UK Betrayal In 1984 Sikh Genocide

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

When Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ordered the army to commit Sikh Genocide in Amritsar in June 1984, it was the first part of a phased plan to exterminate Sikhs in India.

The assault on Sikhism's most holiest site, involving tanks and helicopters, was timed to coincide with a religious gathering to inflict maximum killings of visiting Sikh pilgrims.

250,000 Indian soldiers locked down Punjab and slaughtered Sikh men, women and children without discrimination.

In 2014 Top Secret UK government (Whitehall) correspondence revealed that British special forces advised Indian leaders on how to attack 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".

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

Was Britain 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 23^rd 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".

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

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

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 30^th 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 Panjaab in June 1984. 250,000 troops invaded and occupied Punjab. Over 1-6^th 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."

by Phil Miller (13th January 2014)

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  UK And British Involvement In 1984 Sikh Genocide

  by British Government

  (1984) Proof that the British conspired with India to attack the most holiest of Sikh places of worship and commit Sikh genocide.

Margaret Thatcher regarded Indira Gandhi, who was 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.

Was Indira Gandhi a corrupt, ruthless and evil 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.

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

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.

The British idea of repaying a debt is betrayal.

Misleading Media Descriptions In News Reports

Anti-Sikh media organisations, including the BBC, often state;

"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. The statements show an ignorance beyond belief.

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

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