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Further UK Cabinet Office Papers Show The 1984 Conservative Government Gagged The Media And Banned Sikhs Protests

DiscoverSikhism has uncovered further documents from June and November 1984 which will horrify Sikhs and all those who value freedom, democracy and human rights.

Following our discovery, on 30th December 2014, of how the British Conservative Government betrayed Sikhs, DiscoverSikhism.com researchers have found additional information which shows the extent of the 1984 Conservative government's anti-Sikh hostility and press manipulations.

Sikh Genocide

Two women who used their nations against Sikhs,
Margaret Thatcher and Indira Gandhi

The UK support for the 1984 Indian regime, which committed Sikh genocide, is shockingly mercenary.

We have summarized the findings as follows:

In June 1984 the Foreign And Commonwealth Secretary said that after the 'storming' of the Golden Temple, 700 Sikh soldiers had deserted from various units in the Indian army.

On 14th June the Indian government introduced visa requirements for UK passport holders. 'Its purpose was to prevent trouble-makers from the Indian community in the United Kingdom returning to India'.

The Indian government raised concerns with the UK government about Sikhs interviewed by the BBC and associated statements that were broadcast. When it was said that Sikhs had a duty to take action against the Indian government for the attack on Sri Harmandir Sahib;

'The Cabinet invited the Home Secretary, in consultation with the Foreign And Commonwealth Secretary and the Attorney General, to examine the state of the law in relation to incitement in this country to violence overseas, and to bring the Government's views to the attention of the Chairman of the British Broadcasting Corporation.'

Press Release

This press release was distributed
to the Sikh media on 1st Jan 2015

Also in June 1984, Indira Gandhi addressed a letter to UK PM Margaret Thatcher about the background to the attack on the Golden Temple in Amritsar, where is this letter? and what does it say?

On 1st November 1984 PM Margaret Thatcher paid tribute to Indira Gandhi (after the latter's assassination). The press were gagged after Sikh statements were transmitted. British citizens were advised to postpone visits to India, why? was it because of the British knew about violence against Sikhs and Sikh genocide in Delhi?

Activities of Sikh leader Dr Jagjit Singh Chauhan were under very close scrutiny and the government were urgently considering legal proceedings. 'It was important that the British Government should continue to express the dismay and shock with which they viewed inflammatory comments and provocative behaviour by the Sikhs in the United Kingdom'.

'A march by Sikhs in central London, to mark the anniversary of the founder of their religion, had apparently been postponed for the time being; but the Indian High Commission had made it clear that if it took place it would have a most severe effect on relations between the United Kingdom and India.'

'It was not acceptable that the quarrels of India should be transferred to the streets of London, and every effort should be made, including contacts with leaders of the Asian communities, to prevent this. It was clear that manifestations by Sikhs in the Untied Kingdom could have a serious effect on relations with India, including trade.' Perhaps the Cabinet forgot what happened in 1947? and how Sikhs have always paid the price for betrayals. However, how did the British government manage to ban legitimate peaceful protests?

Why did Margaret Thatcher, the Conservative Cabinet and government officials behave in this way? Was it because they became the worst kind of greed obsessed mercenaries that prized trade and influence above moral values.

Here are copies of the June and November 1984 Cabinet papers:

In Cabinet files from 15th Nov 1984, India threatened the UK with a trade boycott if UK Sikhs demonstrated against Sikh massacres.

The Cabinet decided 'In view of the importance of the British political and commercial interests at stake, it would be necessary to explore every possibility of preventing the march from taking place.'

Despite many thousands of Sikh deaths in 1984, it is clearly conspicuous that not a single comment in favour of Sikhs was made by the British government.

The documents have a clear anti-Sikh bias and explain why the UK has been silent in acknowledging crimes against humanity (Sikhs) and Sikh genocide.

In the absence of further information, one can reasonable conclude that Britain was complicit in Sikh genocide.

by Amrit Singh (1st January 2015)

New National Archive Information Shows How The British (Conservative) Government Betrayed Sikhs

DiscoverSikhism has found new documents which expose UK PM Margaret Thatcher's active position against Sikhs. UK Cabinet meetings show a hostile Sikh policy with no sympathy towards the many thousands massacred in Sikh Genocide.

