Lt General Jagjit Singh Aurora, hero of the war for liberation of Bangladesh, died on Tuesday at the age of 89.

Dr Mahip Singh, a former lecturer of Khalsa College and a well-known author, pays tributes to the hero. Singh has done a lot of research on Sikh history and also written several books.

"Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Aurora, hero of the 1971 war that created a new nation, led the Sikh Forum that was established after the 1984 Sikh riots.

In fact, the Sikh Forum was identified with his personality. One fine evening, five of us -- General Aurora, Dr Amrik Singh, Kartar Singh Duggal, Tirlochan Singh and I -- met at Triveni Kala Sangam over a cup of tea.

From Rediff Archives: An exclusive interview with Lt Gen J S Aurora

There, we shared our concern about the fate of the Sikhs living outside Punjab and the traumatic experiences that they had undergone during the anti-Sikh riots, which broke out after the tragic assassination of Indira Gandhi [Images] on October 31, 1984.

We decided to launch the Sikh Forum and General J S Aurora became its founding president.

We had an office in Jungpura, given to us by Texla Television's owner Raja Singhji.

The towering personality of Dr Aurora helped us achieve our goals with relative ease despite the heavy odds stacked against us.

• The Gen Aurora chat transcript

A delegation of the Sikh Forum led by him went to various places in India and delivered lectures to Sikhs. This helped in boosting their sagging morale.

I would say his contribution to the resurrection of the Sikh community equals his great achievement in the '71 war.

Lately, he had not been keeping good health. I met him a fortnight back and we discussed various things, including those related to the forum. In his tragic death I have lost a great friend and associate. I salute this great son of India.

(As told to Onkar Singh)