I am supported by the lotus-feet of Hari, the Fear-Destroyer.
Through the grace of the divinely inspired ones, 
I have found the boat of truth,
 and embarking on it, I sail across the world of poison.¹

     Guru Granth Sahib 618

At this year’s annual Sidak leadership retreat, organized by the Sikh Research Institute, it was remarkable to note that all attendees were born after 1984. When discussing the ghallugharas² of June and November 1984, there was no one in the room, besides facilitators, who had firsthand experience with the events of those days. 1984, which once resided in the collective Panthak (Sikh) memory, has over time become history. Two generations have been born since the Indian Army attacked the Sri Harimandar Sahib Complex and other Gurduaras (Sikh places of learning and worship) around Panjab. It is with this in mind that I sit down to reflect and write on the 30th anniversary of the torture and extrajudicial murder of Bhai³ Jaswant Singh Khalra. 

Bhai Jaswant Singh Khalra’s work in exposing the extrajudicial killings and subsequent cremations of tens of thousands of Sikhs was meticulous work that he did with love and care. The Punjab Police had abducted Sikhs and then, after brutal torture, killed them and cremated their remains. Jaswant Singh traveled from cremation ground to cremation ground, carefully documenting the number of victims anonymously cremated, to clearly demonstrate the horrific actions of the Punjab Police. He discovered records from municipal authorities that listed the names, ages, and addresses of those who had been executed by the police. The municipal authorities had kept records to justify the use of resources required to cremate so many victims. This was painstaking and emotionally traumatic work that he carried out with a spirit of Chardi Kala (Rising Power). Not only was this challenging work, but it was also dangerous; he undertook it from a deep well of love and commitment to truth and justice. 

Occurring at the end of Panjab’s decade of darkness (1984-1995), the forced disappearance of the famed human rights worker confirmed the impunity with which the Punjab Police and the Indian state at large operated.⁴ Despite this knowledge, there remains an ever-present shock that even a man celebrated by Sikhs around the world for his work, who had just months before traveled to the UK and Canada and met with government officials, would be picked up from right in front of his own home,⁵ never to be seen again. It has been three decades since that fateful day. Bhai Jaswant Singh Khalra’s children have since grown up and now have families of their own. His wife, a human rights activist in her own right, has continued his brave legacy. Time has moved on, Panjab and the world have changed. Bhai Jaswant Singh’s life and Shahidi (Martyrdom) have become a part of Panthak history, and he has joined the glorious ranks of tens of thousands of Sikhs who made the ultimate sacrifice throughout the last four centuries. 

Bhai Jaswant Singh’s history of social activism, including a family legacy of Panthak seva⁶ (service), and his transition from working at a bank to becoming a human rights advocate in the aftermath of 1984, has been well-documented. His work exposing the Punjab Police’s extrajudicial killing of thousands of Sikhs and their illegal cremations is well known. Books have been written about his life, from in-depth Panjabi biographies to literature geared towards children and teenagers. Artists have created paintings of him, and excerpts from his speech in Toronto in 1995 have been viewed millions of times. He defiantly and bravely stood up to the might of a behemoth of a government system that was a tool of genocide and counter-insurgency,⁷ and did so with grace and humility. We know that he himself progressed on the political spectrum; from someone who at one time believed that change could occur within the structure of the Indian state, to eventually understanding that the only option for Sikhs to survive lay in an independent state, namely Khalistan.⁸ We know that he turned down opportunities to seek asylum overseas⁹ and instead, in the spirit of generations of Shahids who came before him, willingly laid down his life. We know that he was a light in the darkness, who defied a murderous regime, and sought to demonstrate to the world that Sikhs were being targeted, were being tortured to death, and were being made to disappear. And we know that in the end, he too disappeared; not even his body returned to his family.¹⁰

Knowing the general outlines of his life, and if we wish to learn more, knowing that there are resources readily available to explore his beautifully transformative and inspiring existence, what then is the legacy of Jaswant Singh Khalra? Shahids have been compared to jewels, strung along the necklace of Panthak history, illuminating and beautifying our collective past, and inspiring us forward. Our Panth grows and flourishes because of the sacrifice of those who demonstrated their love for Guru by giving up their mortal lives to live in the eternal memory of the Panth. What can we learn from Bhai Jaswant Singh Khalra’s life and martyrdom? We are currently in unprecedented times, whether technologically, politically, or environmentally. 

For the young attendees at Sidak, the desire to continue the seva of Shahids, such as Bhai Jaswant Singh, is palpable and urgent. As we see a rise in authoritarian dictatorships, their future feels tenuous and at times bleak. Those of us who carry a lived memory of 1984 and beyond can see the cycles of oppression rising to the surface yet again. When these young Gursikhs ask, “What real tangible action can we take?” they touch upon a question, a wound, that lives in the heart of each and every Sikh, regardless of age or place. And yet it is at the very heart of this question, this desire, this yearning to be of Seva that the light of Bhai Jaswant Singh’s life and dedication remains ever illuminated.  

The opportunity to stand up for justice and truth can come at any time; in fact, every day we are offered this gift. The question is, are we ready to stand up and make the sacrifices that are asked of us? Bhai Jaswant Singh Khalra led a comfortable middle-class life and had a respectable profession. He had a caring and dedicated partner, as well as two young children. People living in Panjab at the time knew that Sikhs were being picked up without legal recourse and being tortured to death. This was not a secret. When a colleague at work disappeared, Bhai Jaswant Singh did not sit back, bury his head in the sand, and go about his life as if nothing had happened. Instead, without training as a human rights worker, he went out and investigated the machinery of the state that was engaged in capturing, torturing, and murdering its own citizens. This work led to deeper investigations of the state apparatus of genocide. 