Today, on 30th December 2014, the UK National Archives released files from 1985 and 1986, including papers from the Prime Minister's Office and the Cabinet Office. The Cabinet papers reveal the 1985 government's obsession with trade in India at the expense of free expression by UK Sikhs. The 1984-85 disclosures show the British Prime Minister's (and Cabinet's) active collusion with the Indian Government against Sikhs who were already in mourning over the Sikh Genocide of June and November 1984.

After the storm generated by the release of Operation Bluestar related papers in January 2014, David Cameron (the current Conservative Prime Minister) promised to release papers and information relating to 1984. However, four files related to India have been withheld: three from the prime minister's office (PMO) are listed as 'temporarily retained', and one from the cabinet office described as 'retained under section 3(4) of the Public Records Act,1958'.

Files withheld:

1) 'Visit to UK by LK Jha, member of the Brandt Commission and adviser to Indira Gandhi: meetings with Prime Minister' (04/07/1983-21/03/1985);

2) 'UK/Indian relations: situation in Punjab, activities of Sikh extremists; proposed visit to UK by Rajiv Gandhi in June 1985; part 4' (05/03/1984-22/05/1985);

3) 'Assassination of Indira Gandhi, October 1984: Prime Minister's visit to India to attend funeral' (31/10/1984-12/12/1984).

4) The cabinet office file withheld is listed as 'India: Political' (04/05/1979-08/08/1985).

The January cache had included papers that suggested that the Indira Gandhi government had sought, and the Thatcher government had extended, British advice on removing Sikh extremists from the Golden Temple in 1984, creating a storm and demands for an official apology.

The Cameron government whitewashed Sikh demands for a full inquiry into the British involvement with Sikh Genocide following the January 2014 revelations.

Announcing conclusions from an internal report, former foreign secretary William Hague resisted calls in the House of Commons (February 2014) for an apology by stating that Britain's advice was given at an early stage (in February 1984; Operation Bluestar was carried out in June 1984), that it had a limited impact and was not followed by the Indian government.

London has been the host to many rallies calling for an independent Palestine, Kurdistan or Tamil Eelam and never, have such democratic rights been curtailed at the behest of a foreign government. So, why did the cabinet stop the Sikh right try to assemble?

'It was the clear view of the Cabinet that it would be in the public interest that the rally should not take place.'

There's even a meeting on 25 July 1985 to discuss, wait for it, the Sikh Sports Tournament due to take place in West Bromwich of all places, now dubbed the citadel of subversion. These were no Olympics, just a bunch of Punjabi 'freshies' in nothing but their underpants shouting 'kabaddi' till they ran out of breath. I dare say no threat to the Indian state but the organisers did make the mistake of naming the games in honour of former Indian PM, Indira Gandhi's assassins and hoped the Indians wouldn't notice. A shocked Margaret hurriedly sent her advisors off to Brummie to exert 'heavy pressure' on the organisers to retract the names. It's a good job they haven't come across Slough yet.

'The Government should therefore try to ensure that the BBC did not pay great attention to the Sikh Asian Games'.

Come the 25 April 1985 Cabinet meeting and the mask slips off with discussions about the sale of the Westland Helicopters to India, which points to the very reason why, in the end, the Thatcher government was so obsessed with appeasing New Delhi.

The current Coalition may have sidestepped the issue by stating there was no UK involvement in the June 1984 Amritsar attack, but they will find it hard to avoid questions relating to post-November 1984, their appeasement to a genocide 'enabler', the absence of any condemnation of his actions and a lack of any compassion for the November victims.

The final act - 12 September 1985

The Cabinet meets to ensure everything is done in their power to ensure Rajiv Gandhi's visit takes place without incident.

'There are major British contracts in India. It is highly desirable that the visit is a success.'

Some of the paragraphs above are from Parvinder Singh (author of '1984 Sikh Kristallnacht'). Read his great assessment and blog at 8t4files.wordpress.com

by Amrit Singh (30th December 2014)
(edited 1st January 2015)

British Government Was Behind Sikh Genocide and Plans To Attack Sri Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple) in 1984

UK PM David Cameron orders probe into British links to June 1984 attack on Darbar Sahib

UK Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher sent SAS to advise Indira Gandhi on Indian army plans "for the removal of dissident Sikhs from the Golden Temple" months before disastrous raid on Amritsar, top secret UK file reveals.

Akal Takht 1984

How would Christians feel if a foreign government conspired with Terrorist Authorities to do this to Westminster Abbey?

