The British Columbia government has said in its letter that Jaswant Singh Khalra was an internationally respected human rights defender and it is a matter of pride for the people of British Columbia to keep his memory alive forever.
In memory of Sikh leader Jaswant Singh Khalra, the British Columbia government of Canada has officially declared September 6 as Jaswant Singh Khalra Day. This announcement was made on the 30th anniversary of his disappearance.
Recently, Central Unified in America had approved naming the new primary school after Punjab’s famous human rights activist Jaswant Khalra. In the meeting held at night, the board decided that the school located in Shields and Brawley will now be named Jaswant Singh Khalra Primary School.
The British Columbia government has said in its letter that Jaswant Singh Khalra was an internationally respected human rights defender and it is a matter of pride for the people of British Columbia to keep his memory alive forever. The Lieutenant Governor of the province, Wendy Kokia, signed this document and declared September 6 as Jaswant Singh Khalra Day.
Who was Jaswant Singh Khalra
The Khalistani movement started in 1973, but after the Indira Gandhi assassination in 1984, the Khalistan movement was getting people’s support in Punjab. The Punjab police started making arrests to crush it. Anyone who was suspected was arrested. In 1992, the police arrested a man named Pyara Singh, who worked as a director in the Central Cooperative Bank of Amritsar.
He had gone to Uttar Pradesh to visit one of his relatives. The police went to UP and arrested him. The family and people who knew him started looking for him. The police had no answer. Then his fellow employee and director in the bank, Jaswant Singh Khalra, came to know that Pyara had been killed in a police encounter. Not only this, his last rites were also performed at the Durgiana Mandir crematorium in Amritsar without informing anyone.
Jaswant’s initial investigation of the registers found that more than 300 unidentified bodies were cremated at the Durgiana Mandir crematorium in 1992. By the end of January, he had the records of three crematoriums. It was time to make them public.
Jaswant Singh Khalra was abducted on 6 September 1995 and taken to the Jhabal police station while he was washing his car in front of his house. He was not heard from thereafter. In 1996, the Central Bureau of Investigation found evidence that he was held at a police station in Tarn Taran. It recommended that nine Punjab police officers be charged with murder and kidnapping. The alleged killers were held without charge for eleven years, with Senior Superintendent of Police, Ajit Singh also among the suspects.
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