For­mer Akal Takht Jathedar, Gi­ani Jogin­der Singh Vedanti, nar­rated his per­sonal ex­pe­ri­ence and an eye wit­ness ac­count of the das­tardly at­tack on the Akal Takht, Dar­bar Sahib and Sikh her­itage by the In­dian Army in June 1984. Years ago, this ac­count was writ­ten and pub­lished in Pun­jabi and has been trans­lated into Eng­lish by World Sikh News. 

ON June 4, 1984, I got up at 3 a.m. Ex­actly at 4 a.m., I along with my wife Harb­ha­jan Kaur reached Sri Har­mandir Sahib for my duty as Ar­da­sia Singh. Dr Am­rik Singh Huzuri Rag­i’s jatha was per­form­ing kir­tan of Sri Asa Ji Di Var. At 4:30 when the Palki Sahib ar­rived from Sri Akal Takht Sahib (Kotha Sahib), the hukum­nama was taken.

Around 4:45 a.m., when Kir­tan of Sri Asa Ji Di Var was on, a can­non­ball struck into the Sindhi Dharamshala. This Dharamshala was to­wards the north of Sri Akal Takht Sahib and was be­tween the Takht Sahib and the Tharra Sahib. (This dharamshala was later on de­mol­ished.) The can­non­ball seemed to have come from the Jal­lian­wala Bagh side. Three or four min­utes af­ter that, mas­sive in­dis­crim­i­nate fir­ing started which went on till 8:30 p.m.

Off and on, the can­non­balls kept falling at var­i­ous places, but till this day, no bul­let struck in­side Sri Har­mandir Sahib. As a mat­ter of pre­cau­tion, we had shut the doors and win­dows of Sri Har­mandir Sahib. I and Singh Sahib Gi­ani So­han Singh Ji came out of Sri Har­mandir Sahib at 9:30 in the morn­ing af­ter our duty and reached our re­spec­tive res­i­dences in­side the com­plex.

On the evening of June 4, the Nit­nem was con­cluded at 8 p.m. That day the holy Sa­roop of Sri Guru Granth Sahibji was not taken to Kotha Sahib. Rather the Sukh Asan was per­formed at Har Ki Pauri it­self. At around 10 p.m., power sup­ply to Sri Dar­bar Sahib and build­ings around was cut off and the army had or­ga­nized po­si­tions on the tall build­ings around Dar­bar Sahib.

From 10 p.m. till 5 a.m. on June 5, the fir­ing was very sub­dued. When I reached Sri Har­mandir Sahib at 4 a.m. on June 5 for my duty, Bhai Am­rik Singh was per­form­ing kir­tan of Asa Di Var and Gi­ani So­han Singh with the help of some se­vadars was bring­ing down the Sa­roop of Sri Guru Granth Sahib from Har Ki Pauri. Hukum­nama was taken af­ter prakash.

At 4:55, there was a hail of can­non balls, and eight of them con­tin­u­ously struck the Sindhi Dharamshala since they were try­ing to tar­get Sri Akal Takht Sahib. Fir­ing struck all around the Parikarma and in­side Sri Har­mandir Sahib. The doors of Sri Har­mandir Sahib were shut. Some 4-5 Ak­hand Pathi Singhs, 15-20 se­vadars and a few devo­tees were pre­sent in­side Sri Har­mandir Sahib. Among them was Har­cha­ran Singh Hudi­yara, Shahid Bhai Fauja Singh’s wife Bibi Amar­jit Kaur and sis­ter Bibi Paramjit Kaur.

This Bibi Paramjit Kaur was mar­tyred near Baba Sawiya Singh’s chabeel. Around 11:30, five of us, in­clud­ing my­self, Singh Sahib Gi­ani So­han Singh ji and three se­vadars reached our quar­ters ne­go­ti­at­ing our way through the fir­ing.

