II/2018

NAGAARA

Recalling Operation ‘Bluestar’ of 1984

Who, What, How and Why The Dramatis Personae “A scar too deep” “De-classify” ! The Fifth Annual Conference on the Sikh scripture, Guru Granth Sahib, jointly hosted by the Chardi Kalaa Foundation and the San Jose Gurdwara, took place on 19 August 2017 at San Jose in California, USA. One of the largest and arguably most beautiful gurdwaras in North America, the Gurdwara Sahib at San Jose was founded in San Jose, California, USA in 1985 by members of the then-rapidly growing Sikh community in the Santa Clara Valley

Back Cover ContentsIssue II/2018 C Travails of Operation Bluestar for the 46 Editorial Sikh Soldier 2 HERE WE GO AGAIN: 34 Years after Operation Bluestar Lt Gen RS Sujlana Dr IJ Singh

49 Bluestar over Patiala 4 Khushwant Singh on Operation Bluestar Mallika Kaur “A Scar too deep” 22 Book Review 1984: Who, What, How and Why Jagmohan Singh 52 Recalling the attack on Muktsar Gurdwara Col (Dr) Dalvinder Singh Grewal

26 First Person Account KD Vasudeva recalls Operation Bluestar 55 “De-classify !” Knowing the extent of UK’s involvement in planning ‘Bluestar’

58 Reformation of Sikh institutions? PPS Gill 9 Bluestar: the third ghallughara Pritam Singh 61 Closure ! The pain and politics of Bluestar 12 “Punjab was scorched 34 summers Jagtar Singh ago and… the burn still hurts” 34 Hamid Hussain, writes on Operation Bluestar 63 Resolution by The Sikh Forum Kanwar Sandhu and The Dramatis Personae

Editorial Director Editorial Office II/2018 Dr IJ Singh D-43, Sujan Singh Park New Delhi 110 003, India Printed by NAGAARA Managing Editor Tel: (91-11) 24617234 Aegean Offset Printers Pushpindar Singh Fax: (91-11) 24628615 Joint Editor e-mail : [email protected] Bhayee Sikandar Singh Please visit us at: Published by www.nishaannagaara.com Editorial Board The Nagaara Trust Inni Kaur 16-A Palam Marg The opinions expressed in Monica Arora Vasant Vihar Recalling Operation ‘Bluestar’ of 1984 the articles published in the Who, What, How and Why The Dramatis Personae Distributors New Delhi 110 057, India “A scar too deep” “De-classify” ! Nishaan Nagaara do not Himalayan Books Associated with necessarily reflect the views or Harmandir Sahib, the holy 17 L, Connaught Circus, The Chardi Kalaa Foundation ‘Golden Temple’, Amritsar, at dawn New Delhi - 110001 San Jose, USA policy of The Nagaara Trust. 2 NISHAAN M now han inyour laundry handsisnotdirty fundamental towhat issueof weare.This trite slogan,perhaps ready tobeburied. But itremains at all? change much, if see how timechanges usall.Butdoeshumannature remain aminoritynomatter where they live. We the population andwould likely barely twopercentof minisculea minority inIndia wherethey originated, an injustice remain totally absent. acknowledgment of numberswere smaller,The but reparative oreven steps India only independent 34years ago. government of in India.Now by add athirdperpetrated thethen thelesser–barely and years 250 thegreater - ago was almostwipedoutinthetwo thisworld,andthey continue today as well. of minorities have inevery occurred continentandcorner Rohingya Muslims inMyanmar? Targeted killings of of Tamils inSriLankaandmorerecently thekillingsof of killed by theTurks century. inthelast Who hasn’t heard sixmillionJews. Over were amillionArmenians of upwardstimes wewitnessedtheHolocaustthat claimed have aslonghumanity. existed Inthenotsodistant perceived enemies phenomenon. Mass killings of modern history. isbuilt onthefoundations lasts.Progress history of is notproductive; Why? progress. ithinders Because tendency toforgive isausefulhumantrait,but toforget quietdesperation. A inlivespeople areengrossed of has gone by. onfadingmemoriesand Despotsdepend transformational and not for Sikhs alone. A generation what isnow inyour hands. you, waitandreadcarefully be thejudge butof Ibeg 34 34 Years Bluestar after Operation The Sikhs,thoughabout25millionworld-wide,are The the Sikh population tells usthat mostof History apeopleisnotnewor Killings orgenocide of We were 1984 know that the events of all orwillitaddmorepainandsuffering?You gaping woundscouldhelp at exploration of any surely readers w soundslikeHere go a we again ghalugharas ne fthispainful onder if HERE WE GOAGAIN: (genocides) (genocides) ging inthe Nishaan

