1987 Fatehabad bus massacre

1987 Fatehabad bus killings
1987 Fatehabad bus killings
Part of Insurgency in Punjab
Location	Near Fatehabad, Punjab, India
Date	7 July 1987 (IST)
Target	Hindus
Deaths	34
Injured	18
Perpetrators	Khalistani militants
Motive	Retaliation for killing of Sikhs during the anti-insurgency operations, Persecution of Hindus

Last updated November 02, 2024

On 7 July 1987, Khalistani militants killed 34 Hindus on two buses near Fatehabad in the Hisar district (now part of Fatehabad district) of Haryana, India.^[1]^[2] The same attackers may have been involved in the Lalru bus massacre a day earlier.^[2]^[3]

The first bus

On the evening of 7 July 1987, the attackers drove a jeep hired from Hanumangarh in the neighbouring state of Rajasthan. They were seen trailing the Firozpur-Delhi bus sometime before 7:10 pm, when it resumed its journey after boarding passengers at Sirsa. Two of the attackers boarded the bus as passengers. Around 12 km before Fatehabad, the jeep overtook the bus and blocked its way. Three men from the jeep, armed with guns, entered the bus, and their two accomplices also pulled out their weapons. The five men hijacked the bus, and killed the driver Jagdish. Ram Phal, the bus conductor, escaped through the window.^[2]

The hijackers started driving the bus slowly towards Fatehabad, and told the passengers to hand over their cash and valuables. Around 2 km later, they stopped the bus near Dariyapur (or Daryapur) village, where they opened fire at the passengers, and left the scene.^[2] 30 people were killed in the attack.^[1] Some of the passengers survived by hiding under the dead and the dying. 19-year old Jale Singh, one of the passengers, drove the bus to Fatehabad based on his tractor-driving experience.^[2]

The second bus

After leaving the first bus, the attackers stopped an Ambassador car, shot the driver dead, and drove the car towards Fatehabad. Around 1 km later, they stopped another Haryana Roadways bus going to Sirsa. This time, they did not board the overcrowded bus, and fired at the passengers from outside, possibly because they were in a hurry to leave. The shooting left four people dead.^[2] Apart from the 34 dead, 18 people from the two buses were injured in the attack.^[1]

The attackers then hijacked a truck, and drove to the Punjab border via Fatehabad and Ratia. The truck was found at the Marianwala village near Batala; its various parts including the engine and the tires, were missing.^[2]

Possible connection to the Lalru killings

The Fatehabad killings took place a day after the 1987 Lalru bus massacre in the neighbouring Punjab.^[2]^[1] Like in the Lalru killings, the attackers were five men in their early-to-mid 20s, and most of them were clean-shaven. In both incidents, the attackers used another vehicle to block and stop the bus: this tactic had not been used in the earlier similar killings in the Punjab-Haryana area. In both cases, the killers looted the passengers, and escaped in a truck. According to the police, in both the incidents, the attackers used Chinese automatic rifles. Despite these similarities, both Haryana and Punjab Police played down the possibility of the same gang being behind both the attacks. According to journalists Tavleen Singh and Sreekant Khandekar, the police did this because they did not want to admit their incompetence.^[2]

Reactions

Subsequently, there were reports of attacks on Sikh-owned shops in Haryana, and of 12 buses being vandalized. Protest strikes affected Chandigarh, Shimla, and many other towns in Punjab, Haryana, and the neighbouring Himachal Pradesh.^[1]

President of India Zail Singh, a Sikh, condemened the killings as "inhuman and ghastly". Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi described the incident as "inhuman butchery" and declared that it would strengthen the government's resolve to fight the extremists.^[1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale</span> Figure in the Sikh Khalistan movement (1947–1984)

Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was an Indian militant. He was the leading figure of the Khalistan movement, although he did not personally advocate for a separate Sikh nation.

Babbar Khalsa also known as Babbar Khalsa International, is a Sikh militant organisation that aims to create an independent nation-state of Khalistan in the Punjab region of South Asia. It has used armed attacks, assassinations and bombings in aid of that goal, and is deemed to be a terrorist entity by various governments. Besides India, it operates in North America and Europe, including Scandinavia.

Terrorism in India, according to the Home Ministry, poses a significant threat to the people of India. Compared to other countries, India faces a wide range of terror groups. Terrorism found in India includes Islamist terrorism, ultranationalist terrorism, and left-wing terrorism. India is one of the countries most impacted by terrorism.

The Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) is a Sikh Khalistani militant organisation operating in the state of Punjab, India with prominent members based in Canada, United Kingdom and Pakistan. Its objective is the creation of a Sikh independent state of Khalistan through armed struggle. KCF is also responsible for many assassinations in India, including the 1995 assassination of Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh. It is designated as a Terrorist Organisation by the Government of India.

Fatehabad district is one of the twenty two districts of the state of Haryana, India. Fatehabad was founded by Firuz Shah Tughlaq. Fatehabad district was carved out of Hisar district on 15 July 1997.

Bazigar, or Goaars, are an ethnic group of north-western India. They are primarily found in Punjab and in Pakistan's Punjab, but there are also communities in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Rajasthan. They were previously nomadic with their main occupation the performance of acrobatics and other forms of entertainment, but they are now settled and engaged mainly in agricultural and similar forms of labour.

The Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) is a Khalistani militant organisation operating in the Punjab with prominent members based in Canada, United Kingdom and Pakistan. Its objective is the creation of a sovereign Sikh nation‐state of Khalistan through armed struggle. It is responsible for numerous assassinations, abductions, and military engagements with the Indian Armed Forces during the Insurgency in Punjab. The KLF is also listed as a designated terrorist group by India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sukhdev Singh Babbar</span> Founding leader of Babbar Khalsa

Jathedar Sukhdev Singh Babbar was a was an Indian militant, Sikh separatist, and co-leader of Babbar Khalsa (BK), a Sikh militant organisation involved in the pursuit of creating a Sikh nation named as "Khalistan" and generally believed responsible for the 1985 bombing of Air India Flight 182, although Sukhdev was never named as being involved. BK was founded by Talwinder Singh Parmar, himself, and Amarjit Kaur. He commanded BK continuously for 14 years until he was killed in 1992. He was a member of the AKJ.

Rania is a town and a municipal committee in Sirsa district located on the upper bank of Ghaggar River in the Indian state of Haryana. Rania Town is a grain market in Sirsa district. Nearby cities to Rania includes Sirsa and Ellenabad. It shares its RTO office with Ellenabad which is also has its headquarters in Ellenabad. Earlier it was a part of Ellenabad subdivision but later carved out separately as a subdivision in Sirsa district of Haryana. It is at a distance of 22 km each from Sirsa and Ellenabad in opposite direction on Haryana State Highway 32A i.e. Bhambhoor-Jiwan Nagar Road which connects to Haryana State Highway 32 in Jiwan Nagar on one end and Haryana State Highway 23 in Bhambhoor on the other end.

Sukhdev Singh Dhillon, also known as General Labh Singh and Sukha Sipahi was an Indian militant, police officer, and Sikh separatist who took command of the Khalistan Commando Force after its first leader, Manbir Singh Chaheru, was arrested in 1986.

Lalru is a town and a Municipal Council In Mohali District about 30 km from Chandigarh, the capital of both Haryana and Punjab, on the Chandigarh-Ambala National Highway, NH 22. Lalru is having one of the toll tax barriers on this Chandigarh - Delhi National Highway. It is part of Greater Mohali and Chandigarh Capital Region (CCR) or Chandigarh Metropolitan Region (CMR), Which is an area, which includes the union territory city of Chandigarh, and its neighboring cities of Mohali, Zirakpur, New Chandigarh, and Panchkula. Chandigarh Administration, Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) and Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) are different authorities responsible for the development of this region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gurjant Singh Budhsinghwala</span> Sikh militant from India (1966–1992)

Bhai Gurjant Singh Budhsinghwala was a Sikh separatist and the third Jathedar of the Khalistan Liberation Force. Budhsinghwala's organization, KLF, was one of the most active and main Sikh separatist groups during the insurgency in Punjab, India. Budhsinghwala had KLF join the Sohan Singh Panthic Committee and partnered with Khalistan Commando Force (Panjwar), Babbar Khalsa, Bhindranwale Tiger Force (Sangha), and Sikh Student Federation (Bittu) in militant actions.

On 27 July 2015, three gunmen dressed in army uniforms opened fire on a bus and then attacked the Dina Nagar police station in Gurdaspur district of Punjab, India. The attack resulted in the death of three civilians and four policemen, including a superintendent of police; fifteen others were injured. In addition, five bombs were found planted on the Amritsar–Pathankot line on a rail-bridge near Parmanand railway station, five kilometers from the site of the attack. All three attackers were killed in the operation, which lasted almost 12 hours.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2017 Northern India riots</span> Riots in north india

On 25 August 2017, widespread rioting in northern India broke out after Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the religious leader of Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS), was convicted of rape. The riots began in Panchkula and later spread to other parts of the northern Indian states of Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and the capital, New Delhi. At least 41 people were killed, the majority of them in Panchkula, where 32 people were allegedly killed by police gunfire. More than 300 others were injured.

1986 Hoshiarpur Bus Massacre was a massacre of 24 Hindu bus-passengers by Khalistani militants. The bus massacre was the worst terrorist incident in Punjab of the year 1986. It occurred on Sunday, 30 November 1986, near Khuda located in the Hoshiarpur district in the northern state of Punjab, India close to the Indo-Pak border.

The 1983 Dhilwan Bus massacre was a massacre of 6 Hindus by Sikh extremists amidst the Insurgency in Punjab. It occurred on 5 October 1983, when a bus going from Dhilwan in Kapurthala district to Jalandhar was attacked by Sikh militants in which six Hindu passengers were shot dead in Dhilwan in the northern state of Punjab, India.

The 1987 Lalru bus massacre was a massacre of 38 Hindu bus passengers on 6 July 1987, by the Khalistan Commando Force militants near Lalru town in Punjab, India.

The following timeline documents the insurgency in Punjab, India:

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 Dilip Ganguly (7 July 1987). "Sikhs Kill 34 Hindus on Two Buses, Bringing Two-Day Toll To 72". AP. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Tavleen Singh; Sreekant Khandekar (31 July 1987). "Terrorists kill bus passengers in Punjab and Haryana mercilessly". India Today. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
↑ Hazarika, Sanjoy (8 July 1987). "34 Hindus Killed in New Bus Raids; Sikhs Suspected". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 November 2023.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[AP-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 Dilip Ganguly (7 July 1987). "Sikhs Kill 34 Hindus on Two Buses, Bringing Two-Day Toll To 72". AP. Retrieved 17 January 2023.

[IT_1987-2] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Tavleen Singh; Sreekant Khandekar (31 July 1987). "Terrorists kill bus passengers in Punjab and Haryana mercilessly". India Today. Retrieved 23 November 2023.

[3] Hazarika, Sanjoy (8 July 1987). "34 Hindus Killed in New Bus Raids; Sikhs Suspected". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 November 2023.

[1]

[2]

[3]