We are all given opportunities to speak up and take a stand, but most of us are too ensconced in our lives, too afraid of what we might lose, of endangering everything we have spent a lifetime building. What we often forget when we valorize our Shahids is that they, too, had families, dreams, aspirations, and hopes. But they were willing to set those things aside and instead, walk the narrow path of sacrifice and love. They were willing to put everything on the line—to ensure that the truth was not silenced or lost to the darkness. 

Bhai Jaswant Singh Khalra’s life and death demonstrate that, no matter how powerful, overwhelming, and systemic the horrors of the world are, a single voice can strike a powerful blow and awaken the world to the truth. He understood that the power of his message would be diluted if he left Panjab and that what was needed was for someone who was willing to sacrifice themself to openly demonstrate the cruelty and wanton violence of the Indian state. In death, his example shines brightly, acting as a beacon of dignity and grace in the face of oppression. Though he was disappeared, his death—instead of being forgotten—has become a source of strength for generations of human rights activists and Sikhs. The government aimed to silence him by killing him, but all they did was amplify his message a hundredfold. He is arguably more well-known today than he was during his lifetime. Recently, Sikh activists in California successfully advocated for a public elementary school in the city of Fresno to be named after Khalra, ensuring his legacy will live on for future generations.¹¹

Bhai Jaswant Singh Khalra’s life and death also show us that true significant change has yet to occur. The Indian government desperately wants the world to believe that the dark days of Panjab are in the past, but the fact remains that there have been minimal consequences for the violence perpetrated against Sikhs in 1984 and after, especially for those in positions of power.¹² Transformation of Indian society requires an acknowledgment of what has occurred as well as efforts to ensure that events like that do not happen again. Not only has the Indian government failed to openly acknowledge what it did to the Sikhs and the Panjab, the Indian government still routinely carries out the extrajudicial murder of Sikhs, now even brazenly outside the borders of the Indian state.¹³ How, then, can justice be served when injustice continues?¹⁴

Bhai Jaswant Singh Khalra’s life is a testament to the power of truth. He was committed to spreading the truth, regardless of the consequences. It is with his deep dedication to the truth that his life and Shahidi remind me of the following Pauri (stanza) from the Vars (Ballads) of Bhai Gurdas (1551-1637). 

The Gurmukh (Wisdom-oriented) who serves others with all of their being is rare.
The Gurmukh loses themself (abandons their arrogant self) and 
thus receives the fruit of comfort and happiness. 
The Gurmukh tells other Sikhs the wonder of the Divine Word. 
The Gurmukh, by contemplating the Divine Word, practices truth.
(The Gurmukh’s) heart is full of truth; they speak the truth and adore the truth.
The Gurmukh perfects their life and liberates the world.12.¹⁵

     Bhai Gurdas, Varan, Var 19, Pauri 12

Thirty years since his death, as we move from lived memory to Panthak history, may we continue to be inspired by Bhai Jaswant Singh Khalra’s powerful example of speaking truth to power regardless of personal cost. May we continue to spread the light of justice that he so bravely lit in the darkness of oppression and tyranny.

References

¹  ਹਰਿ ਕੇ ਚਰਨ ਕਮਲ ਆਧਾਰ ॥
ਸੰਤ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ਪਾਇਓ ਸਚ ਬੋਹਿਥੁ ਚੜਿ ਲੰਘਉ ਬਿਖੁ ਸੰਸਾਰ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
Translation by author.

²  An 18th century Sikh term for a large-scale battle and/or massacre. 

³  Bhai, literally meaning brother, is a Sikh honorific. Though Jaswant Singh Khalra was not formally given this title, I use it in this article out of respect for his life and shahidi (martyrdom) and the example he set. 

⁴  https://www.amnesty.org/fr/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/asa200071998en.pdf   

⁵  https://ensaaf.org/jaswant-singh-khalra/  

⁶  Jaswant Singh Khalra’s grandfather Harnam Singh, was a Ghadr activist and was on board the famed Guru Nanak Jahaz (Komagata Maru).

⁷  https://web.archive.org/web/20160303183114/http://www.ensaaf.org/pdf/reports/HRW-PunjabinCrisis.pdf 

⁸  https://www.panthpunjab.com/p/understanding-shaheed-bhai-jaswant-singh 

⁹  https://thediplomat.com/2017/12/punjab-murders-without-murderers/ 

¹⁰  https://www.straight.com/news/gurpreet-singh-book-on-human-rights-defender-is-a-must-read-to-understand-duplicity-of-indian# 

¹¹  https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/education-lab/article299381444.html 

¹²  https://thewire.in/rights/punjab-disappeared-mass-cremations-violence 

¹³  https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/12/15/india-investigate-alleged-overseas-murder-plots 

¹⁴  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/22/canada-evidence-indian-diplomats-sikh-activist-murder-hardeep-singh-najjir 

¹⁵  ਗੁਰਮੁਖਿ ਪਰਉਪਕਾਰੀ ਵਿਰਲਾ ਆਇਆ।
ਗੁਰਮੁਖਿ ਸੁਖ ਫਲੁ ਪਾਇ ਆਪੁ ਗਵਾਇਆ।
ਗੁਰਮੁਖਿ ਸਾਖੀ ਸਬਦਿ ਸਿਖਿ ਸੁਣਾਇਆ।
ਗੁਰਮੁਖਿ ਸਬਦ ਵੀਚਾਰਿ ਸਚੁ ਕਮਾਇਆ।
ਸਚੁ ਰਿਦੈ ਮੁਹਿ ਸਚੁ ਸਚਿ ਸੁਹਾਇਆ।
ਗੁਰਮੁਖਿ ਜਨਮੁ ਸਵਾਰਿ ਜਗਤੁ ਤਰਾਇਆ ॥੧੨॥
Translation by author.