course. Whocourse. doesnot?Do I?Certainly! constraints are different. Do people have a bias? Of lens thanthosewho largely live inthe diaspora.Our at look based, imbroglio the1984 different witha are not.AndtheSikhswho largely remainPunjab- andmanyand itsSikhs,who who areitscitizens others and old andthenewworlds.Publications like the the at best,they show anintricate amalgamation of thinking.laws–and Sometimes,and even theways of history,ethos–culture, cuisine,language, context, at all) toIndia’s are only peripherally connected(if Clearly, Sikhswho thereisnow awhole generation of thenewworldwhere Sikhsarenot. of there isnopart there hasbeenaseachange intheSikhworld.Today, (GoldenTemple)Harmandar by theIndianArmy, in these 34years since the assault onthe Sikh’s item for Sikhsandnon-Sikhsalike. Forget notthat contributed tothis issue of heaven knows weneedit. lesson -which would be aninstitutionalised process and process, alastingeducational framework isthe lasting here. Truth andreconciliation aretheway -anhonest forgive but never forget lessons which are the recurring bitterness: how! I recommend we let go In short, of stand. Inthemeantime,worldhaschanged and They reminduswhere wehave been, andwhere wenow areimportant. thejourney But themilestonesalong threats;existential afteralllifemust go on,doesn’t it? in thesunshine. done. Itislike hanginglaundry Commissions need tocreate institutionslike Truth &Reconciliation andthelike onthesubject.Andweprogrammes museums, academic libraries,exhibits, to construct than sunshine andthat istheagenda today. We need backyard todry. better suchlaundry Nothingcleans ‘1984’ remainsan unresolvedissue between India lwo heavy-duty,A slewof have scholars serious tellsusthat humanitycanrecoverHistory from strive SikhReview tobridge this cultural gap.The , as many, as communities have countries and Nishaan : areal collectors’ Nishaan

