Politician Support Indira Gandhi’s Action

            The attack on Darbar Sahib by Indira Gandhi was reacted to differently by different leaders; the R.S.S. chief Balasaheb Deoras,[78] Atal Bihari Vajpayee[79], the B.J.P. (its Executive even passed a resolution to this effect)[80], Lok Dal leader Chowdhry Charan Singh,[81] Janta Party leaders Madhu Dandvate,[82] Ram Krishan Hegde,[83] Ravinder Varma and Raj Narayan[84], former Prime Minister Morarji Desai and former Deputy Prime Minister Y.B. Chavan[85] and all other Hindu fundamentalists and even the C.P.I. and the C.P.M. (both the Communist Parties) supported Indira Gandhi’s attack;[86] none of them, however, tried to know the truth behind the attack and what had happened there at Amritsar. On the other hand, Janta Party President Chander Sheikhar,[87]George Fernades and Subramaniam Swamy (a senior Janta leader),[88] Andhra Chief Minister N.T. Rama Rao[89] strongly condemned the attack.

International Press condemns Indira Gandhi

            The attack on Darbar Sahib was condemned by the international media in strong words; to quote a few of them:

            “Mughal emperors and British Governors alike tried military solutions to the Sikh problem and succeeded only in adding to the rolls of martyrs, cherished by the proud and prickly people. Sikhs also have long memories. They have never forgotten or forgiven the day in 1919 when General Dyer ordered his troops to open fire in the sacred city of Amritsar and Mrs. Gandhi may well have cause to rue the day she did the same.” (R. H. Greenfield, in The Sunday Telegraph, dated 10.6.1984).

            “While the impact of Indira Gandhi’s action cannot yet be measured, she can be sure of a heart-felt vote of thanks from the Hindus in the north-east.” (Michael Hamlyn, in The Times, dated 9.6.1984).

            “Historical parallels may be dangerous, but last week’s killings in the Golden temple and the Amritsar massacre of 1919 have some remarkable similarities.” (The Sunday Times, dated 10.6.1984).

            “The 1984 battle of Golden Temple, like the 1919 Amritsar Massacre (Jallianwala Bagh), marks the beginning of a new potentially turbulent chapter in the Indian history. The chapter which opened with the 1919 massacre ended with the departure of the British. The new one is only ten days old, and no one can say how it will end.” (Robin Lusting, in The Observer, dated 17.6.1984).

            From among foreign countries only Russia supported Indira Gandhi’s action and said that she had succeeded in crushing a U.S.A. inspired conspiracy.

            It is widely believed that the Russian K.G.B. and military expertise was available to the Indian Army; even the Israeli Mossad and the British counter-insurgency experts had been consulted by the Indian Government; within previous few months, Gary Saxena and R.N. Kay, the two officers of the India secret service (R.A.W.) made several trips to London to seek expertise.[90]

Attack on another more than 74 Gurdwaras

            Though the Indian Government had declared that it wanted to ‘free Darbar Sahib from the terrorists’ but this was all lie, blatant lie; had this been so then what was the need of putting siege to so many Gurdwaras throughout the Punjab. The fact is that, along with the Darbar Sahib, there were seventy-four other Gurdwaras, thirty seven of them of historical significance, which were simultaneously stormed by the Indian troops on the pretext of ‘flushing the terrorists’. At all these places the Army killed scores of innocent Sikhs especially the youth.

            At Patiala, the Indian Army put siege to the historical Gurdwara Dukh Niwaran; without any warning the Army began firing at the Gurdwara; after this it arrested all the Sikh youth who had gone there to make obeisance, lined them up and killed them in cold blood; the killer soldiers asked them ‘Do you still want Khalistan?’ and shot them at point blank range through their temples. The Army accepted killing 20 Sikhs but as per the doctors, who held post-mortem of the dead, the number was 56.

