Shabeg Singh

Shabeg Singh, PVSM, AVSM (1 May 1924 – 6 June 1984), was a Major General who had previously served in the Indian Army but later joined the revolution movement of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.

Major General

Shabeg Singh

PVSM, AVSM
Major General Shabeg Singh
Birth nameShabeg Singh
Born1 May 1924
Khiala Kalan, Amritsar, Punjab, British India
Died(1984-06-06)6 June 1984 (Age 60)
Akal Takht, Amritsar, Punjab, India
Allegiance British India
 India
Sikh Militants
Service/branch British Indian Army
 Indian Army
Years of service1942 - 1977, 1984
RankMajor General
UnitGarhwal Rifles
3/Parachute Regiment
11 Gorkha Rifles
Commands heldGOC, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and parts of Odisha; Defence of the Akal Takht, Amritsar
Battles/warsWorld War 2
Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948
Sino-Indian War of 1962
Indo-Pakistan War of 1965
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
Operation Blue Star
Awards Param Vishisht Seva Medal
Ati Vishisht Seva Medal
Sikh Shaheed[1]
MemorialsGurdwara Yaadgar Shaheedan, Amritsar
RelationsMehtab Singh Bhangu

During his military service in the Indian Army, he was involved extensively in the training of Mukti Bahini volunteers during the Bangladesh Liberation War.[2] He had fought in other major wars such as World War 2, 1947 Indo-Pak War, 1962 Sino-Indian War,[3] and 1965 Indo-Pakistan War.[4] Later, Singh joined Sikh movement for rights in Punjab, named Dharam Yudh Morcha.[5][6]

Early life and education

Singh was born in 1924 in Khiala village (earlier known as Khiala Nand Singhwala), about nine miles (14 km) from the Amritsar-Chogawan road. He was the oldest son of Sardar Bhagwan Singh and Pritam Kaur, and had three brothers and a sister. He enrolled in Khalsa College in Amritsar, and later in Government College in Lahore. Shabeg was a descendant of Mehtab Singh who killed Massa Ranghar after he captured the Golden Temple.[7]

Military career

World War II

In 1942, an officer-selection team visiting Lahore colleges recruited Singh to the British Indian Army officers cadre. After studying in the Indian Military Academy, he was commissioned in the Garhwal Rifles as a second lieutenant. Within a few days the regiment moved to Burma and later to Malaya. In 1945 when the war ended, Singh was in Malaya with his unit. His battalion reportedly captured freedom fighter Prem Sahgal and he ordered him not to be shot and instead taken to trial.[8]

Indo-Pakistan War of 1947-1948

After the partition of India, when the Indian regiments were reorganized, Singh joined the 50th Parachute Brigade of the Indian Army. He was unofficially sent for service in the 1947 Indo-Pakistan War in Kashmir along with Maharaja Yadavindra Singh's Akal Regiment.[8] He was noted to have snuck past Pakistani lines and gave information to the Akal Regiment about the Pakistani plans.

Sino-Indian War of 1962

In 1962, during the India-China war, he was a Lt. Col. in IV Corps and fought in Bomdi-La.[3]

Close at their heel I sent Lt. Col. Shahbeg Singh, mainly to press them forward. He went to Chako—Eagle's Nest—and beyond and showed, whilst on his mission, plenty of drive and guts.

— Lieutenant General Brij Mohan Kaul, Untold Story

Indo-Pakistan War of 1965

Promoted to lieutenant-colonel on 2 June 1965,[9] he later commanded the 3rd Battalion, 11 Gorkha Rifles, and was given command of a brigade on 4 January 1968.[10]

Soon after the 1965 operations, Singh became Col G.S. of an infantry division, after which he was given command of the crack 19 Infantry brigade in Jammu Sector.[11]

Naga Insurgency

With his leadership qualities and use of daredevil tactics he was greatly successful in handling the counter-insurgency operations in that region and crushed the Naga Insurgency, for the next four years there were no terrorist incidents. Singh was promoted to colonel on 12 June 1968 and to substantive brigadier on 22 December.[12][11]

Indo-Pakistan War of 1971

Singh was a notable figure with the press for his service in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.[13][14] On 6 July 1972, he was appointed GOC, MPB & O Area, with the acting rank of major-general,[15] and promoted to substantive major-general on 2 April 1974.[16]

