Avtar Singh Khanda
Avtar Singh Khanda, the UK-based chief of the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), passed away on Thursday of 15 June 2023 after battling blood cancer for 15 days while receiving treatment at Sandwell Hospital and West Birmingham Hospital. Shaheed Bhai Avtar Singh Khanda was the son of Sikh Militant leader Shaheed Bhai Kulwant Singh Khukhrana, one of the key figures associated with the Khalistan Liberation Force. Sikh Activist Bhai Avtar Singh Khanda, who was active in England for past several years, passed away. As per initial reports, Avtar Singh Khanda was hospitalized where it was diagnosed that his white blood cell count was very low.
As per Reports he died in the hospital. He was considered to be a close associate of Waris Punjab De president Amritpal Singh, who is detained in India under so-termed ‘National Secuity Act’(NSA).
“Keep the path forever in chardikala, we are not to waver in any way. People come and go, maharaj themselves will give support. Vahiguru Jee Ka Khalsa Vahiguru Jee Kee Fateh! Khalistan zindabad!” - Last message of Bhai Avtar Singh Khanda to the panth.
When Bhai Avtar Singh Khanda was taken suddenly ill on 11th June, no one thought he would be dead four days later. From the outset, Bhai Avtar Singh Khanda’s death was seen as suspicious. That suspicion rested on three main factors: the fact that he was in great health, the way he was being demonized by Indian media in the lead up to him being taken ill, and the timing of Indian social media activity overtly celebrating his death. The fact that the assassination of Bhai Hardeep Singh occurred 3 days after the death of Bhai Avtar Singh, was confirmation in the eyes of many Sikhs that the two deaths were linked. Beyond these two deaths, the Indian media drew direct comparisons to the assassinations of Bhai Parmjit Singh Panjwar a month prior, and Bhai Harmeet Singh PhD in Jan 2020; both killed whilst underground in Pakistan.
Bhai Avtar Singh Khanda’s death, or more accurately–killing, shocked the UK panthic sangat. Bhai Avtar Singh was a much loved figure in panthic circles and the wider Punjabi community. Since coming to the UK in 2010, Bhai Avtar Singh was politically active on matters relating to Khalistan, regularly speaking at shaheedi smagams, and hosting TV shows with KTV, NSYF, and 1984Tribute on sangarsh-related issues. This is one of the reasons his loss is being felt so heavily. He was very vocal and articulate, and when he spoke, he centred Sikh armed struggle and the politics and sacrifices of the martyrs of Khalistan.
Bhai Avtar Singh grew up in Punjab surrounded by figures of the armed struggle for Khalistan and himself was active in student organising. He left Punjab in 2010, following the wishes of his family. His father, Shaheed Bhai Kulwant Singh Khukrana, and his father’s older brother, Shaheed Bhai Balwant Singh Khukrana, both attained martyrdom as jujharoo (Sikh warriors) of the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF). Shaheed Bhai Kulwant Singh was involved in student organising. In 1980, he was elected the president of the student union in ITI Faridkot. That year, he also met Sant Jarnail Singh Ji who commended Bhai Kulwant Singh on stopping government collaborators from spreading state propaganda against the Sikh struggle. Sant Ji said to Bhai Kulwant Singh, “what you did at the youth festival of Faridkot was the work of a Singh. You should now become a real Singh”, after which Bhai Kulwant Singh and his elder brother took Amrit.
From that point, Bhai Kulwant Singh and Bhai Balwant Singh joined the Sikh movement, and started attending Sikh Students Federation meetings. Shaheed Bhai Amrik Singh appointed Shaheed Bhai Kulwant Singht the SSF president for the Faridkot area. Following the 1984 invasion of Sri Darbar Sahib, Bhai Kulwant Singh was arrested and spent 18 months in Ferozpur jail where he met Giani Ram Singh and Bhai Gurjant Singh Budhsinghwala. During this time, Bhai Kulwant Singh had many discussions about the nature of Sikh struggle.
Shortly following his release from prison, Bhai Kulwant Singh faced continued police harassment. He married Bibi Charanjit Kaur on 7th May 1986 and the police carried out a raid on their wedding itself. After three weeks of marriage, Bhai Kulwant Singh went underground. Bhai Avtar Singh’s grandfather, Sardar Pala Singh, was arrested to pressure Bhai Kulwant Singh and Bhai Balwant Singh into surrender. Sardar Pala Singh’s release was secured by the village panchayat and the family went into hiding, moving between different villages and safe houses.
Bhai Avtar Singh was born in May 1988 in Rode. Bhai Kulwant Singh came to Rode and spent two days with his son before returning underground. By this time, Bhai Kulwant Singh had joined KLF and carried out many actions targeting police informants, police officers who had sexually assaulted Sikh women, and members of the fascist RSS. Even whilst underground, Bhai Kulwant Singh would visit his family, attend Shaheedi programmes and give speeches in his role as president of the Sikh Students Federation Faridkot. Bhai Kulwant Singh’s daughter was born in February 1991, and on 31st March 1991 Bhai Kulwant Singh embraced martyrdom.
