Manbir Singh Chaheru

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Manbir Singh Chaheru
1959 - December, 1987
Nickname	Manbir Singh
Place of birth	village Chaheru, Kapurthala, Panjab, India
Place of death	Punjab, India
Allegiance	Khalistan Commando Force
Years of service	1984 - 1986
Rank	Commander-in-Chief
Battles/wars	Khalistan movement (East Punjabi: ਖਾਲਿਸਤਾਨ, West Punjabi: تحریک خالستان). He was involved in day-light attacks on District Courts in Jalandhar, Punjab where six policemen were killed. He was able to free Labh Singh, Sawarnjit Singh and Gurinder Singh Bhola from police custody.

Manbir Singh Chaheru (or "General Manbir Singh Chaheru") (also known as Manvir Singh, Iqbal Singh, or Hari Singh) was the original founder and first Commander-in-Chief of Khalistan Commando Force

Manbir Singh was born in 1959 in the village of Chaheru, Kapurthala, Panjab. His father Sardar Mohinder Singh was a well-to-do farmer. Manbir Singh completed his primary education at his village school and passed his 10th grade at a school in the village of Kala Bakra (village of his maternal aunt, Niranjan Kaur). He later married Bibi Ranjit Kaur. He assisted his father in farming for six years after passing matriculation.

Giani Joginder Singh (retired army-officer and son-in-law of Niranjan Kaur) originally encouraged him to be baptised (a Sikh initiation ceremony). The clashes between Nirankaris and Sikhs in April 1978 affected Manbir Singh. In 1979 at the Sodal Gurdwara in Jalandhar, Manbir Singh along with his wife and his father's younger brother, Karnail Singh, took the baptism from Sant Nihal Singh Harian Wela Wale.

After baptism Manbir Singh started attending religious classes, that were provided by Damdami Taksal at the Gurdwara Gurdarshan Parkash, Mehta Chownk. It was here that he came in contact with Bhai Mohkam Singh, Bhai Gurbant Singh, Bhai Prem Singh and Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.

In 1981 he was arrested temporarily after heated arguments between him and the then SSP of Jalandhar, GurIqbal Singh Bhular, when the later questioned him about his actions. His uncle Karnail Singh has him released on bail with and gave his personal assurance that Manbir Singh would show up at the Police Station the next day. After this incident, Manbir Singh approached Bhindranwale and moved to the Golden Temple where he started serving free food in the Guru Ka Langar. He later became Bhindranwale’s personal bodyguard. Meanwhile, the Police arrested his uncle Karnail Singh for failing to bringing Manbir Singh to the police station as promised.

In the Golden Temple complex, Manbir Singh stayed in room number 53 of Guru Nanak Niwas along with Giani Joginder Singh, Bhai Sant Singh, Bhai Malagar Singh and Bhai Gurtej Singh. He also came in contact with Bhai Sukhdev Singh Sukha of village Fatu Dinga, Major Singh Nagoke (who later on became assassin of Deputy Inspector General, Mr. Atwal^{[citation needed]} and fought against Indian forces in Operation Blue Star), Balwinder Singh Khojkipur, Joginder Singh Rode, and Kabal Singh.

He survived Operation Bluestar in 1984, because he was not at Sri Harmandir Sahib at that time. He initially left for Pakistan but to take revenge of this attack and to achieve independence from India, he came back. He along with several other like minded youths, including Mr. Harjinder Singh Jinda, Mr. Sukhdev Singh Sukha, Mr. Gurdev Singh Debu, Mr. Mathra Singh and Mr. Tarsem Singh Kuhaar, established Khalistan Commando Force and Manbir Singh Chaheru was declared its very first Chief General/Commander-in-chief^[1]. He was involved in several encounters against Indian security forces afterwards^[2]

In 1986, Khalistan Commando Force members Ajitpal Singh, Balbir Singh Raipur, Rashpal Singh and Jarnail Singh under the direct command of Manbir Singh Chaheru attacked Indian Security Forces inside District courts, Jallandhar, Punjab, India and freed Sukhdev Singh aka Sukha Sipahi (who later became chief General of KCF with a changed name of General Labh Singh), Sawarnjit Singh and Gurinder Singh Bhola from police custody. Six policemen died during this battle^[3].

On August 8th 1986, Manbir Singh Chaheru got arrested along with Major Baldev Singh Ghuman, Charanjit Singh and two other Sikhs when About 200 paramilitary troops raided Major Baldev Singh’s farm on the outskirts of Jullundur, in Punjab state. As per Police, there were two dozen murder cases registered against him by that time.^[4]. He was captured on the basis of a secret information provided to Punjab Police by its informer named Sarabjit Singh Ropar.^{[citation needed]}

After Manbir Singh’s arrest, Sukhdev Singh aka Sukha Sipahi took over the command of Khalistan Commando Force.

Manbir Singh Chaheru was kept in various jails in Panjab and later moved to a jail in Bihar. In December of 1987 Police announced that Manbir Singh escaped from the Police custody while Police were transporting him back to Panjab from Bihar, but in fact the police had killed him and had disregarded his body into Beas River. In Chandigarh the Panjab Police Chief J.F. Rebiero told news reporters that they don't need to worry as Manbir Singh will not come back ^[5]. International Human Rights Organization has also concluded that Manbir Singh Chaheru was killed by police after taking him out judicial lock up^[6]