            At Chamkaur Sahib too the Indian Army put siege to the Gurdwara; no one allowed entering or coming out; on the 7^th of June 1984, when an elderly, 70 years old, Sikh came out to answer the call of nature, he was shot dead in cold blood. Here too the Army showered the Gurdwara building with bullets, one could see several signs of them even on the 14^th of June; at Chamkaur Sahib 14 Sikh young men were arrested.[91]

            At Muktsar, the Army was still very aggressive; it put siege to the historical shrine Darbar Sahib; like Chamkaur here too no one allowed entering or coming out; the Army suddenly began firing at the Gurdwara; the visitors who had gone there to make obeisance could not have dreamt that the Army could attack that Gurdwara too as there had never been any militant action in that town. In the firing by the Army several Sikhs were killed; the rest were arrested by the Army; the arrested were treated mercilessly; their hands and legs were tied with their turbans; they were kicked and hit with rifle-buts. When a detainee requested for water he was abused; when someone requested for first aid, he was shot dead. During those days, kaar sewa (voluntary service) of the Gurdwara building was being done by (Baba) Harbans Singh; the Army detained him too; he and his attendants and other volunteers were searched, harassed, insulted and kicked. The Army action continued for several days. Several Sikhs died here; the Army put their bodies in trailers and trolleys and carried them outside the town and burnt them by putting kerosene oil and diesel on them. Here, the Army ran amuck and desecrated the Gurdwara time and again; they smoked even the main hall; besides, the Army broke open the golak (the box where people put cash offerings) and took away the money; the stores of the kitchen and other movable precious articles of the Gurdwara were also plundered. The same happened at Tarn Taran, Moga, Fatehgarh Sahib, Chowk Mehta (the dera of Bhindran-Mehta Jatha) and several other Gurdwaras where a large number of innocent Sikhs were killed by the Indian Army. It is intriguingly astonishing that the savagery of the Army, killing of and hatred for the Sikhs was similar at all the places in the Punjab; it seems that before launching attack on the Punjab, the soldiers had been briefed for this treatment. Another important point for record is that the Army did not seize any arms from any Gurdwara in the Punjab; meaning thereby that the Army had massacred innocent people.

Angry Sikh folks march towards Amritsar, hundreds killed

            As there was complete curfew in the whole of the Punjab since the night of the 3^rd of June, telephone lines were dead, the publication of the newspapers remained suspended (no paper was printed for more than a week), the All India rado (A.I.R.) did not say any word till for the first two days of the invasion; and on the third day of battle, on the 6^th of June, the first news people received was the Government propaganda telling that the Army had attacked Darbar Sahib and had ‘accomplished’ its mission; it broadcast the news of some three hundred casualties and, moreover, it did not mention the destruction of Akal Takht. The broadcast was made in such a style that it should rather impress the people that the Army had done some noble cause without resorting to any extreme action.

            But, even this could not silence the Sikhs and hearing the news of attack on Darbar Sahib, every Sikh got enraged; from every nook and corner, especially in the districts of Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Firozpur and Kapurthala, thousands of Sikhs marched towards Amritsar; there was mass upsurge everywhere, in the villages and the towns alike. The Army helicopters flying over in several kilometres around Amritsar spotted hundreds and thousands of Sikhs gathering in many places; and soon they (Sikhs) began marching towards Amritsar. The Army helicopters spotted three major points, at Gohalwar village (about twenty kilometres on Amritsar-Tarn Taran Road on the western side of the city), at Raja Sansi and Heir villages (about fifteen kilometres from Amritsar on the eastern side of the city), in villages around Batala and at many other places; at all these places Sikhs in thousands, between ten and thirty thousand each, were spotted marching towards Amritsar; and the crowds were swelling as more and more Sikhs from the villages on route too continued joining them.

            The Army had taken positions on all the routes to the city of Amritsar but to stop the marching columns from proceeding towards the city, the Army helicopters began bombing these crowds; when people began running for safety, the Army machine guns burst upon them killing several and wounding a very large number of the Sikhs; among the killed was also Gurbachan Singh Tur, a former M.P. The number of casualties at the above-mentioned three places was very high, according to villagers more than five hundred protesters were killed only at Gohalwar village; Chellany, a journalist, got partial information about these killings: “From my three military sources, I gathered that 106 people had been killed between 4 and 10 June by army firing on crowds of Sikh villagers trying to march to the Golden Temple.”[92]

The Rebellions in the Army

            The attack on Darbar Sahib hurt every Sikh, the farmers, shopkeepers, workers, students, teachers, soldiers, NRIs all; though the reactions were different with different persons but one thing was common that every Sikh took it as assault on the whole nation. In 1965 and in 1971, the Sikh soldiers had fought for India whole-heartedly; in 1971, it was the Sikh army officers like Major General Subeg Singh and General Jagjit Singh Arora who had led India to victory; in 1965 the Into-Pak War was won only by the Sikh Generals and soldiers; in 1965, when the Hindu Generals of the India Army had decided to withdraw the Indian Army positions to the eastern side of river Beas; it were the Sikh Generals who swore to save Amritsar because there was Darbar Sahib in this city, founded by Gurus. Now, in 1984, it was the Indian Army which had destroyed Darbar Sahib, it was sure to hurt them (Sikhs) and they were supposed to fight for the honour of their Darbar and Guru’s city; hence the Sikh soldiers in different units of the Army rebelled and left their barracks and marched towards Amritsar; and the Sikh soldiers rebelled in ten cantonments;[93] the soldiers’ rebellion was not an organised action, they had acted just sentimentally without being aware of the consequences of desertions to their lives, their career and their families.

