Khiala village

Khiala Kalan, once called Khiala Nand Singhwala, is a village in Ajnala tehsil of Amritsar district. The 2011 census counted 4,128 people in 751 households (census2011.co.in). It is the home village of Major General Shahbeg Singh, also spelled Shabeg. Wikipedia says he was born there on 1 May 1924 into a Bhangu Jat Sikh family, and in a May 1984 interview with The Telegraph he spoke of "a village known as Khayala, where I was born".

His family. A biography by Dr G. S. Grewal on shaheed-khalsa.com says he was the eldest son of Sardar Bhagwan Singh and Pritam Kaur and that the village was earlier known as Khiala Nand Singhwala. SinghStation says the family held over 100 acres and his father was the village lambardar. Both say the family traced its descent to Bhai Mehtab Singh (SinghStation adds Bhangu), who with Bhai Sukha Singh killed Massa Ranghar on 11 August 1740, according to the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism. Wikipedia repeats the descent but marks it "citation needed", so it stands as a family tradition rather than a documented lineage.

Key moments

• 1 May 1924: Shahbeg Singh is born at Khiala (Wikipedia).
• He is sent to Khalsa College, Amritsar, and then to Government College, Lahore (shaheed-khalsa.com).
• 30 April 1976: he is dismissed from the Army. The biography says that when he was out of jail he spent most of his time at Khiala, where his mother lived and where his wife also came to stay.
• June 1984: he is killed in Operation Blue Star at the Akal Takht. The Caravan says his body and Bhindranwale's were recovered from the basement on the morning of 7 June.

What it means today. Khiala is known in the Panth as the village of the General who planned the defence of the Darbar Sahib complex. The sources opened do not mention a memorial there.