This Article is From Jan 15, 2014

Britain says no evidence yet of UK role in Operation Bluestar

Britain says no evidence yet of UK role in Operation Bluestar

File photo of British Prime Minister David Cameron seated next to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi.

London: British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Wednesday he had not so far seen any evidence that the government of Margaret Thatcher had helped India plan the military raid against Sikh separatists in the Golden Temple at Amritsar in 1984.

Cameron ordered a review into the matter after newly released official papers suggested that Thatcher, then prime minister, had sent an officer in Britain's elite SAS special air service to advise the Indians on the raid.

"I would note that so far there has not been any evidence to contradict the insistence by senior Indian army commanders responsible at the time that the responsibility for this was planned and carried out solely by the Indian Army," Cameron told Parliament.

Sikh groups have said they were shocked by the idea that Britain may have been involved in the attack, a bloody episode which angered Sikhs around the world and triggered the revenge assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Cameron said on Wednesday he wanted the review to establish whether Britain had been involved in any way.

The death toll remains disputed, with Indian authorities putting it in the hundreds and Sikh groups in the thousands.

© Thomson Reuters 2014
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