David Cameron has asked the cabinet secretary, Sir Jeremy Heywood, to conduct an urgent investigation into a decision by the government of Margaret Thatcher to send an SAS officer to Delhi in 1984 to advise the Indian government on the expulsion of militants from the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
Amid calls from Sikh groups for an inquiry into the alleged British involvement in planning the operation, the prime minister’s spokesman said that the investigation would examine two issues: the British action in 1984 and the decision to release such sensitive government papers.
Heywood will want to examine why the papers were not marked sensitive and held back when papers from 1984 were released under the annual 30-year rule.
The prime minister intervened after the recent explosive release of papers from 1984 which showed that the then foreign secretary, Sir Geoffrey Howe, responded “favourably” to a request from Delhi for help in drawing up plans to launch a military operation to remove militants from the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the holiest site in the Sikh faith.
The Indian government said around 400 people were killed when the Indian prime minister, Indira Gandhi, sent troops into the temple in June 1984 in an operation that lasted six days.
The general who led the assault in the temple, Lieutenant General KS Brar, said on Tuesday the allegation the British government secretly helped Indira Gandhi plan the mission was “fictitious” and that “all the plans [for Operation Bluestar] were laid and executed by Indian military commanders”.
“There was no question of getting help from the British government and no suggestion or mention at any stage of a British officer who had come and advised.
“It was a last-minute operation because the prime minister was negotiating with the Sikh leaders to arrive at an amicable solution. As a last resort, she ordered the operation,” Brar told the Guardian… see more
source: Guardian UK
Tags: Cameron, Golden temple, Politics
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