BATHINDA, PUNJAB (KP) – Bhai Gurbaksh Singh, the unarmed Sikh activist who single-handedly commandeered an Air India jetliner in the early 1980’s to protest Indian's mis-treatment of Sikhs, passed away in his sleep after a brief illness.
The octogenarian Gurbaksh Singh, who was a resident of village Pakka Kalan, had commandeered an Indian Airlines Boeing 737 carrying 135 people on August 4th, 1982 during the launch of the Akali dharma yudh morcha - an agitation by the Sikh community for greater autonomy and freedom within India.
The commandeered plane upon circling the Pakistan-Indian border landed safely at Amritsar Airport, and all passengers and crew members were released unharmed. Bhai Gurbaksh Singh, who at that time was in his early fifties, was arrested and subsequently imprisoned for his actions.
Family members and relatives of Gurbaksh Singh were routinely harassed by the authorities, several of his nephews who were picked up by the Police never returned home and are feared to have been eliminated like thousands of other Sikh youths during the 1980's and 1990's.
Bhai Gurbaksh Singh, after his release, also served in the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee until the late 1990’s and also as a Granthi at a Gurdwara Sahib in the Bathinda district.
Khalsa Aid, an international humanitarian aid organization, had taken responsibility for providing financial assistance for the Sikh stalwart’s health care while he was admitted at a local hospital in Bathinda.