Near Baba Sawaye Singh’s chabeel from where steps led to my res­i­dence, many corpses of the mar­tyred Singhs were ly­ing. My res­i­dence was also not safe be­cause some Singhs had al­ready or­ga­nized po­si­tions there. Among them were a few Singhs who had come from Nanded. We saw that these Singhs were bravely coun­ter­ing the fir­ing by tanks, which was com­ing from Sha­heed Baba Deep Singh Bunga side.

These Singhs blew up an ar­tillery group along with the sol­diers who were try­ing to en­ter from the rear Pa­pran Bazaar side. Around 12:30 p.m. of June 5, I came along with my fam­ily to the store where wet gar­ments are stored. There was al­ready a big crowd of Singhs in this store. We thought it bet­ter to go back to our res­i­dence af­ter more than an hour spent in the store.

Around 1:30 that day, the wa­ter tank op­po­site Guru Ram Das serai was blown up. Some 200 shots were fired at the wa­ter tank. Around 8 p.m., the army tried to sur­round Sri Akal Takht Sahib by try­ing to en­ter from the Pa­pran Bazaar side.

The Singhs from our side threw some­thing on those sol­diers and we heard loud cries of “Mar diya, Mar diya.” Per­haps all the sol­diers down be­low were killed. Then the army men brought a heavy gun mounted on a jeep. But the Singhs did not al­low this jeep to move much. These Singhs ex­hib­ited ex­em­plary brav­ery un­til the very end. Around 9:45 in the night, a small tank en­tered the parikarma. A can­non ball fired by this tank struck our cor­ner room. One of the Singhs who was left down­stairs by his as­so­ci­ates was in­jured in this room.

Near the De­odhi to­wards the south, they tied my hands be­hind my back us­ing the small das­tar tied on my head. At this time, my wife Harb­ha­jan Kaur, mother-in-law Pri­tam Kaur, sis­ter-in-law Kash­mir Kaur and nephew Sukhwinder Singh were with me. When we were ar­rested, we saw a nearly 20-day old child also ly­ing dead near the chabeel. All around the parikarma and the rooms, there were many chil­dren and el­derly devo­tees who had been mar­tyred.

Around mid­night, the army was able to take con­trol of this side. Be­fore that, around 10:30 in the night, a few tanks had en­tered the parikarma from the Lan­gar hall side. Next day, one tank passed by the chabeel at Baba Deep Singh ji and then the Sha­heed Bunga spot. These tanks then fired poi­son gas balls at Sri Akal Takht Sahib. This gas af­fected even our side. These tanks kept the fir­ing on all through the night. The bul­lets kept com­ing in­side our house.

Around 8:45 on the morn­ing of June 6 took place the mas­sive bat­tle in front of Sri Akal Takht Sahib. The army had taken con­trol on all sides ex­cept Sri Akal Takht Sahib and the cor­ner on our side where the Bun­gas were lo­cated.

On June 6, at 4:05 p.m., the army made an an­nounce­ment us­ing mega phones ask­ing every­one in the com­plex to come out within 30 min­utes. Ini­tially, we were in a dilemma, but when we saw Bhai Gur­dip Singh Ar­dasiya and other se­vadars com­ing out of Sri Har­mandir Sahib, we also came down from our quar­ters. We had only locked the outer gate and had merely bolted the rooms. A bit of cash, a cou­ple of watches and some other costly stuff that we had put in a bag, was im­me­di­ately snatched away by the army men.

Near the De­odhi to­wards the south, they tied my hands be­hind my back us­ing the small das­tar tied on my head. At this time, my wife Harb­ha­jan Kaur, mother-in-law Pri­tam Kaur, sis­ter-in-law Kash­mir Kaur and nephew Sukhwinder Singh were with me. When we were ar­rested, we saw a nearly 20-day old child also ly­ing dead near the chabeel. All around the parikarma and the rooms, there were many chil­dren and el­derly devo­tees who had been mar­tyred.