This letter dated 6th February 1984 proves Margaret Thatcher was briefed on the advise given to Indian officials. Credit: Phil Miller

This letter dated 6th February 1984 proves Margaret Thatcher was briefed on the advice given to Indian officials. Credit: Phil Miller

When Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ordered the army to storm the Golden Temple in Amritsar in June 1984, it was a decision that would lead to her assassination.

The assault on the Sikh holy site to evict Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, involving tanks and helicopters, incurred heavy civilian casualties.

Outraged Sikhs in Britain responded with a huge demonstration in Hyde Park, and thousands more sought refuge in the UK as the violence in Delhi and the Punjab escalated, in what some call India's Sikh genocide.

Top secret Whitehall correspondence now reveals that British special forces advised Indian leaders on re-taking Amritsar, despite acknowledging privately that "an operation by the Indian authorities at the Golden Temple could, in the first instance, exacerbate the communal violence in the Punjab".

This opens the possibility that Britain was complicit in Sikh genocide.

In a remarkable series of letters, buried among the New Year releases at the National Archives in Kew, south west London, I discovered the gamble that Thatcher's administration took with the volatile situation in India and the diaspora.

A letter dated 23rd February 1984, titled ‘Sikh Community’, noted "The Home Secretary will have seen press reports of communal violence in the Punjab. The Foreign Secretary wishes him to be made aware of some background which could increase the possibility of repercussions among the Sikh communities in this country".

The ‘background’ in question was the covert role of an elite British military adviser in India.

"The Indian authorities recently sought British advice over a plan to remove Sikh extremists from the Golden Temple in Amritsar. The Foreign Secretary decided to respond favourably to the Indian request and, with the Prime Minister’s agreement, an SAD [sic] officer has visited India and drawn up a plan which has been approved by Mrs Gandhi. The Foreign Secretary believes that the Indian Government may put the plan into operation shortly".

The file stops short of detailing this "plan", so it is not clear how similar this was to Operation Blue Star, the code name for the eventual assault in June. However, three other letters in this chain (between Thatcher’s private secretary Robin Butler and his counterpart at the Foreign Office) have been weeded out of the file and remain classified.

The file stops in March 1984, and the next part of the folio is still unavailable, obscuring more details about the months leading up to the raid.

However, in a crucial letter, the Foreign Secretary’s Principal Private Secretary, Brian Fall, explains to his opposite number at the Home Office, Hugh Taylor, how a raid on the Temple might;

"Increase tension in the Indian community here, particularly if knowledge of the SAS involvement were to become public. We have impressed upon the Indians the need for security; and knowledge of the SAS officer’s visit and of his plan has been tightly held both in India and in London. The Foreign Secretary would be grateful if the contents of this letter could be strictly limited to those who need to consider the possible domestic implications".

Letter on Sikh Community dated 23 February 1984.

Letter on Sikh Community - 23 February 1984. Credit: Phil Miller

Only four copies of the letter (stamped ‘Top Secret and Personal’) were made, and circulated to principal private secretaries at Downing Street, the Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Defence, to keep the operation under wraps. Despite these precautions, SAS involvement was rumoured in a Sunday Times article written by  Anne Mary Weaver shortly after the raid in June.

This new evidence provides conclusive proof that British Special Forces were involved with planning a raid on the Temple. It also starkly reveals the risks involved with Thatcher’s covert foreign policy for events in India and Britain. The majority of letters in the file relate to Thatcher’s involvement in negotiating British arms sales to India.

Sikh activist Jagdeesh Singh, of the 1984 Genocide Coalition, argues "These documents now confirm the depth of this murderous collusion. June 1984 resulted in tens of thousands of civilian deaths, disappearances and wider devastation. It was 9-11 many, many times over. It was India's war on the Sikh nation. The above documents amount to explosive evidence of British government participation in this mammoth crime against humanity, and confirmation of what we suspected all along."

Jagdeesh Singh said "2014 is the 30th anniversary of the horrific 1984 genocide, during which 100,000 Sikhs were killed by the Indian state, as part of a two-pronged and two-phased genocidal onslaught in Punjab and Delhi on the Sikh population.

The Indian government launched a direct, vicious war on Punjab in June 1984. 250,000 troops invaded and occupied Punjab. Over 1-6th June 1984, they bombarded the Sikh national shrine of the Golden Temple in Amritsar, with tanks and helicopter gunships. 8,000 Sikh men, women and children were viciously killed, their bodies stripped of clothing and belongings and then they were cremated en-mass.