            The first to rebel were the soldiers of the 9^th Battalion at Ganganagar; here, on the 7^th of June 1984, 414 Sikh soldiers broke into the regimental armoury, took away weapons and after having a round of the streets of Ganganagar, left for Amritsar.[94] When this news reached the Army headquarters at Delhi, they ordered the soldiers of the 94 RTV Dogra Regiment to chase the Sikh soldiers; thousands of the Dogra soldiers immediately began the chase and the following morning surrounded the rebel Sikh forces near village Kot Sukhia in Faridkot district; at first the Sikh soldiers decided to fight but having found that the number of the Indian soldiers was very big they (Sikhs) chose to surrender at about 8 p.m. on the 8^th of June; the Indian Army asked all of them to stand with their hands up and began firing killing 13 of them and wounding another 23; the rest were badly tortured, arrested and later dismissed.[95]

            The maximum desertions took place at Ramgarh (Bihar) where 1461 soldiers of the Sikh Regimental Centre killed their Commanding Officer S.C. Puri (a fanatic Hindu), took away a large quantity of arms and ammunition, captured some private trucks from the city and began their march towards Amritsar; they were chased by 21^st Mechanised Infantry Regiment which surrounded them near Shakeshgarh railway station (about 190 kilometres from Ramgarh); in spite of this siege some trucks still escaped and continued their march; they too were chased by the 20^th Infantry; here a battle was fought in which 25 Sikh soldiers were killed; the rest were, however, arrested and taken back to Ramgarh; hence none of them could reach Amritsar.[96]

            The other major desertions took place at Jammu, Pune, Bombay, U.P. and Chandimandir etc;[97] some of the deserters at Jammu too crossed to Pakistan whose fate is still unknown. Though all these rebellions were suppressed but it shook the Indian administration and jolted the international community.

            Later, on the 27^th of November 1984, the Indian Government revealed that 2337 Sikh soldiers had rebelled; out of these 67 had been killed and all the rest, barring 31 soldiers who were untraceable (they might have crossed to Pakistan) were arrested; all the arrested were tried under Army Laws; for most of them Summary Trails were held but 98 were tried under different Laws; under summary trial 2239 rebel soldiers were court-martialled and dismissed; and most of them were given varied sentences, some of them were given life imprisonments too.

            It is noteworthy that these soldiers, who were employees of the Indian Government and were performing their duties to earn for their families, rebelled when the Darbar Sahib was attacked; on the other hand, the Nihangs, who claim themselves as ‘Guru Di Fauj’ (literally: army of the Guru) did nothing; their soul did not prick them; sacrilege of Darbar Sahib and destruction of Akal Takht did not hurt them; they continued enjoying bhang (cannabis) and reading Chandi Di Vaar (and also perhaps Charitropakhayan) and remained living as parasites; nor did the deredaars (cult leaders) react to attack on the Sikh nation and they remained busy in eating luxury food and cohabiting with idiot female devotees.

