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.

During his military service in the Indian Army, he was involved extensively in the training of Mukti Bahini volunteers during the Bangladesh Liberation War.

Singh was born in 1924 in Bhangu Jat Sikh family of 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.

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.

He had fought in other major wars such as World War 2, 1947 Indo-Pak War, 1962 Sino-Indian War, and 1965 Indo-Pakistan War.

Later, Singh joined Sikh movement for rights in Punjab, named Dharam Yudh Morcha.

He was unofficially sent for service in the 1947 Indo-Pakistan War in Kashmir along with Maharaja Yadavindra Singh's Akal Regiment.

He was noted to have snuck past Pakistani lines and gave information to the Akal Regiment about the Pakistani plans.

After the partition of India, when the Indian regiments were reorganized, Singh joined the 50th Parachute Brigade of the Indian Army.

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

"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."

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

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.

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.

Singh was a notable figure with the press for his service in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.

On 6 July 1972, he was appointed GOC, MPB & O Area, with the acting rank of major-general, and promoted to substantive major-general on 2 April 1974.

In 1975 Shabeg Singh was asked by Indira Gandhi to suppress the Bihar Movement through harsh measures and arrest Jayaprakash Narayan.

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.

Later the Indian Army threw charges under special clauses which were never 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.

Shabeg Singh was stripped of his rank without court-martial and thus denied his full pension.

Two charge sheets in an anti-corruption court were brought against him in Lucknow by India's Central Bureau of Investigation.

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.

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.

He joined Sikh militants, where he served as Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale's military adviser.

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.

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.

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.

Singh sought redress in civil courts, and was acquitted of all charges on February 13, 1984.

He organised the Sikh forces present at the Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar in June 1984.