An oppressor thinks that after he has committed his evils, people will be terrified. They will forget their honour and pride and bow before him. This does not always happen. It is said that a crowd has no mind, but sometimes there are some people with a mind in the crowd who stand up and agree to have their heads cut off but will never allow themselves to bow before an oppressor.
When the news of Gobind Ram’s challenge came to Bhai Karam Singh, Bhai Sahib published a reply in the daily newspapers. He wrote,
“Next Tuesday we will be coming to the bridge at the Nasarkay stream. I will wait for you all day. We’ll have our battle there. You’re harassing innocent people for nothing and this fight is between the two of us. You come with your government’s force and I’ll come with my Guru’s Babbar force. I’ll come with the support of my Guru and you can come with the support of your government and its machinery. Why are you needlessly killing innocent mothers’ sons? Gobind Ram, it’s true that not every jungle has a lion in it, but sometimes, you enter a den filled with just lions. And then a dog of the government, like you, can’t find any way to run. You must come. The weapons in the hands of the Khalsa will wait for you all day.
In eagerness to meet you and test your mettle, Guru Panth Daa Daas,
Karam Singh (Babbar Khalsa)”
Bhai Sahib’s announcement terrified Gobind Ram. For days, he refused to even look towards the assigned place the Singhs had announced. The Singhs were eager to avenge the death of Patloo Singh and punish Gobind Ram and his butchers.
In these days, another incident took place. Two secret Babbar workers were arrested from Mehta Chowk. They were remanded to Gobind Ram’s custody where he brutally killed them. Along with those two Singhs, three other completely innocent youths were also killed. One young boy was a student of the twelfth grade and was the only brother of four sisters. All five Singhs were killed in a fake encounter. The young boy was just 16 years old. His mother cried herself blind.
The Singhs in Batala Police District were completely enraged. One day, our entire Jatha was staying in village Dalaer Khurd. Gobind Ram’s gang, with orange dastaars tied on their heads and Klashnikov rifles in their hands entered the village. One resident of the village, Malkeet Singh had arranged the marriage of his daughter and the gang of 20 goons entered into his home. The people at home thought they were Singhs and gave them food to eat. After eating their fill, the leader of the Black Cat party, Jasvinder Singh Kala explained why he had come. (Black Cats were gangs used by Punjab Police to defame Singhs. They dressed up like Singhs but did horrendous crimes so that normal village-people would turn against the movement).
Kala asked, “Who’s the owner of this house?”
Malkeet Singh replied, “Uh…Baba ji….yes…I understand you’re Singhs…” He was terrified. He was begging Guru ji to save him from these people as he had no idea who they were.
Kala shamelessly replied with a terrifying laugh, “Yeah…absolutely right. Babas…Khalistani Babas. HAHAHA” His other goons also began to laugh.
“Ok then. Give us all the girl’s jewelry and any other valuables.” He loaded his rifle and pointed it at Malkeet Singh.
“But Baba ji…I’m poor…how will I marry off my daughter?”
“Don’t worry about that. We’ll take care of that. You just bring us the goods. You don’t want us to make you Khalistan?” He put the barrel against the owner’s back. Malkeet Singh took all the valuables in his home and handed them over.
“Ok, now to take care of your daughter, right? We forgot all about that didn’t we?” Kala grabbed the girl, who standing inside, by the arm and threw her on the bed which was going to be given at her marriage. The girl began to scream.
Malkeet Singh pleaded, “Baba ji, you asked for what you wanted and we gave it to you. We considered you Guru’s Singhs and respected you…but please don’t do this…for Guru’s sake!” In the meantime, the fifteen year old son of the house went inside and grabbed a pitchfork which he thrust into the stomach of one of Kala’s thugs. Another gang member immediately shot the boy who fell dead on the spot.
Our entire Jatha heard the sound of the bullets. We were coincidentally only a few houses away from where Kala was so our entire Jatha of 20-25 Singhs went to where we heard the noise. We saw the naked girl lying on the bed and the blood soaked body of the young boy and we understood what was going on.
One Singh in the Jatha yelled out, “Oy! That’s Kala, one of Gobind Ram’s Cats…!!”
Bhai Karam Singh bellowed, “Family members, go hide inside. We’ll take care of this. Kill the gang but I want Kala alive! Start the attack!!”