Sikh Personalities Return Indian Honours and Awards

            The uncalled and unjust attack on Darbar Sahib pricked the soul of even intelligentsia and other elite, many of whom were even known as sycophants and yes-men of the Government of India; many of these returned Government honours and resigned their high paid offices. The first to react was a person like Khushwant Singh, who had always been a supporter of Indira Gandhi and was also a bitter critic of Bhindranwala; on the 8^th of June, 1984 (the day Zail Singh had gone to Darbar Sahib to have a look at the ‘achievements’ of the Indian Army), he (Khushwant Singh) returned his Padam Bhushan Award as a protest against attack on Darbar Sahib;[98] the next to react were Captain Amrinder Singh (Patiala) and Davinder Singh Garcha (Ludhiana), the two M.P.s; on the 11^th of June, 1984, they resigned from the Lok Sabha as well as the Congress Party;[99] (though Buta Singh too had agreed to resign but later he backed out and rather reported the same to Indira Gandhi); the other to protest included Dr Ganda Singh Sikh historian who returned Padam Bhushan Award to the President of India on the 14^th of June; and Sadhu Singh Hamdard and Dr Khushdeva Singh returned Padam Sri Awards on the 16^th of June 1984.[100]Similarly, on the 18^th of June 1984, Simranjeet Singh Mann (former S.S.P. Faridkot), then Group Commandant C.I.S.F. (Home Ministry), wrote a letter (D.O. no. CISF/GHB/SSM/84) to the President of India, narrated how the Sikhs had been and were being persecuted by the India Army; Maan resigned his job and left for an unknown place; on the 22^nd of June Harbhajan Singh Deol resigned from the membership of the Punjab Public Service Commission.[101]So many Sikh elite expressed their protest against the invasion of Darbar Sahib, however, Amrita Pritam (then she had changed her name to Amrita Imroz after deleting her husband Pritam Singh’s name and adding name of her boy-friend Imroz as prefix of her name), who claimed to be a poet of people, proved as a dead soul; savage killings at Darbar Sahib did not prick her conscious and she remained unconcerned as if nothing had happened.

            Commenting on the return of the Awards and Honours by these Sikhs, the Sunday Times (London) wrote: “Historical parallels may be dangerous but the last week’s killings in the Golden Temple and the Amritsar Massacre of 1919 have some remarkable similarities. Only a few hundred yards separate the sites; the official number of the dead is (so far)[102] roughly the same. In 1919, the poet Tagore handed back his knighthood to the British. In 1984, many prominent and outraged Sikhs have turned over Indian honours to India’s President (who happens to be a Sikh).”[103]

                                               

Protests by the Sikhs around the World

            To protest against attack on Darbar Sahib, throughout the world the Sikhs held protest marches; big processions were taken out at London, Washington, New York, Vancouver, Toronto, and Oslo and in several other towns in various parts of the world. On the 10^th of June, the procession in London was joined by more than 25000 Sikhs; the Washington, New York, Vancouver and Toronto processions too were in several thousands; at Oslo, which had a Sikh population of just two thousands, the Sikh procession was joined by almost everyone including women and children.[104]

Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer

National Professor of Sikh History

Birmingham, England.

(hsdilgeer@yahoo.com)

---

[1] A. R. Darshi, The Gallant Defender (Amritsar 2005), p. 97 (of 2007 edition).

[2] Surya monthly, September 1984.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Darshi, A.R. The Gallant Defender (Amritsar 2005), p. 97 (of 2007 edition).

[6] Ibid, pp. 98-99.

[7] Ibid, p. 101.

[8] ‘Operation Blue Star’ has been reckoned as one of the 10 Political Disgraces of India: 1. Internal Emergency (June 1975- January 77). 2. Operation Blue Star (June 1984). 3. Bofors Scandal (1987-96). 4. Demolition of Babri Mosque (December 1992). 5. JMM Bribery Case (July 1997). 6. Fodder Scam (January 1996). 7. Hijacking of an Indian Airliner to Kandhar (December 1999). 8. Arms Bribery Case involving Bangaru Laxman BJP chief etc (March 2001). 9. Gujrat Riots (February-March 2002). 10. Surviving No Confidence Motion (July 2008); for details see article, of the same name, by Gunjeet K. Sra in India Today, dated 29.12.2008.

[9] Malhotra, Inder, Indira Gandhi: A Personal and Political Biography, (Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1989) has also refereed to this.

[10] Nayyar, Kuldip and Khushwant Singh, Tragedy of Punjab, p. 56.

[11] A. R. Darshi, op. cit, p. 100.

[12] The ‘Punjabi Group’ comprised of Kuldip Nayyar, Air Marshal Arjan Singh, Lt General Jagjit Singh Arora, I.K. Gujral, Pran Chopra, Gurcharan Singh etc.

[13] Samiuddin Adiba, The Punjab Crisis: Challenge and Response (Delhi 1985), pp. 644-45.

[14] Ibid, p. 682.

[15] These meetings had been attended, from Akali side, by Badal, Tohra, Ravi Inder Singh, Balwant Singh, Surjeet Barnala, Balwant Ramuwalia etc.

[16] Earlier too, on the 16^th and the 17^th of November 1982, then on the 17^th and 24^th of January 1983 too, meetings had been held between the Akalis and the Government delegations.

