Bathinda, Punjab (August 25, 2013): It is learnt that Bhai Gurbax Singh Hijacker passed away at Adesh Hospital near Bathinda, Punjab. He was a resident of Village Pakka Kalan and had hijacked an Air India flight going to Amritsar from New Delhi in 1982. He had Hijacked the plane without any arms/ammunition or explosives.
He was 78 years. A resident of village Pakka Kalan, Gurbax Singh used to look after Gurdwaras in Bangladesh during 1980s, when he came to know that the Indian government was taking a plea for not allowing Kipans in planes that Kirpans may be used to hijack the planes.
As per a news reported by Punjab News Line (PNL): “[t]he then SGPC president Gurcharan Singh Tohra while condemning the government’s move had stated that a plane could be hijacked even using a ‘toy’”.
“To prove his point, Gurbaksh Singh boarded a Delhi-Srinagar flight in Amritsar on August 4, 1982 and hijacked the plane saying he had a bomb which was in fact a ball made out of cloth pieces”, PNL news reads further.
The day coincided with a first day of Dharma Yudh Morcha.
Bhai Gurbax Singh took the flight to Lahore which had 70 but then brought it back to Amritsar.
The authorities had then asked him to list his demands.
He said he hijacked the plane to highlight excesses suffered by Sikhs at the hands of government.
Gurbaksh Singh maintained that he would talk only in presence of representatives of the then Akali president Sant Harchand Singh Longowal and Sant Jarnail Singh Khalsa Bhindranwale.
He later, surrendered in the presence of the then Shiroamni Akali Dal general secretary Parkash Singh Majithia.
Gurbaksh Singh remained in jail for about two and a half years during which he alleged to the media-persons in 2005 that he was tortured.
Bhai Gurbax Singh conduced a long signature campaign for the release of Sikh political prisoner Professor Devender Pal Singh Bhullar, who is facing death sentence in India.