Bhai Avtar Singh saw his father a handful of times, and by the time he was aged 4 his father was a martyr. This of course had a profound impact on Bhai Avtar Singh. This is one of the rarities about him, and the gap he left–too few of us have any direct connection to the Khalistan struggle, and losing someone like Bhai Avtar Singh is like losing a piece of our history. The parallels between Bhai Avtar Singh’s life and that of his father are clear to see. Like his father, Bhai Avtar Singh was actively involved in the movement that surrounded him, participating in Sikh organising and facing displacement, government targeting and family harassment.
In today's environment, Indian media played an important role in targeting Bhai Avtar Singh. It’s clear from his targeted demonization that Bhai Avtar Singh was on the radar of Indian agencies for many years. In 2015, Indian media prominently reported that Bhai Avtar Singh had been named in a dossier that was handed over by Modi to the then UK prime minister, David Cameron. One such report from the Hindustan Times claimed that “Avtar Singh Khanda, vice-president youth wing of Shiromani Akali Dal” was “planning to hold theoretical radicalisation training classes” that included “ideological indoctrination” and “training to make improvised explosives devices using common chemicals by giving live demonstrations”. These live demonstrations were said to have been carried out in UK Gurdware. As a direct result of this targeting, Bhai Avtar Singh, under the guidance of his friends and family, applied for political asylum in the UK. After leaving home aged 22 in 2010, only Bhai Avtar Singh's ashes would return back to Punjab in 2023.
The targeting of 2015 was only a foreshadowing of what unfolded from March 19th 2023, up until his death. On March 19th, the Indian flag–hanging outside the Indian embassy in central London–was taken down during a Sikh protest. The Indian propaganda machine stepped into overdrive and set its sights on Bhai Avtar Singh holding him directly responsible. It's unclear why Indian state machinery held Bhai Avtar Singh responsible, it is likely because of his links to Bhai Amritpal Singh, Deep Sidhu, WPD, and his family’s history with the KLF. This is certainly the picture painted by Indian media in a flood of coverage spanning Hindi and English outlets. Multiple Indian media outlets reshaped the claims of 2015 and pronounced Bhai Avtar Singh as India’s “most wanted”. This intense media demonisation rested on a few key points: Bhai Avtar Singh was a supporter of Khalistan, he was linked to jujharoo jathebandiyan (Sikh insurgent formations) engaged in armed conflict with India, namely BKI and KLF, and that he was involved in mentoring Bhai Deep Sidhu and Bhai Amritpal Singh. The below excerpt from The Tribune captures the narrative:
“Khanda is on the list of “most- wanted” terrorists who have been allegedly giving training on explosives to Sikh youths in UK-based religious institutions. Earlier, he was an aide of Babbar Khalsa International leader Paramjit Singh Pamma. He allegedly introduced Amritpal to Pamma. The Anandpur Khalsa Force was formed by Amritpal with the help of Pamma under the guidance of Khanda, police officials claimed.”
This manufactured outrage culminated in a leading right-wing commentator and retired Indian army major, Gaurav Arya, issuing clear death threats to Bhai Avtar Singh. His mother, Bibi Charanjit Kaur and sister were arrested on 12th April and intimidated by Indian police, and the NIA was sent to the UK to ‘investigate’. The Indian police called Bhai Avtar Singh (which he recorded) and said to him “tell us where Amritpal Singh is. We have your family, and you know what we're capable of”. Bhai Avtar Singh’s family was released after 2 days of “questioning”. When he managed to get in touch with them, Bhai Avtar Singh reminded his sister that they’re children of a shaheed Singh and despite the conditions they faced, they must never waver.
As Bhai Avtar Singh fell ill, a flurry of activity suddenly exploded on twitter from Indian accounts saying he had been poisoned in the UK. On such account, ‘@PunFact’, tweeted at 3:27pm on 14th June 2023 and said: “as per media reports, Avtar Singh Khanda (A Top Khalistani terrorist, head of KLF, expert in bomb making) suspectedly poisoned in UK; On life support.” At this point there had been no such media coverage in public. Outside immediate friends and family, no one knew he was even in hospital, yet accounts of known anti-Sikh elements with links to Indian agencies were rife with the same message.
Following Bhai Avtar Singh’s death, detailed information was handed to the West Midlands police and the coroner so that they could carry out an investigation. The coroner refused to carry out a postmortem or advanced toxicology, and nothing was done by the police, despite their public claims. Bhai Avtar Singh’s death will always be suspicious, and these suspicions are valid in a climate of genocide as counter insurgency, impunity, collusion, repression, demonisation, criminalisation and assassination. The chardikala of the panth is something that can never be destroyed, and on 12th August, at his funeral programme, Bhai Avtar Singh was declared a Shaheed of Khalistan.
