CHANDIGARH: The Sikh movement in Punjab suffered a grievous loss when a senior Babbar Khalsa activist Bhai Amrik Singh Kauli was killed in an encounter with the Chandigarh police.
The Chandigarh police in a press release claimed that Kauli was intercepted by a police party near Makhanmajra-Dadua road. He was driving a scooter Bhai Kauli opened fire. The police too fired back killing him on the spot.
But unofficial sources said that Bhai Kauli was arrested from a house at Mohali by the Chandigarh police and was later killed in a fake encounter.
No police official was ready to lend his name to the encounter Nor was anyone prepared to get the prize money of Rs 10 lakh. That is perhaps why the Chandigarh police press note did not mention any police officials name
Bhai Kauli was 28. He was born in Takh Tumajra village. However he lived in Kauli village in Patiala district with his maternal uncles. He passed his middle standard examination from Kauli. He worked for some time as a class IV employee with Marfed at its Chunni Kalan store He joined the Sikh movement in 1987 Indian authorities detained him soon after and sent him to high-security Nabha jail There he came under the influence of Bhai Gurcharan Singh Daun and was baptized On release Bhai Kauli went underground and joined the Babbar Khalsa International.
Bhai Kauli soon won the hearts of senior Babbar leaders owing to a deep commitment to the Sikh cause he cherished. On the death of Bhai Balwinder Singh Jattanaand Bhai Charanjit Singh Channi he was made area commander of the B.K.L. Bhai Kauli served the Patiala and Ropar districts.
Bhai Kauli followed the B.K.I. program and in the course of his brief career as area commander took effective steps to stop the construction of S.Y.L. canal and sought to stop the supply of water to Hindu states through the Bhakra Mainline canal He also tried to introduce Punjabi language in the Punjab government secretariat as well as in the Indian government-controlled electronic media and Punjab University.
What caused the setback was the mishandling of the Manchanda abduction case The group came in contact with certain human rights groups which in tum were being shadowed by Indian intelligence agencies It was in the course of the talks on Manchanda that the intelligence first killed Bhat Gurdial Singh Kauli and then Bhai Amrik Singh Kauli.
Political observers feel that abduction as political instrument does not suit Sikh militants. The Khalistan Commando Force of Bhai Bidhsinghwala also suffered several causalities in the course of the abduction of Radu last year. However the B.K.I. leadership alone is in a position to throw light on the life and achievements of Bhai Kauli The organization is also expected to analyze the Manchanda abduction case and its repercussions.
Bhai Ranjit Singh Gill and Bhai Sukhminder Singh Sandhu have issued a special call from the New York jail to faithful Sikhs everywhere-Extending their condolences on the death of this leader and praising his services to Khalsa Panth they said He’ll be remembered as a great martyr in the movement for Khalistan.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 31, 1992