All the Babbars opened fire and our rifles began to spit fire. The family members had no idea what was going on, but all ran and hid. Kala’s gang also opened fire in which two Singhs were injured. The Singhs were yelling “Akaal!! Akaal!!” and spraying bullets. Bhai Daleep Singh took out his new gun, the GPM and let it loose. After half an hour of firing, the other side became calm and the house’s courtyard was filled with bodies. The sound of bullets was replaced with sound of groans and cries. There were a total of 11 bodies. Two Singhs from our Jatha were also injured. From the family, only the one boy had been killed, who had been shot before we arrived. Kala, along with four injured thugs was captured. The girl put on clothes inside and then fell at Bhai Karam Singh’s feet. “Brother, if you didn’t come today then….Oh my god! My brother!” Seeing her brother’s body, the girl began to sob.
Bhai Karam Singh tried to console the girl, “No sister, compose yourself. These were government agents. Your brother is a martyr…a martyr in the battle for Khalistan.”
“In the morning, take the boy’s body for cremation and bring us a truck so that we can throw these dusht’s bodies into the Beas.” After the truck arrived, the entire Jatha loaded the bodies onto the truck and Kala with his companions was tied up and brought to the banks of the river Beas. The bodies were thrown in.
Bhai Daleep Singh broke the slience, “Ok, let’s do their Antim Saskaar as well.” One Singh took a five litre can and filled it with diesel from the truck.
“Hai! Oy Baba ji! We’re your servants…!” Gobind Ram’s lions had become goats.
The Singhs drenched the five thugs in diesel and threw a match at them. The dark night was lit up by the five who ran about for some time and then themselves jumped into the river.
The next day, the Singhs saw a four wheeler filled with BSF officers.
Bhai Daleep Singh asked, “Bhaoo, what’re the orders?” He was shining the barrel of his GPM with a cloth.
Bhai Karam Singh replied, “No…not today…Let them make a routine of things.”
In the meantime, at Amritsar, Bhai Gurnam Singh blew up a BSF tanker with a grenade and announced that Babbar Khalsa would make new grenade and bomb Jathas.
BSF vehicle blown apart
The four-wheeler made its rounds for three or four days when on the fifth, a massive explosion came from the road and the Madrasis inside were all smeared onto the ground. All 15 Madrasis had to be scraped off the ground.
A couple days later, we overheard to villagers talking amongst themselves about the explosion: “See that Bhaoo? The Guru Singh’s did something amazing eh? The next day the BSF were going to people’s houses looking for all the “spare parts”… Here’s Sahib ji’s leg and there’s Vada Sahib ji’s arm with all his ribbons! HAHAH”
Because of these attacks, the police in Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Batala were all furious. They began to torture all normal residents. They would keep people for in police stations for no reason and rape the daughters of those Gursikhs who gave shelter to the Singhs. In village Leharkaa, we along with the Khalistan Liberation Force’s Bhai Jugraj Singh Toofan had a place we stayed. That household had a daughter who studied in the 10th grade. The police gave her a treatment which left our hairs standing on end. This girl was called Harjeet Kaur and her father and brother were already in Amritsar jail for giving shelter to the Singhs. Harjeet Kaur along with her older sister Parmveer went to meet them, when they caught the eye of SSP PK Sharma. That evening, Sharma came to village Leharkaa and took the girl to the police station, where she was badly tortured. That young body was subjected to third degree tortures. She was beaten with thick boards and hung upside down. They even put salt and chili pepper in her private parts. But this young Bibi did not even name a single Singh who came to her house. After she refused to do so, she was taken into a room where she was blindfolded and all night seven or eight police officers, along with Sharma raped her. She fell unconscious. When she regained her senses, she found herself lying alone and naked in the room.
After they could not take any information from her, the police released Harjeet Kaur. She was in a very bad state. She could not even walk properly. Her spirit had been broken and soon after, she hung herself and committed suicide.
Like Sharma, Gobind Ram also began to harass normal people. Finally, his evil reached its limit when he arrested the wives of Bhai Mehal Singh Babbar and Bhai Kulwant Singh Babbar. Both women worked in a bank and supported their children.
On August 21st, 1989, a van with tinted windows pulled in front of the bank. Six armed men got out and asked the women to come with them.
The women answered, “Who knows who you are? How can we go with someone we don’t even know?”
“Look at my ID. I’m Lakhwinder Singh Lakha, ASI. Now shut up and start walking with us or you’re going to be disrespected.” The ASI was yelling his threat.
The women began to yell and said, “We won’t go! How are you going to take us? You’ve got big dastaars and look like you’re the sons of Sikhs, have some shame!”
The ASI ordered his assistants, “Oy Shera! Pick them up and throw them in the van! People are going to start to gather and make a scene and our job will get harder.”. The officer followed his orders and forcibly took off the women’s dastaars, and tied their hands with them and threw them in the van. Their kirpaans were also taken off. They began to drive towards Batala’s “Beco” Interrogation Centre.