Major General Shahbeg Singh

Major General Shahbeg Singh, often spelled Shabeg, was an Indian Army officer from Khiala village near Amritsar. He trained Bengali guerrillas in 1971, was dismissed from the Army in 1976, and was killed in June 1984 in Operation Blue Star, having helped plan the defence of the Sri Harmandir Sahib complex. SinghStation lists him among the 1984 Shaheeds and says he held the Param Vishisht Seva Medal and the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal.

Army career: SinghStation says he fought at Naushera in 1947, in the 1962 war with China and in 1965, when he commanded 3/11 Gorkha Rifles in the Haji Pir sector, and that he rose to Major General. Sources differ on his first regiment, so none is named here. In 1971 Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw selected him, then a brigadier, to head Delta Sector at Agartala and direct insurgency operations in East Pakistan with the Mukti Bahini (SinghStation). Lt Gen K.S. Brar, interviewed by ThePrint about Blue Star, said Shahbeg Singh had been his instructor at the academy and that the two linked up on the way into Dhaka in 1971.

Dismissal, in two accounts: On 30 April 1976, a day before his retirement on 1 May, he was dismissed without a court martial and lost part of his pension (SinghStation). Two cases followed, one over a vehicle bought in another person's name and one over a house the charge valued at Rs 9 lakh and he said had cost Rs 1.75 lakh. In May 1984 he told The Telegraph that he had won both cases in court, that he had been denied promotion because he was a Sikh after saying during the Emergency that nobody was indispensable, and that he blamed this for his fall. The Caravan describes him as cashiered on corruption charges who claimed he was discriminated against as a Sikh. Wikipedia, citing contemporary reports, dates his acquittal to 13 February 1984. The Army's own reasons are not set out in any source we opened.

At the Golden Temple: In May 1984 he told The Telegraph he had been living near the Golden Temple for about three weeks, for prayers and his wife's health, called Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale a man who "stands by the truth", and said "we don't believe in violence". Sources place his move into the complex between 1983 (Wikipedia) and March 1984, when SinghStation says Bhindranwale asked him to come to Amritsar. Shekhar Gupta wrote in 2012 that he now sat at Bhindranwale's feet in the Akal Takht, training his followers. SinghStation says he organised the complex's defences. The Caravan describes an outer ring of emplacements on high buildings and an inner ring along the parikrama, with wall loopholes turned into weapon pits. Brar told ThePrint that Shahbeg Singh made it almost impossible for the Army to enter the Akal Takht, and Gupta credits him with a masterful tactical job in creating a killing ground in front of it.

Key moments

• 1971: heads Delta Sector, working with the Mukti Bahini.
• 30 April 1976: dismissed from the Army.
• 13 February 1984: acquitted (Wikipedia).
• June 1984: killed in Operation Blue Star. His body and Bhindranwale's were recovered from the Akal Takht basement on the morning of 7 June (The Caravan).

Remembered for: In Panthic memory he is a Shaheed, a decorated soldier who gave his life defending the shrine. Gupta wrote that Bhindranwale used his case to argue that Sikhs went unrewarded, and that the wider charge of discrimination against Sikhs in the Army was later demolished by distinguished Sikh soldiers.