MOGA: There was a virtual curfew in Budhsinghwala on August 7 imposed unofficially by Indian security forces to prevent Sikhs from attending the last rites of the Khalistan Commando Force chief, Bhai Gurjant Singh Budhsinghwala, who was killed at Ludhiana a few days earlier.
The police in the thousands surrounded the village from all sides on the eve of the religious function. Those who had already managed to reach the village to pay their last respects to the memory of the slain hero were rounded up. All villagers were called out at a spot and were asked firmly not to venture out on the bhog day. Thus Lakha Singh, a Mann group Jathedar of Bathinda district, who was in the village along with his supporters, was taken into custody, Not many journalists were allowed to reach the village to report on the happenings. A Tribune reporter who managed to sneak into the village could not come out in time to report for his newspaper.
The police stopped people from reaching Budhsinghwala at as distant a place as Bhagta Bhai (30km away) where buses were stopped and travellers bound for Budhsinghwala were asked to get down or face “humiliation and arrest.” But an old man dared the policemen issuing oral orders with the statement that he was bound for Budhsinghwala to participate in the K.C.F. chief’s bhog ceremony. The A.S.I. immediately made the old man leave the bus. The people of Baghapurana went on a strike for three days to mourn Bhai Budhsinghwala’s death. The township again observed a strike on the day of Bhai Budhsinghwala’s bhog ceremony. The strike was observed despite the fact that no organization had given a call for the action.
The Dalits of Budhsinghwala complained that the police had been posted in the village ever since Bhai Budhsinghwala’s death. The policemen snatched cots from the Dalits to force them to sleep on the ground.
Meanwhile, about 100 persons joined the last prayers. The policemen asked the preachers to wind up the function quickly.
Article extracted from this publication >> Aug 21, 1992