You will encounter a panel of writers in this after the attack: “To kill a rat you don’t have to bring Nishaan, both India-based and those who are not; your house down.” sometimes with very different sensitivities about A telling nugget: Jathedar Rachpal Singh, at the the same issues. We are all impacted by the cultural bidding of then Home Minister Buta Singh, later read framework in which we operate. The diversity and out a statement to the foreign press and invited them variety of voices is good for us. Political shenanigans, to an elaborate lunch. A Sikh woman in the audience too, find a place; to some they remain mental got up and defiantly slapped the Jathedar. From a gymnastics, to others they smack of truth. Sikh, I would expect no less. KD Vasudeva, then Chief Life is full of rude awakenings. Kanwar Sandhu, Secretary to the Government of Punjab, recounts the a veteran journalist and now a respected politician, convoluted process that is the hallmark of bureaucracy brings to us in useful detail the events, the decision- anywhere: the rigmarole of decision making, including making process and the individuals with defining roles local political rivalries that needed accommodation. in the attack. To me it is disconcerting that so many Now the linen, not so clean, hangs in full view. of the officers leading the attack were Sikhs. Some Finally, there is a brief report on the disturbing interviews with them might be revealing. Was their but poorly appreciated fact that some British officers loyalty mostly driven by their training to follow orders colluded with the Indian government on planning the even unto death as a soldier must? attack. Keep in mind that this was during Margaret Hamid Hussain provides detailed accounts of the Thatcher’s time and her government knew of this attack. We see data on personnel, their commanders, outrageous event. Some events have delayed sequelae. and their evolving, sometimes confusing, strategy. Daily news reports tell us of the increase in stray Lt.Gen. RS Sujlana (formerly Colonel of the Sikh incidents of bullying, mistreatment, even violence Regiment) starts with the telling words that “Operation against Sikhs in India and in America. These seem to Bluestar was a monumental blunder.” How did Sikh be aftershocks of the 1980s and the clear debasement and non-Sikh politicians, government officers, political of Sikhs by the Indian political leadership as well leaders and common men and women react to the as their mistaken identity as Muslims in the United attack: I am looking for their feelings, not intellectual States. analyses.Prof.Pritam Singh from Oxford University This issue of the Nishaan - as a record for posterity revisits the human cost, not just in numbers, but in - explores disturbing matters, not yet settled. It is a ways that define our humanity and our sense of self as a collectors’ item for students of history, and for all Sikhs people, as Sikhs and as a nation. True that 1984 was an worldwide. A rich lode of data in this collector copy of inevitable reflection of to the earlier twoghalugharas in Nishaan, for the reader to mine. history, but it was the first to occur within a gurdwara and that, too, within the Golden Temple. Remember One grave matter is missing in this issue: The too the underlying politico-economic issues. casually undertaken and ham-handedly conducted approximately twelve or so Inquiry Commissions into Then, Col. (Dr.) Dalvinder Singh Grewal brings the attempted genocide of Sikhs that took place, later us a moving personal saga of Sikhs who were held in in 1984. True that their results remain zero, yet even custody at the historic Muktsar gurdwara – innocent that deserves critical notice. We still need to know what people caught in a maelstrom not of their own was their mandate and what exactly, if anything, did making. Not surprisingly, the recurring theme in they accomplish. This might make for another special many accounts refers to Guru Arjan Dev who was issue of the Nishaan one day. We need to preserve our Sikhi’s first martyr. As is widely known, that doyen history to present future recurrences. Is this the final of Sikh history, Khushwant Singh reacted strongly word? Absolutely not. Remember T.S Eliot on “the to the 1984 attack. He was against Sikh separatism