[17] L.K. Advani, in his book, published in 2008, has openly confessed that that his Party, along with Chowdhry Charan Sinh’s Party,  held two major demonstrations at Delhi, on the 3^rd and the 4^th of May 1984, to press attack on Darbar Sahib; again, he raised this issue in the Parliament too (Advani, My Counry My Life, p. 430).

When this book was published, all the Sikhs condemned Advani, but Manjit Singh G.K. (president of the Delhi Akali Dal, Badal group) went to the residence of Advani on the 13^th of April 2008, and presented him with a robe of honour (for instigating Indira Gandhi to attack Darbar Sahib).

[18] He was a fanatic Hindu; it was he who had occupied the land of the Gurdwara Gian Godari built at Hardwar in the memory of the visit of Guru Nanak Sahib. In 1984 he joined Advani and demanded attack on Darbar Sahib; on the 3^rd of May 1984, he led a demonstration against the Akalis.

[19] According to Harminder Kaur and Mark Tully, the order for this fire had been given by K.S. Brar (Harminder Kaur, op. cit., p. 7, Tully, Mark, op. cit., p. 145), also see the ‘official account’ (which is full of lies) by K.S. Brar, Operation Blue Star.

[20] Citizens for Democracy, Oppression in Punjab (Delhi 1984), p. 57.

[21] Oppression in Punjab, p. 58, Tully, Mark, op. cit., p. 145. Later, these marks were shown by the international media including the Pakistani TV (In Khabarnama of the 3^rd of June 1984.). Later these signs were removed by the S.G.P.C. when Gurcharan Singh Tohra was President and Manjit Singh Calcutta was the Secretary.

[22] Harminder Kaur, op. cit., p. 8.

[23] Ibid.

[24] Tully, Mark, op. cit, p. 142. On the other hand, a fanatic Hindu journalist Prem Bhatia (editor The Tribune Chandigarh) playing as cheap sycophant, wrote that when he saw her in the first week of July 1984 ‘she looked five years younger’ (The Tribune, dated 8.7.1984); such was the mentality of sycophants of Indira Gandhi and the fanatic Hindus; the same Bhatia, in the issue dated 7.6.1984, described attack on Darbar Sahib as ‘a neat operation’ in spite of the fact that nothing was yet known as to what had happened there at Darbar Sahib or in 72 other Gurdwaras in the rest of the Punjab.

[25] For Indira Gandhi’s full speech, see Appendix IV on pages 684-687 of The Punjab Crisis: Challenge and Response, a book edited by Adiba Samiuddin.

[26] Nayyar,  op. cit., P. 91

[27] Darshi, op. cit, pp. 109-110.

[28] It is alleged that he was a senior member of the Nirankari cult, which had killed 13 Sikhs in 1978.

[29] According to A.R. Darshi, General Gauri Shankar was appointed as the Security Advisor to the Governor and R. S. Dyal was ‘immediate subordinate’ to Lt. General Sunderji (The Gallant Fighter, p. 109).

[30] Such heavy artillery, which is used only in open field battles, was arrayed against the defenders of Darbar Sahib, on a Complex where thousands of pilgrims were staying for the night; no warning was given; no one was asked to surrender.

[31] Later, on the 7^th of June, the Army collected their dead bodies and their weapons from the tank.

[32] Chellaney, Brahma, An Eye Account, an article in Abida Samiuddin’s book, The Punjab Crisis: Challenge and Response (Delhi, 1985), p. 181.

[33] The Indian Army had already brought several tanks and at least 13 tanks were used in this ‘Operation’.

[34] Later, Harjinder Singh Jinda and Sukhdev Singh Sukha punished General Vaidya in his own city Pune, on the 10^th of August 1986; both were, later, arrested and sentenced to death; they were hanged on the 9^th of October 1992.

[35] According to a hearsay account, a Sikh boy of 16 years of age, who had tied explosives to his body, jumped before the tank and destroyed it; and, due to this the tank got bogged down near the Baba Deep Singh Memorial; it was removed much later and that even with much difficulty.

[36] The Indian Army brought at least 13 tanks for attack on Darbar Sahib, three of these were taken to the parikarma of Darbar Sahib and the rest were on standby between Darbar Sahib and the Town Hall; to quote Subhash Kirpekar: “I saw two tanks positioned a little distance away from the kotwali, another outside Jallianwala Bagh and three more outside Ghantaghar entrance to Golden Temple complex.” [Amritsar Diary by Subhash Kirpekar, in Abida Samiuddin’s The Punjab Crisis: Challenge and Response, p, 171].

