Documents that say Britain advisedIndia on its June 1984 assault onSikhism’s holiest site could underminesupport for the government amongBritain’s large Sikh community.
LONDON – Revelations that Britainmay have assisted the Indian Army in itsdeadly 1984 raid on Sikhism’s mostsacred temple in Amritsar are strainingthe British government’s relations withits Sikh community. Though the assaulthappened 30 years ago, Sikh experts saythe incident, which left hundreds dead,remains a “very raw issue” that couldcost the government the support ofBritain’s large Sikh community.Recently released official documentssuggest Prime Minister MargaretThatcher sent a British special forcesofficer to help the Indians as they drewup plans to remove dissident Sikhs fromthe Golden Temple in early June 1984.Hundreds died in the following assault,spurring the assassination of IndiraGandhi, India’s prime minister at thetime, by two Sikh bodyguards fourmonths later. The assassination in turntriggered a cycle of inter-communal violencethat resulted in thousands ofmainly Sikh deaths in India.Prime Minister David Cameron hasasked Cabinet Secretary Sir JeremyHeywood to investigate the case, buttried to play down Britain’s involvementduring parliamentary questions today. But Britain’s Sikh leaders warn thatdespite being three decades old, theAmritsar assault is still an open wound forthe country’s half-million-strong Sikhcommunity, and that the governmentneeds to be very careful in how it proceeds.“It is still a very raw issue 30 years on withthe attack on our holy shrine and thepogroms afterwards in Delhi which leftthousands dead and for which there hasbeen no justice,” says Gurmukh Singhfrom the Sikh Council UK. “There is a lotof anger and emotions within the Sikhcommunity. If this turns out to be true, wewill feel very let down and betrayed.”Singh says the government must addresswhether the documents were authenticand if the British advice was used by theIndian military. “We are a respectful andlaw-abiding community,” he says, “but wewill make the government accountable ifthey did offer military help for the attackon the Golden Temple.”Gurharpal Singh of the Centre forMigration and Diaspora Studies at theUniversity of London says that if the documentationand offer of help are true,they could damage the close links betweenthe Sikh community and senior politiciansand the royal family. But he notes thatthere was a logic to helping the Indiangovernment at the time.“This was a critical and tragic event in theSikh community both here and in India,”Professor Singh says. “But you have to putwhat went on in context. Back in 1984 thegovernment was dealing with a number ofterrorist issues – the Libyan Embassysiege, IRA – so there was a broader terroristissue which involved collaboration.”He adds that Britain had both political andeconomic reasons to woo India at thetime. Thatcher and US President RonaldReagan were “trying to approach Indiawhich was receiving help from the SovietUnion.” And in Britain, “there was an economicdownturn, and the government waskeen to get arm sales to India such asWestland helicopters and BritishAerospace and trainer jets.”Professor Singh says that the governmentneeds to be open and honest in its investigationif it is to build renewed trust withthe Sikh community.Dr. Jasjit Singh at Leeds University agrees,pointing out that it could hurtConservatives at the ballot box. “DavidCameron has to treat this carefullybecause with an election coming up, hemay well need Sikh votes in marginal constituencies.He needs to be sensitive andfully explain the operations that happened.”The records became public underBritain’s “30-year rule” that automaticallyreleases most classified documents to theNational Archive after three decades. ButDr. Singh is surprised the documents,which found their way onto a blog calledStop Deportations, were released at all,given how incendiary they are to Sikhs.“Did [the government] not realize the significanceof this if it turns out to be true?”he asks. “We will need to know if true,whether the advice was taken; but it’sunbelievable that it’s come out.”