cunning passages and contrived corridors of history that NISHAAN but he found the army attack so reprehensible that he deceive us by vanities.” returned all the honours of a life-time that the Indian government had bestowed on him. I love his statement I.J. Singh 3 4 NISHAAN I June 1984 asthe day tolaunch the operation. Itwas Sikhtraditions.Theychose5 the foggiest notion of heradvisers had of And none Gianiji. trust did not followers. When she itcametoPunjaborSikhaffairs, hisarmed and Bhindranwale theTempleto clear of did nottellhimthat shehaddecidedtoorderthe army she rule, himtoput Punjabundermilitary persuaded inthedark. Gandhi When waskept Singh Zail Mrs isnodoubtthat President There should commence. is alsounknown who chosethe date when operations SinghandDigvijayArun Singhwerementioned.It Rajiv Nehru, Gandhi, Arun at namesof thetime.The Khushwant Singh on into the GoldenTemple, andwho her advisers were view that she hadnooption but toorderthe army t isnotknown when Gandhi came roundto the Mrs “A scar too deep” Operation Bluestar tanks, armoured cars and frogmen, with helicopters and frogmen, withhelicopters cars tanks, armoured comparatively bloodless. days longer, but have would taken a coupleof been orbepicked upby It wouldhavesurrender snipers. potable water forced and to outintheopen come to rations andaccessto off; thepeopleinsidedeprived of the Templeclothes; could have complex been cordoned commandos inplain been overpowered by aband of at seriously. considered Bhindranwale have Hecould getting remote areas.Norwerealternative methodsof from tocomeonpilgrimage Sikhswereexpected of thousands the HariMandir, aday when hundredsof the founder Arjan, of Guru the death anniversary of However, Temple theGolden stormed thearmy with hovering overhead to give directions. The battle that government.” He asked Tarlochan to put aside the ensued lasted two days and nights. In the cross-fire citation and continued talking to me. “I don’t think almost 5,000 men, women and children perished. The my qaum [community] will ever forgive me for this,” Akal Takht was reduced to rubble by heavy guns fired he said. He was looking for some kind of assurance to from tanks; the central shrine which both parties had the contrary. “No Gianiji, I don’t think the Sikhs will declared hors de combat was hit by over 70 bullets. ever forgive you for Bluestar.” He was in the depths of The entrance (deohri) had a large portion blasted off; despair. “Do you think it would serve any purpose if I archives containing hundreds of hand-written copies resign now?” I told him it was too late: whether or not of the Granth Sahib and hukumnamas (edicts) issued he resigned, the Sikhs would hold him responsible for under the signatures of the Gurus were reduced to the desecration of their holiest shrine. ashes. Even Mrs Gandhi, who had been assured that the operation would not last more than two hours, I knew Gianiji would keep my returning the Padma was horrified at the extent of damage caused to sacred Bhushan to himself. I did not give him a chance. From property and the horrendous loss of lives. Instead of Rashtrapati Bhavan I drove straight to the PTI office admitting that she had blundered, she decided to cover on Parliament Street and handed over the short text up the whole thing with a barrage of lies. of my letter of protest and about returning the award. “To kill a rat you don’t have to bring down your house,” “A painful discovery” it read. The evening papers carried the news; the Despite my indifference and even hostility to morning papers had it on their front pages. religion, I had no doubt in my mind that I should re- affirm my identity with my community. I regarded What followed was a painful discovery to me. Bhindranwale as an evil man who deserved his fate. Overnight I became a kind of folk hero of the Sikhs: the But ‘Operation Blue Star’ went well beyond the first to openly denounce the government. And a villain slaying of Bhindranwale: it was a well-calculated and for Hindus. I, who had always preached secular ideals deliberate slap in the face of an entire community. and condemned Bhindranwale, had come out in my I felt strongly that I must register my protest. I did ‘true colours’ they said. I was flooded with letters and not consult anyone: my wife was away in Kasauli, telegrams: Sikhs applauding me for having shown how my daughter in office, my son in Bombay. I rang up a Sikh should act; Hindus denouncing me as an arch Tarlochan Singh, the Press Adviser of President Zail Singh, and asked for an appointment with the latter. I was asked to come straightaway. I took the framed citation awarding me the Padma Bhushan under the signature of President VV Giri. Tarlochan had anticipated that I had come to return it to the government. Giani Zail Singh was in a state of acute depression. “I know how you feel,” he said to me, “but don’t be hasty. Think over the matter for a few days and then decide what you should do.” I held my ground. “No Gianiji. I don’t want to give myself time to change my mind. I had sworn that if the army NISHAAN entered the temple I would renounce Giani Zail Singh and S. Tarlochan Singh with visiting Sri Lankan President at the honours bestowed on me by this Rashtrapati Bhawan 5 6 NISHAAN keep an eyekeep onmy movements. my safety. to Infacthehadbeendeputed Blue Star, who had played aleadingrole in byhe hadbeendeputed GeneralKSBrar, station by an army officer who told me that meout.I wasmetatkeep the railway restricted.But theycould not verywell Temple theGolden to Entrance still was A few days later I visited Amritsar. a small matter”“Such country. wrong ithaddonetotheSikhsand government andthe peoplewhat grievous fromwhichthe oneforum Icouldtellthe of that Iwasnotgoing todeprive myself from theRajya Sabhaaswell.Itoldthem interview measked why Ihadnotresigned an editorialagainstme.Every pressmanwho cameto asbeingaboveregarded communal prejudices,wrote thecountry. Evenenemy of GirilalJain, amanIhad t eb ysd o h aeo tobeby my sidefor the sake of Giani Zail Singh,thefirst (andso far only)SikhPresident ofIndiaatRashtrapati Bhawan Operation Operation Sant JarnailSinghBhindranwale around theGoldenTemple parikrama in dents left by bullets upthe marble andcleaning caused by thearmy. (Workmen werehastily filling I went round the

