The Akal Fauj

An overview into the Akal Fauj, a private Sikh militia formed just before the Partition.

In February 1947, Sikh leaders began to discuss the creation of a private Sikh militia to prepare against Muslim League onslaught, as a reaction to previous massacres such as the Rape of Rawalpindi. As a result, Master Tara Singh stated his aim was:

To reorganise the Akal Fauj, the Sikh volunteer organisation whose process in the Punjab has not been forgotten

The Akali Dal underwent a fund-raising drive for purchasing arms and paying soldiers. To this end, Master Tara Singh used the newspaper Ajit for advertising and travelled from city to city. He collected 12,000 rupees from Lyallpur himself and 1.5 lakhs from Marwari businessmen living in Bengal. In May 1947, he reached the drive goal of 50 lakhs.

Uniform

Khushwant Singh in his novel Train to Pakistan describes a jatha uniform like so:

One of the group, who appeared to be the leader, motioned the others to sit down. Everyone sat down. The leader had an aggressive bossy manner. He was a boy in his teens with a little beard which was glued to his chin with brilliantine. He was small in size, slight of build and altogether somewhat effeminate; a glossy red ribbon showed under the acute angle of his bright blue turban. His khaki army shirt hung loosely from his round drooping shoulders. He wore a black leather Sam Browne: the strap across his narrow chest charged with bullets and the broad belt clamped about his still narrower waist. On one side it had a holster with the butt of a revolver protruding; on the other side there was a dagger. He looked as if his mother had dressed him up as an American cowboy.

The actual uniform of the Sikh jathas consisted of a dark blue pagg, a khaki shirt and Jodhpurs and a foot long kirpan. The elite soldiers amongst the jathas, those of the shahidi jathas and the SGPC Fauji Guard, were likely ex-army soldiers so would incorporate their trenchcoats and military shirts in their uniforms too.

Ishar Singh Majhail, shown in Sikh jatha uniform; comprised out of a dark blue turban, khaki Jodhpurs and a foot long kirpan.

Main leaders

Master Tara Singh served as the leader of the Akali Dal and would be a spokesman on behalf of the jathas. Alongside with Sardar Baldev Singh, he would be known as the Sikh representative for leadership, working ardently towards achieving an independent Sikh state.

Giani Kartar Singh would interview local jathedars from Majha, Malwa, Doaba, Gujranwala, Shahpur, Sialkot, Rawalpindi, Hissar and Gujrat and allocated the Akali Dal funds for purchasing arms and paying soldiers.

Udham Singh Nagoke, Ishar Singh Majhail and Sohan Singh Jalal Usman served as relief workers in Majha, alongside creating barricades and fortifying defences, to ensure safety for Sikhs in Majha.

Jathedar Mohan Singh Nagoke was the jathedar of Akal Takht from 1935 to 1948, who worked with Sikh elites for the rehabilitation of displaced refugees from Pakistan.

The main jatha leaders shown, from left to right: Udham Singh Nagoke, Ishar Singh Majhail, Master Tara Singh, Darshan Singh Pheruman and Jathedar Mohan Singh

Organisation

The organisation of the jathas consisted of many different groups including ex-INA armymen, Nihangs, SGPC workers and rural villagers but there were generally two militias: the Akal Sena and the Akal Fauj.

The Akal Sena was a volunteer organisation created by the Akalis in 1946, containing villagers, ex-officers and other local members. In comparison, the Akal Fauj was a militia that was created in March 1947 and contained salaried officers, with the main contingent making up seasoned army officers, Nihangs and even village pehalwans.

INA officers

Due to their excessive military training and frenzied mindsets, INA officers were heavily recruited into the jathas. With their failure in WW2, Sikh INA officers had lost their belief in Bose’s secular patriotism and as a result, readily agreed to join the Akal Fauj and the Akal Sena.

In late March, Sardar Sanmukh Singh enlisted 400 INA members in Amritsar to the Akal Sena. Majha, Malwa and Doaba were all hotbeds for the recruitment of INA officers along with Gujranwala and Lyallpur.

A Sikh jatha shown with a few ex-INA officers wearing their trademark trenchcoats.

Nihangs

In the months leading up to the Partition many Hindus and Sikhs would become Nihangs, since they had easier access to arms. In Gurdaspur, there were an estimated 600 Nihangs that were recently initiated; similar large-scale conversions took place in Kasur, Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Karnal, Ludhiana and other cities in Punjab.

According to a HQ Lahore Area letter:

The Punjab CID has reported that the number of NIHANG SIKHS has recently increased considerably. This is thought to be due to spurious conversions being carried out with the object to carry arms: as NIHANG SIKHS are allowed to carry the 'NISHAN SAHIB' (or spear) in areas which are not classified as 'dangerously disturbed' areas under the Punjab Public Safety Ordinance.

This Nihang population increase was being heavily influenced by dals and parcharaks. As shown by the image below, Baba Sohan Singh of Bidhi Chand Dal, Baba Daya Singh and Jathedar Tara Singh were all engaged in large-scale parchar across Punjab. In just 3 months, Baba Sohan Singh had officially initiated 3151 Hindus and Sikhs as Nihangs. In addition, the Budha Dal had initiated 700 people themselves. As an official yet conservative estimate, from the months of April to July, 14,000 people were initiated as Nihangs.

The first page of a record of Hindus and Sikhs that became Nihangs under the influence of Nihang dals in April 1947

Another thing to add is that the statement clearly shows that Nihangs were open to preaching to all castes with Rai and Lubana Sikhs making large proportions of initiated Nihangs.

One section of the Nihangs were the Durli jathas; these were formed by the Akali high command with the intention to commit robberies and felonies in rival villages. These were noted to be found in Moga and Gurdaspur and comprised of 100 members.