General Labh Singh
General Labh Singh was a former Punjab Police officer who took command of Khalistan Commando Force from Manbir Singh Chaheru and became its Chief General/ Chief of Army staff. [1]. His original name was Sukhdev Singh alias Sukha Sipahi. He was considered to be an extremely intelligent person because he re-created Khalistan Commando Force with a fluid hierarchy, enabling it to accommodate any potential setbacks. He was the undisputed head of this force, until his death. He appointed half a dozen Lieutenant Generals, each independent of each other, with each of them having Area Commanders. As such, the death of a Lieutenant General for example would result in the promotion of an Area Commander. After his death this organisation was headed by Kanwarjit Singh Sultanwind. After Kanwarjit Singh Sultanwind's killing, Paramjeet Singh Panjwar became the General of his organisation, and he is so till date.
General Labh Singh was involved in several high profile battles with Indian Security forces including Operation Blue Star. He was involved in daring day-light attack on Director-General of the Punjab Police J.F. Ribeiro on October 3, 1986 inside the headquarters of Punjab Armed Police in city of Jalandhar, Punjab, India and he along with Harjinder Singh Jinda and Sukhdev Singh Sukha and other soldiers of Khalistan Commando Force took part in the daring daylight bank robbery of Punjab National Bank, Miller Gunj branch, Ludhiana in which more than Rs 5.70 crore were looted.
Indian Security forces claimed that he was killed in an exchange of fire with the police near Tanda, Hoshiarpur, Punjab, India. (Faultlines, May 1999, vol. 1.1, p. 29, New Delhi: Institute of Conflict Management.) [2]
He was born in 1952 at the house of Mr Puran Singh and Mrs Kulwant Kaur in the village of Panjwar, District Amritsar, Punjab, India. He married Bibi Davinder Kaur as per Sikh marriage ceremony, i.e. Anand Karaj in the year of 1980. He had two sons Rajashwar Singh and Pardeep Singh. He left Punjab Police in the year 1983 to join Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. During Operation Blue Star, he fought alongside other Sikh militants against Indian Army and was arrested afterwards. He was sent to Jodhpur Jail in state of Rajasthan where he spent two years without any trial. Finally, Sikh millitant leader Manbir Singh Chaheru got him released after attacking indian security forces in District courts, Jallandhar, Punjab, India. His entire family had to migrate to Canada after his killing. His father-in-law lived in his abandoned house after his death for a while. However, he committed suicide by jumping himself before a train after he was ‘mercilessly’ beaten up by the Punjab Police. [3] [4]
