British PM ordered enquiry into Thatcher’s role in Operation Bluestar

British Prime Minister David Cameron ordered an enquiry into the role of former British PM Margaret Thatcher in Operation Bluestar on 14 January 2014. The enquiry will be conducted by the Britain’s cabinet secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood.

The enquiry will look into newly-released documents that suggested Margaret Thatcher government facilitated the Indian government in 1984 to plan Operation Bluestar against separatist Sikh militants hiding inside the Golden Temple.

Released declassified documents also indicated that Britain’s Special Air Service (SAS) officials were dispatched to help India on the planning on the raid of the Golden Temple to flush out militants.

The documents were released by the National Archives in London under the 30-year declassification rule that provides for the release of cabinet papers of a government publicly thirty years after they were created.

The Network of Sikh Organisations, headed by Lord Indarjit Singh, expressed shock over the revelation and offered help to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to aid the investigation.

Operation Bluestar

Operation Blue Star is the name given to a military operation to flush out the terrorists and recover arms from the Golden Temple. The operation was led by Indian Army at Harmandir Sahib in Golden Temple complex in 1984.

The Khalistan separatists under the leadership of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale had moved into a guest-house called the Akal Takht, in the precinct of Harmandir Sahib in 1982. Bhindarwale was supported by former Maj. Gen. Shabeg Singh who was expelled from the Army for being a Khalistan sympathizer.

The Operation Bluestar was conducted under the command of Lt. Gen. Kuldip Singh Brar. The Chief of Army Staff during the Operation was General Arun Sunder Vaidya who was later killed by Khalistan separatists in Pune.