The ar­rested men and women were di­vided into groups of 40 and were handed over to dif­fer­ent units of the army. Mem­bers of my fam­ily and I were in the same group. At this time, Akal Takht Sahib and Darshini De­odhi were both on fire. The 40 of us ar­rested were brought out along­side the Dukh Bhan­jani Beri and then out of the Clock Tower de­odhi and made to sit on the de­bris of the build­ing that had gath­ered af­ter so much fir­ing.

Women and chil­dren were then sep­a­rated from the men.

Stuck in the heavy fir­ing ever since the ma­jor bat­tle of the morn­ing of June 6, Huzuri Ragi Bhai Am­rik Singh and Bhai Bal­want Singh, both blind, along­side Bhai Av­tar Singh and Bhai Gur­cha­ran Singh were killed near the Laachi Beri by the sol­diers. The ish­nang­hars (bathing places) both for males and fe­males were full of corpses. The army men to whom our cus­tody was given were ei­ther Madraasi or Bi­hari. If any­one asked for wa­ter or wanted to go to the uri­nals, he would im­me­di­ately be kicked or beaten with ri­fle butts.

Around 7 in the morn­ing of June 7, some army men stand­ing nearby were send­ing mes­sages on the wire­less that Sant Bhin­dran­wala has been killed and “we are fully in con­trol of the Golden Tem­ple.”

We were brought here around 4:30 in the evening. Around 7 p.m., a few com­man­dos came with a bunch of pho­tographs and scanned our faces to see if any matched with the mugs they had. The one ques­tion we were be­ing asked through­out was — “Where has Bhin­der gone?”

Till 10 p.m., we were off an on kicked and beaten with ri­fle butts. When the chil­dren and the el­derly started cry­ing badly be­cause of thirst, the sol­diers gave us each a glass of wa­ter. As our hands were tied be­hind our backs, the sol­diers put the glasses to our lips. That’s how we had wa­ter.

Later, four young men from our group were pulled out and they were beaten very badly. In the evening when we were brought there, there were four corpses in front of the Pun­jab and Sind Bank. But by the time it was morn­ing, these had be­come 13 corpses. Whoso­ever they wanted to kill, they would first call him out and take him out­side.

Till mid­night, we kept sit­ting there, heads down and our hands tied be­hind our backs. Af­ter mid­night, we were or­dered to lie down. But with our hands tied it was not pos­si­ble to lie down prop­erly and we lay side­ways, be­tween life and death.

Around 7 in the morn­ing of June 7, some army men stand­ing nearby were send­ing mes­sages on the wire­less that Sant Bhin­dran­wala has been killed and “we are fully in con­trol of the Golden Tem­ple.”

Around 8 a.m., cars of se­nior army of­fi­cers started ar­riv­ing. Three army trucks rolled in full of am­mu­ni­tion, in­clud­ing ri­fles, swords and even spears. All these weapons were taken to Akal Takht Sahib. These were the weapons that were later shown to the peo­ple dur­ing var­i­ous photo-ops.

Corpses of two se­nior army of­fi­cers who were shot dead by the fight­ing Sikhs in­side the Golden Tem­ple com­plex were brought out cov­ered in white sheets. Then a corpse was brought out which was said to be that of Sant Jar­nail Singh Bhin­dran­wala. This was cov­ered with a yel­low cloth and was placed on a slab of ice in the De­odhi of the Clock Tower side.

The in­for­ma­tion of­fi­cer of the Golden Tem­ple, Narinder­jit Singh Nanda, was also with us. He was tor­tured very badly dur­ing the night. Now the army men took Narinder­jit Singh Nanda and Bhai Har­cha­ran Singh Huzuri Ragi to iden­tify Sant Jar­nail Singh’s body. When they came back, I asked Bhai Har­cha­ran Singh Ragi if it was in­deed the body of the Sant. He said that the face was be­yond iden­ti­fi­ca­tion. A bul­let had gone through the neck and a sure iden­ti­fi­ca­tion was not pos­si­ble but it did seem that of Sant Bhin­dran­wale.

