N-42. Nihal Singh, Afif, son of Uttam Singh, village Dhama Khel District Bannu, N. W. F. P. He matriculated from the Government High School, Bannu, and came to notice in 1920 when he began to dabble in politics and started working for the local Congress Committee. Soon after he imbibed Akali ideals. He was a zealous speaker at Congress and Akali meetings. He worked for some time in 1922 as a teacher in the Khalsa School at Hassan Abdal and later on was appointed a lecturer by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandak Committee. He took an active part in the Akali agitation and delivered a series of lectures in Peshawar, Kohat, Bannu, Campbellpore and other places. He attended the Baisakhi festival held by the Afghan Akalis in April 1924. There he delivered a speech in Persian on the 'Baisakhi festival' and assured the Governor of the Eastern provinces of the loyalty of the Sikhs of Afghanistan to the Amir and of their gratitude for the liberty enjoyed by them. He was an associate of Gurmukh Singh (G-54) and was a speaker at an anti-British meeting held in Kabul, at the latter's house on 1st November 1930. In 1931 he was reported to be actively engaged in the Ghadr Party's work in Jalalabad area. On Rattan Singh's (R-36) departure from Kabul his lorry was sold to Nihal Singh. He is not on good terms with Gurmukh Singh and has started a hotel in Jalalabad. In September 1932 it was reported that Gurmukh Singh was arranging through Nihal Singh to bring up Ishar Singh alias Wasdev Singh's (W-7) mother from India and that he had given Nihal Singh four pistols and some papers translated from Russian into Hindi to take to India.

Description : Wheat complexion; thin build; height 5’-6" or 63/8"; slightly pock-pitted face; dresses khaddar; always wears a Mashadi lungi as head dress; age about 32 (1924).