Shaheed Master Sukhwinder Singh Babbar

Early Life

Shaheed Master Sukhwinder Singh Babbar was born on April 8, 1955 in village Daabaa(n)vala, Batala, District Gurdaspur. His father was Sd. Bakhshish Singh and mother Jageer Kaur. Master jee had 4 brothers and one sister. Master jee first studied in village Aliwal and then went to Bering College Batala where he graduated and then went on to study at CPID Mohali. After graduating he took a job as a teacher in Kadee(n. He began to be called "Master" after this point.

Master jee, along with his worldly studies also read a lot of Gurbani. He began to do the sangat of Sant Jarnail Singh jee Bhindranwale and after finishing his work at the school, used to go do sangat with Sant jee. While teaching at the school, he also began to participate in the Dharam Yudh Morcha.

The events of June 1984 broke Master jee's heart. He was so badly hurt that he resigned from his job and began to fight to protect the glory of the Sikhs and he never looked back again.

The Movement & Dasvandh

The police began to daily make raids at Master jee's home but he was never captured. Master jee went underground and joined Babbar Khalsa and became an active member. Master jee was of a very sweet nature and took pleasure in helping the needy and helpless. He would constantly be repeating Gurbani. He was very wise and knowledgeable as well. Master jee was soon appointed the Jathedar of the Majha area. Master jee used to encourage all those in the movement to certainly take their dasvandh out. After every six months Master jee would go home and take the dasvandh from the crops his family had grown. Master jee's younger brother Rajvinder Singh once said, "our Dasvandh is already taken out because we're almost homeless and can not even plant our crops on time." Master jee replied, "If Vahiguru did not even give us this much, what would we have done? Taking out dasvandh helps in profit, not harms. "

Master jee was firm on his principles and was a true soldier. He told everyone in the Jathebandee to take out their dasvandh and consider it their duty.

Once, Master jee went on a long trip on his bike to get RS100 in dasvandh from a Singh. A Singh in the Jatha asked Master jee why he took such pains to go get such a small amount. Master jee replied, "it was that Singh's faith that he wanted to do sevaa and so his RS 100 is to me like a hundred thousand. On top of that, that Singh will be more attached to us now and if he was giving the dasvandh with such happiness, how could we refuse?" Master jee served the Jathebandee with full commitment and soon he was chosen to be in the seven member High Command of Babbar Khalsa.

Premonition of Shaheedee

On the night of March 21, 1987, Master jee came home at 12AM and was given some fruit to eat. He looked at the watch and said that it was 12 and thus amrit vela and he would not eat now. He got up to leave again but called the entire family together first. He said that he had a very important request he sad, "A Singh can be captured or a Singh can also be martyred. If a Singh is captured, don't go after him and if he is martyred, don't weep. Just read as much BaaNee as you can. Finally, when a Singh is martyred, people often give their families money to honor them. I don't want you to even touch any money."

After saying this, he left for his destination. No family member could say anything further to him and the entire night they wondered what the meaning was of all this.

On March 23, 1987, two days later, the family received news that Master Sukhwinder Singh Babbar had been captured. After countless tries, the family could not get any further information. The police simply said they had not caught him. Soon after, the Jathebandee commemorated his Shaheedee.

Taken From Shahadat Magazine May 2004