Be­tween 8 and 9 a.m. of June 7, some army men dragged the wife of Ragi Bhai Ja­gir Singh, brother of the well known late Ragi Bhai Gopal Singh, from their res­i­dence to­wards the Clock Tower. She was cry­ing very loudly and kept on shout­ing that these army men pulled out her hus­band from the room and have shot him dead. Then she fell un­con­scious and was taken to the hos­pi­tal where she could not sur­vive the shock and died.

Sim­i­larly, a large num­ber of se­vadars at Sri Dar­bar Sahib along with their fam­i­lies were shot at point blank range by the army men.

Around noon of June 7, our hands were un­tied so that we can have food. It is nec­es­sary to tell here where the food came from. This food was pre­pared and dis­trib­uted by a group of shop­keep­ers who were cel­e­brat­ing the army at­tack on Golden Tem­ple and were openly happy at the killing of the Sant. The tea, cha­p­atis, puris, cur­ries and lentils were in good sup­ply. We were sent this same food. You can well imag­ine how we par­took of this food.

Af­ter we had eaten, our hands were tied again. Around 3 p.m., we were asked to board the army trucks. It was dif­fi­cult to climb in be­cause of our tied hands but the sol­diers would badly beat up any­one who slack­ened his pace.

Sar­dar Singh, the se­vadar of Baba Sham Singh dera who used to bring a degh every day dur­ing the chowki at dawn, found it dif­fi­cult to climb into the trucks and was beaten so badly that he died by the time he reached the camp jail set up in­side a school. Sim­i­larly, the se­vadar of Gathhri Ghar (where be­long­ings of devo­tees are de­posited for safe cus­tody), Bhai Kikar Singh alias Kul­want Singh, whose legs were de­formed also could not sur­vive the tor­ture from the army men and died on June 9 in­side the army camp.

Some 50 of us were locked in a sin­gle small room on the first floor of the school. Peo­ple were cry­ing be­cause of thirst and hunger. Women and chil­dren were taken away. There was a sin­gle tap in­side a bath­room from where all of us used to drink wa­ter and take bath. Only stale cha­p­atis were given to us twice a day.

Af­ter in­ten­sive in­ter­ro­ga­tion and in­ves­ti­ga­tion, I, along­side 83 other em­ploy­ees of the SGPC was re­leased on June 17, but other mem­bers of my fam­ily and other vis­i­tors to the Dar­bar Sahib were not re­leased and were rather sent to jail. On June 28, I was able to get bail for them.

Every per­son was sep­a­rately in­ter­ro­gated and we were re­peat­edly pho­tographed.

Af­ter in­ten­sive in­ter­ro­ga­tion and in­ves­ti­ga­tion, I, along­side 83 other em­ploy­ees of the SGPC was re­leased on June 17, but other mem­bers of my fam­ily and other vis­i­tors to the Dar­bar Sahib were not re­leased and were rather sent to jail. On June 28, I was able to get bail for them.

Af­ter be­ing re­leased on June 17, on June 18 I went straight to the Sikh Ref­er­ence li­brary, to which I was closely as­so­ci­ated as a re­searcher. I found the holy hand­writ­ten Sa­roops of Guru Granth Sahib and many an­cient man­u­scripts, his­tor­i­cal doc­u­ments, etc miss­ing.

Till date, the gov­ern­ment of the coun­try says that all of this was lost in a fire at the li­brary but the truth is that all this stuff was taken away by the army be­cause at that time there was no sign of a fire.

I was per­haps not so sad­dened by all that my fam­ily and I went through than by the re­al­iza­tion that the his­tor­i­cal her­itage of the Sikh quom has been lost.

I went to my res­i­dence where the lock was bro­ken and the army men had taken away every sin­gle thing in­clud­ing uten­sils and clothes. Sit­ting in front of the Clock Tower, we had given up all hope for life but I am eter­nally grate­ful to the Akal Pu­rakh who gave me the op­por­tu­nity to con­tinue an as­so­ci­a­tion with Sadh San­gat for some more time.