[37] Oppression in Punjab, p. 61.

[38] Chellaney, Brahma, op. cit., p. 181.

[39] Amritsar Diary by Subhash Kirpekar, in Abida Samiuddin’s The Punjab Crisis: Challenge and Response, p. 168.

[40] Sunday Times, dated 17.6.1984.

[41] For the Sikhs it was not the first unequal battle; they had already fought battles at Chamkaur (7-8.12.1705), Muktsar (29.12.17065), Lohgarh (29-30.11.1710), Gurdas Nangal (April to December 1715), Akal Takht Amritsar (1.12.1764), Saragarhi etc where a few of them fought against hundreds and thousands of invaders.

[42] Tully, op, cit, 175.

[43] Chellaney, Brahma, op. cit., p. 182.

[44] Ibid.

[45] Darshi, A.R., op. cit., p. 112.

[46] Later, these signs were removed by the S.G.P.C. when Tohra was the President and Manjit Singh Calcutta was the Secretary.

[47] This volume of Guru Granth Sahib too had been hit by a bullet; this was a handwritten volume from 1830.

[48] Surya, August 1984; Nayyar, op cit, p. 102.

[49] Daily Observer, dated 9.6.1984.

[50] It is not true that the buildings had been destroyed in crossfire; the militants had not fired a single shot on the buildings adjacent to Darbar Sahib or around it; the militants aimed only at the soldiers trying to proceed towards Akal Takht; hence the houses were destroyed only by the Army’s shelling.

[51] Daily Guardian, dated 26.6.1984.

[52] Daily Telegraph, dated 15.6.1984.

[53] In September 1984 Rajiv Gandhi had admitted this figure as 700. (Nayyar, op. cit., P. 108); later, the Army too admitted that ‘troops had to pay high price and suffered heavy casualties’ (Harminder Kaur, op. cit., p 47).

[54] White Paper, p. 169.

[55] Nayyar, op. cit, p. 109.

[56] Brar, K.S., Operation Blue Star (Delhi 1992).

[57] Sarna, Jasbir Singh, History o f Sikh Students Federation, (unpublished).

[58] This is confirmed by Brahma Challeney, of the Associated Press, who was the only foreign correspondent in Amritsar: “the Sikhs killed during the attack were shot at point-blank range, with their hands tied at the back with their turbans.” The Times, London, dated 14.6.1984.

[59] Kumar, Ram Narayan and George Sieberer, The Sikh Struggle (Delhi 1991), p. 265.

[60] Mary Anne Weaver, in The Sunday Times, dated 10.6.1984.

[61] Darshi, A.R., op. cit., p. 116.

[62] Chellany, op. cit., pp 184-85

[63] After 66 hours of imposition (from 3.6.1984 at 9.p.m. to 6.6.84 at 3 p.m.) the curfew was relaxed for two hours on 6 June from 3 to 5 p.m; on 7 June it was announced that curfew will be relaxed from 3 to 5 p.m. but it was cancelled on suggestion of Ramesh Inder Singh, the new D.C.; on 9 June the curfew was relaxed from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.; on 10 June it was relaxed from 12 noon to 5 p.m. (however, in the walled city it was from 3 to 5 p.m. only); on 11 June it was relaxed from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the following days from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. There was no bus service from 3 June to 10 June, on 11 June too there were a couple of busses and that even for taking passengers to Patti and Tarn Taran; on 12 June three busses carried passengers from Amritsar to Jalandhar. [Amritsar Diary by Subhash Kirpekar, in Abida Samiuddin’s The Punjab Crisis: Challenge and Response, pp, 171 and 173].

[64] Chellany, op. Cit, p. 182

[65] Bhanwar, Harbir Singh, in his book Diary de Panne has given details of such acts; also see ‘Oppression in Punjab’ by C.F.D.

[66] Though most of the Sikhs present in the Darbar Sahib Complex had been killed by the Army in cold blood, still some of the 350 of those who had been arrested from the headquarters of the S.G.P.C. were taken to the Army cantonment (some of them died there for want of water as they had been kept in a small confined place where they were not allowed even water; it being the hottest day many of them died); those who survived were, later, lodged in Jodhpur Jail (in Rajasthan); they were not tried by any court and were not released for many years; many of them had already become insane before they were released.