parikrama

and saw the devastation floor of blood-stains.) Soldiers were still about in he was at the gurdwara every afternoon to hear the considerable strength. Near the rubble that once speeches being delivered there. My name came up was the Akal Takht stood a signboard in English frequently and it was often announced that I would be and Hindi reading, “Smoking and drinking in these coming to the gurdwara to address the congregation. premises is prohibited.” This is what our jawans had We talked for quite a while and I told him of the death been doing after taking over the Temple. When I drew and destruction caused in Amritsar: Zara see baat peh my escort’s attention to it, he ordered the board to aap Sarkar say itney khafaa ho gayey “On such a small be removed. I saw clusters of peasants gazing at the matter you have become so cross with the government”, ruins of the Akal Takht with tears running down their he exclaimed. cheeks. Doordarshan had hauled up a very frightened head-priest, Kirpal Singh, and made him read out a “Zara see baat! Do you know upwards of 5,000 Sikhs statement that very little damage had been caused to were slain in this single operation? You call it zara the buildings: O Kirpala annha see? “Was that Kirpal see baat!” I replied. “Itney Mussulman yeh har saal Singh blind?” people asked. In the central shrine I maar daaltey hain They kill as many Muslims every counted the number of fresh bullet marks. In front of year,” he maintained. I could not resist retorting Aap each there were peasant women in tears of anger, their Mussalmanon ko to maar khaaney kee aadat par gayee mouths full of curses. Inhaan da beej naas hoey!: “May hai : “You Muslims have got used to being beaten their seed perish!” Kuttian dee aulaad!: “Progeny of regularly”; Inshallah! Sikkhon ko bhee par jaygee: “If dogs”. From down below the balcony came the strains God wills Sikhs will also get habituated to it”. of Gurbani. It sounded utterly out of place. “Anti-national ?” For many days parties of Sikh men and women came In my articles and speeches I pleaded with Mrs Gandhi to call on me (in New Delhi) unbidden and without to go to the Golden Temple as a pilgrim and ask for appointment to condole with me. They included well- forgiveness. I assured her that Sikhs were an emotional dressed ladies who spoke in English. A day earlier, people and the gesture would assuage their feeling of Jathedar Rachpal Singh, at the bidding of Home hurt. She allowed herself to be guided by her Home Minister Buta Singh, had called a press conference Minister, Buta Singh. They decided to have the Akal at Hotel Imperial to explain the government’s point Takht rebuilt exactly as it was and in as short a time of view. The press, including foreign journalists, as possible, so that the Temple complex could be had turned up in full force. The Jathedar read out a handed back to the SGPC. Money was no problem. statement and, before allowing questions, asked guests A firm of Sikh contractors, Skipper & Co, owned by to stay on after the conference was over and be his guests one Tejwant Singh, was given a blank cheque to do the for lunch. A lady strode up to the platform and slapped job – including getting the gold to recover the domes. him across the face, knocking off his turban. “You shameless creature! Our Temple has been destroyed and you want to celebrate it with a luncheon party?” The press conference was hastily concluded. This lady, a school teacher, was among those who had called on me.

