Latest

[wp_social_sharing social_options='facebook,twitter,googleplus,linkedin,pinterest,xing' twitter_username='Punjab2000music' facebook_text='Share on Facebook' twitter_text='Share on Twitter' googleplus_text='Share on Google+' linkedin_text='Share on Linkedin' pinterest_text="Share on Pinterest" xing_text="Share on Xing" icon_order='f,t,g,l,p,x' show_icons='0' before_button_text='' text_position='' social_image='']

Britain says it advised India on Operation Bluestar

neverforget1984

British military advice was given to India ahead of the 1984 deadly attack on a Sikh temple but it had only a “limited impact”, MPs have been told today

Mr Hague said UK assistance was “purely advisory” and given months beforehand.

This loss of life was an utter tragedy,” he said.

“Understandably members of the Sikh community around the world still feel the pain and suffering caused by these events.”

He told the Commons that the British government had received an urgent request for help from Indian authorities who wanted to regain control of the temple from Sikh militants.

In response, a British military adviser was sent to India in February 1984, and he recommended any attack should be a last resort, MPs heard.

Mr Hague said: “The cabinet secretary’s report finds that the nature of the UK’s assistance was purely advisory, limited and provided to the Indian government at an early stage; that it had limited impact on the tragic events that unfolded at the temple three months later; that there was no link between the provision of this advice and defense sales and there is no record of the (British) government receiving advance notice of the operation.”

Watch the video on Shaheed Sant Baba Jarnail Singh Ji Khalsa Bhindranwale (1984)