Probe Sikh massacre like probe demand on SL: Sikh leader

5 March 2014 05:32 am Views - 7444

Lord Indarjit Singh of UK’s House of Lords said that Britain should support for an open, independent inquiry into the massacre or genocide of Sikh community at golden temple in India in 1984 in the same way that they are backing a UN-led inquiry into the alleged killing of Tamils in Sri Lanka’s north.
    
Speaking during a debate on the Sikh community in UK’s Parliament, Lord Singh said, “against this, all offers of government (UK) assistance and offers to talk to Sikhs pale into an unnecessary distraction.”

The first week of June will mark the 30th anniversary of the Indian Government’s attack on the Golden Temple—the Vatican of the Sikhs. The attack was deliberately timed to coincide with the martyrdom anniversary of the temple’s founder Guru Arjan, when the huge complex would be full to overflowing with pilgrims. Tanks and armoured vehicles were used. On conservative estimates, well over 2,000 pilgrims were killed.

Prime Minister David Cameron announced in January that Britain’s alleged involvement in the massacre of hundreds of Sikh separatists in an Indian temple in 1984 would be urgently investigated.

However later, Cameron refused to launch a public inquiry into Britain’s role in the 1984 Amritsar massacre.
Documents disclosed under the 30 year rule revealed that an SAS officer was drafted in to help the Indian authorities with plans to remove dissident Sikhs from the Golden Temple at Amritsar.

The plan was ordered with the full knowledge of Margaret Thatcher, according to letters between the Foreign Office and the former prime minister’s private secretary.

Hundreds of Sikhs – many of them pilgrims – were killed in the attack, called “Blue Star”, which plunged the country into some of the worst violence in its history