Asad Farooqi, DCP at the Parliament Road Police Station which included Gurdwara Bangla Sahib, NISHAAN rang me up and asked if he could see me. When we met he told me that Re-building Akal Takht 7 8 NISHAAN h ulcto fthe White Paper.the publication of Istayed in back like you have becomeirrelevant.” Sikhs that today what Isay totheSikhs;Sikhs matters you who tobesuch devout claim let metellallthreeof added, “Ihave never tobeagood claimed Sikh.But acknowledged that hisobservation and wascorrect Santa Singhisamuch betterSikh thanyou are!”I followed itupby saying, “MrKhushwantSingh,Baba the records. Darbara Singh off and should be struck feet toprotestthat my language was unparliamentary Singh Nihang as“afat old buffoon”, they were ontheir When Singh. MinisterDarbara IdescribedSanta Chief Kaur,Amarjeet Hanspal,and the new entrant, ex- withtheCongress: sitting threeSikhmembers of was raisedintheRajya SabhaIhadtofacetheire dutifully showed them onthescreen.When thematter the building. Evening after evening site of Doordarshan to the takingand mortar bricks through the motions of followers who went arrived with amotley bunch of Falstaff-sized man,known tobeaddictedhashish, the community, todothe job. of ul-Qaum, ruler This as aNihangwho describedhimself services of Failing to get anyone respectable to lead it, he hired the building templesthroughvoluntary labour, Santa SinghNihang The main debate on maindebate The Buta Singh was aware of the Sikh tradition of the Sikh tradition of Buta Singh wasaware of Operation Bluestar Operation hadtoawait Kaar Sewa Sultan- . Lamhon nay khataa kee thee kee khataa Lamhon nay Excerpted from the autobiography of Khushwant Singh, of theautobiography from Excerpted commandonhowarmy togo aboutitsjob. who could advise expert to pose as amilitary trying the PCSethiasHomeMinister,replaced jibedat mefor to say onwhat Ihadsaid.NarasimhaRao, who had as “anti-national.” what Iwassaying; shedescribedmy speech of informed Gandhi,sittingintheLokSabha,waskept speech. Mrs to pay the price.” when madeinafew seconds for anerror h ucm f eiu roso judgement, of seriouserrors the outcomeof done thejobandquotedanUrducouplettoillustrate forI criticised the army the ham-handed way ithad denounced thegovernment for what ithadperpetrated. whatever Ihadat oratory my commandandroundly let mehave Iletloose my say interruption. without House, rosetomy to defence andasked the Chairman Jayalalitha,me. whobeen recently had to theelected triedtobarrack party theCongress croniesof start, called ontospeakthe Housewasfull.Right fromthe was view. I When of point official the across put and me hadlineduphishenchmentoheckle party Congress the whip hadresigned.The of then the Akalimembers knew Iwouldbethe only onetospeakagainstit,asby goingand spentlonghours over itagainandagain.I the House till thethe bookfirst copies were of released All the speakerswho spoke aftermehadsomething theOppositionapplauded my Only of members Voh nay gharion taareekh kee deykha bhee waqt “The ages of history have history recorded times ages“The of Truth, Love andaLittleMalice