The Emergency

In 1975 Shabeg Singh was asked by Indira Gandhi to suppress the Bihar Movement through harsh measures and arrest Jayaprakash Narayan.[17] Shabeg Singh wrote a letter back stating that the Indian Army should not be involved in political matters. Shabeg Singh was assigned a command at area headquarters in Bareilly.[17] Later the Indian Army threw charges under special clauses which were never been invoked in the British Indian Army and has been invoked in the Indian Army only in his case, the case was related to him buying a Jonga on proxy.[18]

Shabeg Singh was stripped of his rank without court-martial and thus denied his full pension.[5][13] Two charge sheets in an anti-corruption court were brought against him in Lucknow by India's Central Bureau of Investigation.[19][18] Singh sought redress in civil courts, and was acquitted of all charges on February 13, 1984.[19][5]

Dharam Yudh Morcha and Operation Blue Star
Main article: Operation Blue Star

During the Asian Games in 1982; Shabeg Singh, Lt. Gen. Jagjit Singh Aurora, Lt. Gen. Harbaksh Singh, Parkash Singh Badal and Air Marshal Arjan Singh were all forced to leave the premises of the complex as they were Sikhs, in fact all Sikhs but a few were allowed to remain in the complex.[20]

Shabeg Singh was mentioned in a speech by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale while highlighting injustices to various Sikhs in 1983. He participated in the Amritsar Rally in the Golden Rail Morcha where over 10,000 ex-servicemen participated.[20]

He joined Sikh militants,[5] where he served as Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale's military adviser.[13] Singh had said that he had joined Bhindranwale due to the alleged humiliation he had received, which included being stripped of his pension. Counter Intelligence reports had reported that three leaders of the Khalistan movement were Major General Shabeg Singh, Balbir Singh Sandhu and Amrik Singh.[21] In December 1983, the Sikh political party Akali Dal's President Harcharan Singh Longowal had invited Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale to take up residence in the Golden Temple complex.[22] Singh and his military expertise is credited with the creation of effective defences of the temple complex that made the possibility of a commando operation on foot impossible.[23] He organised the Sikh forces present at the Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar in June 1984. Indian government forces launched Operation Blue Star in the same month.[24] Four weeks before Operation Blue Star, Shabeg Singh had an interview with Telegraph Calcutta near Shahid Ganj Baba Deep Singh outside the Golden Temple.

As far as my relations with Sant Jarnail Singh are concerned, there is nothing to suspect. I’ve told you that I am a patriot. Probably in a finer mould then the Prime Minister herself. I have met Bhindranwale. There is no doubt of it and I also feel that there is a strong touch of spiritualism in this person. He is a man who stands by the truth. The Government is deliberately terming him a traitor because his brand of politics probably doesn’t suit them.

— Telegraph Calcutta, May 16 1984, Interview of Major General Suhbeg Singh

At the later stages of the operation, Singh was killed in firing between the Akal Takht and Darshani Ḍeorhi. The amount of Indian casualties his defenses incurred are debated, but considered to be higher than Indian Army officials initially expected before the operation.[25] His body was later found and identified when the operation was over.[24] Singh was cremated according to Sikh rites and with full military honours.[26][27]