[67] Thukral, Gobind, Atrocities on Sikh Children, a report published in India Today, dated 30.9.1984, Kumar, Ram Narayan, op. cit., p. 291.

[68] Oppression in Punjab, pp. 76-77.

[69] There were about 20000 books, about 500 handwritten volumes of Guru Granth Sahib and several relics. (The Tribune, dated 4.7.1984).

[70] Oppression in the Punjab, pp. 66-67.

[71] Ibid, p. 31 (statement of Kirpal Singh).

[72]Operation Bluestar: An Eyewitness Account by Subash Kirepaker, in The Punjab Story, edited by Kuldip Nayyar and Khushwant Singh, op. cit, p. 83.

[73] All this was carried under the supervision of Ramesh Inder Singh, the newly appointed D.C. of Amritsar.

[74] Chellany, op. cit., p. 182.

[75] Ibid.

[76] Monthly Probe India, August 1984.

[77] Statement of Bhan Singh in Harbir Singh Bhanwar’s Diary de Panne.

[78] Indian Express, dated 12.6.1984

[79] While speaking on the Indian Government’s ‘White Paper on Punjab Situation’, on the 25^th of July 1984, in the Lok Sabha, Vajpayee said: “First of all I want to congratulate those officers who freed Harmandir Sahib, sacred to all the Indians, from terrorists by sacrificing their lives and putting their precious lives in danger…The army had been given a delicate responsibility and the army should be felicitated for accomplishing their duty efficiently and bravely…” (Proceedings of the Lok Sabha, dated 25.7.1984).

[80] Hindustan Times dated 10.6.1984. The B.J.P. leaders went to the extent of calling her ‘Durga’ a fictitious Hindu goddess which was shown defeating the demons in fiction works.

[81] He called it ‘swift, yet restrained, operation in flushing out terrorists from Golden Temple Complex’ (Hindustan Times, dated 10.6.1984).

[82] Indian Express, dated 8.6.1984.

[83] Ibid.

[84] Ibid.

[85] Ibid.

[86] Hindustan Times, dated 8.6.1984.

[87] Later, Chander Sheikhar sent a fact finding team to the Punjab to know the truth. However, in 1991, when Chander Sheikhar became the Prime Minister of India, in collaboration with and under the blessing of Rajiv Gandhi, he exhibited an altogether different attitude; rather he behaved as a fanatic Hindu and even went to the extent of threatening another massacre of the Sikhs. Earlier he had been demanding an apology for this invasion but when he captured power he himself did not apologise as P.M. (even other Prime Ministers e.g. I. K. Gujral, V.P. Sinh, H.D. Devegauda, Vajpayee, and even puppet prime minister Manmohan Singh, never apologised for attack on Darbar Sahib and atrocities committed on the Sikhs, in spite of the fact that they had known the truth behind the attack; they simply called it ‘sad’, ‘unfortunate’ and ‘it should not happen again’ the Congress Party used Manmohan Singh to apologize for ‘Black November 1984’ pogrom of the Sikhs; and that even after 25 years).

[88] Monthly Surya, July 1984.

[89] Ibid.

[90] The Sunday Times, dated 10.6.1984, Nayyar, Kuldip, op. cit., p. 56.

[91] Indian Express, dated 15.6.1984.

[92] Chellany, Brahma, op. cit., p. 182.

[93] Tully, Mark, op. cit., pp. 194-95, Harminder Kaur, op. cit., p. 49.

[94] Ibid.

[95] Details personally narrated, on the 10^th of June 2011, to this author by Lal Singh, one of the rebel soldiers.

[96] Indian Express, dated 13.6.1986.

[97] Punjab Times, London, dated 15 and 22.6.1984.

[98] Indian Express, dated 9.6.1984.

[99] Ibid, dated 12.6.1984.

[100] Ibid, dated 17.6.1984.

[101] Ibid, dated 23.6.1984.

[102] At that time, the Indian Government had lied that only 493 Sikhs had been killed (in fact the number was about five thousand).

[103] The Sunday Times, dated 15.6.1984.

[104] It is remarkable to note that the Sikhs’ rage against the Indian government’s invasion of Darbar Sahib was not just a temporary reaction; in June 2009, even after 25 years of the attack (and again in June 2011), between 25 and 50 thousand Sikhs joined protest procession at London, to commemorate the anniversary of the attack; like protest are observed in every part of the world every year

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