Sadiyon nay sazaapaayee nay Sadiyon

centuries had

Bluestar: the third ghallughara

June 2018 marked the 34th anniversary of serious fault lines in the Indian society and polity. Operation Bluestar. With one-third of a century To say that there would never be a consensus on how on, how do we describe this action, and what to describe and signify this military action may be 6meaning do we attach to it? Do we describe it, as unreasonable and ahistorical. But to say that there is the Congress ideologists did then, as a holy task little likelihood of a consensus in the foreseeable future undertaken by the Indian military to clear the temple would be alluding to an uncomfortable truth about of the militants who had taken control of it? Or do we the fractured nature of Indian nationhood. However describe it, as some Indian nationalists and Leftists do, this operation is described and whatever meaning is as a sad and necessary action to defeat an imperialist subsequently attached to it, one thing is clear: one conspiracy to disintegrate India? Do we celebrate it, as day, everyone else might want to forget it—and might some Hindu nationalists do, as a successful assertion of succeed in doing so—but this will never be true of the India’s Hindu supremacy against the Sikh minority’s Sikh community. separatist aspirations? Or do we condemn it, as Sikh and Punjabi nationalists do, as a genocidal attack on The third ghallughara Sikh dignity, assertion and identity? Perhaps, we decry Operation Bluestar has become an integral part of the it, as most human rights defenders and Leftists do, as a Sikh collective historical memory. It has become the tragedy resulting in the deaths of thousands of human third ghallughara (holocaust) in Sikh history: the beings – pilgrims, priests, Sikh combatants and Indian first referring to the massacre of some 10,000 Sikhs in army men? 1746; the second to the even larger massacre of Sikh men, women and children in 1762, when 30,000 (nearly NISHAAN The contesting descriptions of Operation Bluestar 50 per cent of the population) were slaughtered in and the meanings attached to it are reflections of Punjab. Today, the available evidence suggests that 9 10 NISHAAN the complicated conflicts of the complicated conflicts of may never of because bedone to come out and that justice maythe truth never beallowed simultaneously troubled that unfounded. However, oneisalso that such ahopeisnot wholly humanhistory of understanding based on an besound grounds heal the wounds, and there can and justicehope thatcan truth this painfulsituation. Onecan tool withwhich todealwith a methodology to study and a accountability andjusticeas truth, forward aposition of be toputBluestar? Itcould loss andpainassociated with destruction, situationcomplex of approach indealingwiththe What shouldbethehumanrights Human rights approach deaths during ardas, orprayers. references tothe third ghallugharainclude intheir daily many (thoughnotall)gurdwaras inIndiaandabroad figures in the daily ardas. too,This, was aloss that today was suddenly located inPakistan. the faith— Nanak, the founder of Guru of marking the birthplace the NankanaSahibgurdwara — loss in1947wasthefactthat the largest Sikhreligious terms, religion.In onand indefence of attacks of are notseeninterms Partition, butthe deaths1947 Sikhsdiedduring larger number of action:amuch themilitary of significance the to dimension religious added givesan twotookplaceonopenbattlefields.the first This inside theGolden Temple, massacreoccurred while theprevious and third ghallughara isthat two this 5,000 to7,000.Yet, differencebetweenthe acrucial h otrlal siae f h oa ubro the totalnumber of mostreliableThe estimates of Operation Bluestar Operation are anywhere from Akali Dal demands—regarding federalAkali decentralisation, Dal demands—regarding settlement with the moderate Akali leadership. Most Gandhi had had alarger vision to reach apolitical could have beenavoided if—andthat isabigif—-Indira it wasamassive humantragedy. Itwasatragedy that conflicts and continuing injustices. intractable isalsofullof pessimism isthat history which creates humanhistory Another dimensionof competing nationalisms implicated inthis tragedy. As for how to think about Bluestar, first and foremost, Every June,OperationBluestar isremembered with angerandangst The 'Third Ghallughara' occurred inside the Golden Temple river water rights, territorial readjustment and the Regarding the demands that led to the Akali agitation of transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab as its capital— the early 1980s, the situation today remains where we were could have been negotiated. In 1985, Rajiv Gandhi back then. As far as accountability for atrocities committed agreed in the Rajiv-Longowal Accord to each of during Bluestar and subsequently during the conflict between these demands, plus many more. It is a different the Indian state and the armed opposition Sikh groups is matter that he implemented none. concerned, one suggestion for an Indian government in the future oriented towards reconciliation could be to take a bold Indira Gandhi’s political calculations—those step in following South Africa’s example of establishing a of using the ‘Hindu card’ for electoral victories— truth and reconciliation commission. led her to deliberately choose a dangerous path of confrontation, first with the Akalis and eventually No one wants history to be repeated. The least anyone with the entire Sikh community. She paid for this can do today is to remember those thousands—pilgrims, miscalculation with her life, but still left Punjab priests, politicians, traders, militants, policemen and and India communally scarred and polarised. Sikh soldiers—who became victims in the tragedy of the third nationalism was defeated militarily, but Hindu Sikh ghallughara. nationalism was unleashed so powerfully that the Pritam Singh NISHAAN Hindu nationalists have succeeded within a few Professor of Economics decades to capture the Indian state. Oxford Brookes Business School, UK 11 12 NISHAAN The burn still hurts O in theOperation. peopledirectlyinvolvedinglorious events of inanobjective andclaims perspective, basedonnarrations of together put to chain the attempts Sandhu Kanwar article, inthis and informed or unbiased are immediatelybeforeon theGoldenTempletranspired andduringtheassault complex.Notallaccounts day.this continues to that bitterness what Many of wellas in India have abroad as of tales heard only wholeA new generation since come up has Punjab ago and… was 34summers scorched historic bonding appeared intrinsic,stoodpolarised. Delhi andelsewhere. HindusandSikhs,whose violence against Sikhs in the National Capital of Prime Minister was killed,spirallingwidespread psyche was bruised. Withinpsyche bruised. was India’s months, history.watershed incontemporary Sikh The peration BluestarinJune 1984marked a Artist's depictionof severe fighting in the Golden Temple complex inJune1984 in 1984, whichin 1984, Bluestar’ path the on set Punjab ‘Operation SViy,adPna he MinisterBeantSingh. AS Vaidya, and PunjabChief assassins’ bullets Chief, werearetiredArmy General and amongtheinnumerable peoplewho fell to decade.Reprisals continued livesto claim for years unimaginable lasting morethan a proportions, of crisisa of throes the into sent theregion Punjab in action stemming violence, this military Insteadof More than three decades later, trauma of that ignomous Operation remains stark, the outrage and bruise may have diminished but has not gone away. The anguish appears to have not only spilled over to the next generations of Sikhs, it has got particularly amplified amongst the Sikh diaspora abroad. Lt Gen Kuldip Singh Brar, who as a Major General had spearheaded the Operation, remains in virtual hiding. Although he lives in the highly secured Colaba area of Mumbai, he was attacked and knifed in London when on a visit there in September 2012. In fact, some recent revelations of the possible involvement of the British Special Forces, the SAS, in the run-up to the 1984 military operation have fuelled British Sikh anger.