The entirety of Panjaab was closed off from the world and turned into a mammoth concentration camp, as Indian soldiers went through its entire 50,000 plus villages – arresting, torturing, killing and raping."

Margaret Thatcher regarded the most vile person/ family responsible for Sikh genocide as 'a friend of this country (Britain).' Previous British governments went as far as covering up their alleged betrayal of the Sikhs and misleading parliament.

by Phil Miller (13th January 2014)

Margaret Thatcher has tainted her legacy by acting like the military dictator that Indira Gandhi became.

Margaret Thatcher and Indira Gandhi - Killers in Arms

Indira Gandhi, a ruthless military dictator? Oh Yes...

Indira Gandhi is most famous for her State of Emergency. On 12 June 1975 the High Court of Allahabad declared Indira Gandhi's election to the Lok Sabha void on grounds of electoral malpractice. The court thus ordered her to be removed from her seat in Parliament and banned from running in elections for six years.

Gandhi responded by ordering the arrest of most of the opposition and by declaring a state of emergency, giving her dictatorial powers. Civil liberties and democracy were suspended during the Emergency.

Within a few months, the president's rule was imposed on the two opposition party ruled states of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu thereby bringing the entire country under direct Central rule or by governments led by the ruling Congress party.

Police were granted powers to impose curfews and indefinitely detain citizens and all publications were subjected to substantial censorship by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Finally, impending legislative assembly elections were indefinitely postponed, with all opposition-controlled state governments being removed by virtue of the constitutional provision allowing for a dismissal of a state government on recommendation of the state's governor.

Indira Gandhi used the emergency provisions to change her own conflicting party members.

"Unlike her father Jawaharlal Nehru, who preferred to deal with strong chief ministers in control of their legislative parties and state party organizations, Mrs. Gandhi set out to remove every Congress chief minister who had an independent base and to replace each of them with ministers personally loyal to her... Even so, stability could not be maintained in the states..."

President Ahmed issued ordinances that did not require debate in the Parliament, allowing Gandhi to rule by decree.

Opposition leaders were further arrested. A controversial family planning program was put in place, which led to many Indians being unwillingly sterilized.

Indira Gandhi was dictator of India for two years.

Indira Gandhi ended the emergency in 1977. She grossly misjudged her popularity by reading what the heavily censored press wrote about her and proceeded to hold elections, lost them, and was forced to step down. Indira Gandhi would later return to office.

So, how often have you heard Gandhi described as 'the extremist military dictator that abused the rule of law and democracy'?

Where was UK impartiality, democracy and parliamentary scrutiny? For a nation that prides itself on its good conduct, ethics and values, this is hypocrisy at its highest.




When it comes to Sikhs, India is violating its own Constitution

False 1984 BBC Sikh (And Other Media) Descriptions In News Reports - Need Your Help To Complain Online

In a BBC news article today;

Winston Churchill Sikh quote

The British idea of repaying a debt is to betray them in return.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-25723875

The BBC have stated;
"The storming of the Golden Temple was aimed at flushing out Sikh separatists."
"The Sikh separatists demanded an independent homeland - called Khalistan - in Punjab."
"1982: Armed Sikh militants, led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, take up residence in the Golden Temple complex"

In 1984 the BBC were labelling Sikhs as "extremists".

The usage behind such propaganda against Sikhs has justified the Sikh holocaust and genocide.

We encourage all people to complain against false media descriptions against Sikhs, starting with the BBC.

This will only take a few minutes and can be done here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/complain-online/

and click on "Make a complaint"

Have you read our page 'What happens to your complaint'? Yes
Which service is your complaint about? BBC News (TV, Radio, Online)
What is your complaint about? BBC News Online
What is the URL of the relevant BBC News web page? http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/complain-online/
What is the best category to describe your complaint? Factual error or inaccuracy
Have you contacted us before about this complaint? No
What is the subject of your complaint? Incorrect/ false labelling of Sikhs
Full details of complaint: The BBC have incorrectly and falsely labelled Sikhs as 'separatists' who 'demanded an independent homeland - called Khalistan' and termed Sikhs 'militants' who took residence in the Golden Temple complex. The usage behind such propaganda against Sikhs has justified the Sikh holocaust and genocide. These claims are false, unsubstantiated and should be withdrawn with a full apology.
Do you want to receive a reply? Yes

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