References
  1. "Shaheedi Samagam Organised at Sri Akal Takhat Sahib". Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. 2022. Retrieved 4 September 2022. ...the Sikh warriors, taking guidance from history, resisted the enemy army and attained martyrdom
  2. Mahmood, Cynthia Keppley (1996). Fighting for Faith and Nation: Dialogues with Sikh Armed forces. Series in Contemporary Ethnography. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 81. ISBN 978-0812215922. Retrieved 30 May 2009.
  3. Kaul, B. M. (1967). The Untold Story. Allied Publishers. p. 420.
  4. "1971 war hero helped Bhindranwale as he wanted to avenge sacking insult, say kins". The Times of India. 2021-12-13. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
  5. Danopoulos, Constantine Panos; Watson, Cynthia Ann (1996). The Political Role of the Military: An International Handbook. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 184. ISBN 978-0-313-28837-1. Recent examples of senior officers seeking recourse in civil courts are the cases of Major General Shabeg Singh ... [He] was dismissed from service without a court martial a day before he was due to retire and therefore lost part of his pension. He had to seek redress in civil courts, and later joined a camp of Sikh militants in Punjab.
  6. Holt, James D. (2022-12-29). Understanding Sikhism: A Guide for Teachers. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-350-26319-2.
  7. Sandhu, Amandeep (2022). Panjab: Journeys Through Fault Lines. Penguin Random House India Private Limited. ISBN 978-93-5492-859-8.
  8. "Defence of Srinagar 1947". Indian Defence Review. 2023-01-17. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
  9. "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch)". The Gazette of India. 13 November 1965. p. 584.
  10. "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch)". The Gazette of India. 2 March 1968. p. 172.
  11. "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch)". The Gazette of India. 19 April 1969. p. 376.
  12. "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch)". The Gazette of India. 18 January 1969. p. 53.
  13. Critchfield, Richard (1995). The Villagers: Changed Values, Altered Lives: The Closing of the Urban Rural Gap. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p. 383. ISBN 9780385420495. Stripped of his rank and denied a pension, he had bitterly nursed a grievance ever since and it was he who taught Bhindranwale's men how to use modern weapons, most of them smuggled across the border from Pakistan. Kirpekar had not seen Shabeg Singh for thirteen years, but he had once been a popular figure with the press as well as a national hero.
  14. Axel, Brian Keith (2001). The Nation's Tortured Body: Violence, Representation, and the Formation of a Sikh "Diaspora". Duke University Press. p. 124. ISBN 9780822326151. Retrieved 22 August 2019. Bhindranwale drew a wide range of people to his side who could provide support for strategic military action, including two retired major-generals from the Indian army, Jeswant Singh Bhullar and Shabeg Singh (who was a national hero of the 1971 Pakistan War).
  15. "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch)". The Gazette of India. 27 January 1973. p. 95.
  16. "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch)". The Gazette of India. 19 April 1975. p. 553.
  17. Sandhu, Amandeep (2022). Panjab: Journeys Through Fault Lines. Penguin Random House India Private Limited. ISBN 978-93-5492-859-8.
  18. Jaijee, Inderjit Singh (1995). "9: INFORMATION / COMMUNICATION". Politics of Genocide: Punjab, 1984-1994. Baba Publishers. p. 229. ISBN 978-1583672129. Retrieved 22 August 2019. The Indian Express investigated his past and found that two charge sheets filed against him by the CBI in an anti-corruption court in Lucknow had been disproved and he had been acquitted.
  19. Sachchidanand, Sinha; Singh, Jasvir; Sunil; Reddy, G.K C; Samata Era editorial team (1984). "6: Role of the Media and Opposition Parties". Army Action in Punjab: Prelude and Aftermath. New Delhi: G.K.C. Reddy for Samata Era Publication. p. 56. Retrieved 22 August 2019. Shuhbeg Singh was described as the one who was dismissed from the Army on corruption charges. But it was unfair not to inform that he was acquitted by a special court on February 13, 1984 of the charges against him in both cases filed by the CBI. The media was only indulging in unjustified character assassination of Bhindranwala, Shuhbeg Singh and others (that were corrupt, smugglers, robbers, thieves, rapists) in order to justify the Army action.
  20. "New worry for govt as high-ranking Sikh ex-servicemen get involved in Akali agitation". India Today. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
  21. Kiessling, Hein G. (2016). Faith, Unity, Discipline: The Inter-Service-Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan. Oxford University Press. pp. 155–156. ISBN 978-1-84904-863-7.
  22. Khushwant Singh (2004) [First published 1966]. A History of the Sikhs. Vol. II (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 337. ISBN 978-0-691-00804-2.
  23. Tully, Mark (3 June 2014). "Wounds heal but another time bomb ticks away". The Times of India. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
  24. "Interview Lt Gen PC Katoch". Operation Blue Star - The Untold Story by Kanwar Sandhu - 4. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  25. Deora, Man Singh (1992). Aftermath of Operation Bluestar. Anmol Publications. ISBN 978-81-7041-645-6.
  26. Jaijee, Inderjit Singh (1995). "9: INFORMATION / COMMUNICATION". Politics of Genocide: Punjab, 1984-1994. Baba Publishers. p. 229. ISBN 978-1583672129. Retrieved 22 August 2019. Because of his acquittal and his distinguished service, the highly decorated Shabeg Singh was cremated with military honours.
  27. Chopra, Radhika (2010). "Commemorating Hurt: Memorializing Operation Bluestar". Sikh Formations. Taylor & Francis. 6 (2): 119–152. doi:10.1080/17448727.2010.530509. S2CID 144432496. Bajwa said the Army officers agreed to cremate the bodies of Sant Bhindranwale, Shabeg Singh, Baba Thara Singh and Bhai Amrik Singh according to Sikh rites at his personal request while the rest of the bodies (more than 800) were cremated en masse.
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