Shabeg Singh - Indian Army

Indian Army

In 1940, an officers selection team visiting Lahore colleges were looking for fresh recruits to the Indian Army officers cadre. Out of a large number of students, who applied, Shabeg Singh was the only one to be selected from Government College. After training in the officer training school, he was commissioned in the 2nd Punjab Regiment as a Second Lieutenant. Within a few days the Regiment moved to Burma and joined the war against the Japanese, which was then in progress. In 1944 when the war ended, he was in Malaya with his unit. After partition, when reorganization of the regiments took place, he joined the Parachute brigade as a Paratrooper. He was posted in the 1st para battalion in which he remained till 1959.

In 1952, Shabeg Singh's younger brothers Sardar Shamsher Singh, Sardar Jaswant Singh along with their brother-in-law shifted to Haldwani in the Terrai area of Uttar Pradesh after having bought farmlands there.

General Shabeg had a flair for history, and he loved reading about military generals and campaigns. Besides English and Hindi, he could speak fluent Punjabi, Persian, Urdu, and Gorkhali. He was an instructor in the Military Academy at Dehra Dun, and held a number of important staff appointments in various ranks. In the army he had a reputation of being fearless officer and one who did not tolerate any nonsense. During the course of his service in the Indian army, Shaheg Singh fought in every war that India participated in.

Although he had a brilliant military career, including being an instructor in the prestigious Joint Services Wing of the Indian Military Academy, Major General Shabeg Singh was discharged from Indian Army without court martial one day before his retirement, thus losing part of his pensions. Singh took his case to the civil courts which cleared him of all the charges.