Some years back, despite opposition from various Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale at an Amritsar function quarters, the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) succumbed to pressure from radical Gradually, the SAD leadership of Sant Harchand Sikh groups to build a memorial in memory of those Singh Longowal, Gurcharan Singh Tohra and Parkash who died during the Army operation, which triggered Singh Badal, which had taken stringent stand over a demand for another memorial for those who were its demands with the Centre, found itself going along killed by militants. Certain Sikh groups have demanded with the hardliners. The Congress then was plagued that the 1984 events referred to as the third ‘Sikh by rivalry between the factions owing allegiance to the Ghalughara’ (holocaust), the previous ones being in then President of India, Giani Zail Singh, who had 1746 and 1762. earlier been Union Home Minister, and former Punjab Chief Minister Darbara Singh. Political shenanigans Operation Bluestar was the culmination of a series of Referring to the uncertainty in Punjab, former events in the 1970s and 1980s. There was restiveness Punjab Chief Secretary KD Vasudeva says that Giani in the Punjab, emanating from a clash between the Zail Singh had once compared the situation to the mainstream Sikhs and the Nirankari sect in April 1978, strewing of pages of a book come unstuck (“Punjab which worsened over a litany of religious and political vich kitab da varqa-varqa khilrya hoya hai”). demands raised by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). At the same time, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who till the Sikh-Nirankari clash had confined himself to dharam parchar (religious preaching), had by the end of 1983 begun to wrest control of events. By January 1984, the legend of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, popularly referred to as Sant Bhindranwale, had attained a peak. Operating from his headquarters in Guru Nanak Niwas on the outer periphery of the Golden Temple complex, he had come to epitomise the Sikh struggle started in the form of a Dharam Yudh Morcha by the Akali Dal in August 1982. Regarded the Sikh face of the struggle, he would address almost every NISHAAN The perennial Prakash Singh Badal, with Sant Harcharan evening a congregation of hundreds of supporters and Singh Longowal, Gurcharan Singh Tohra devotees at Manji Sahib Diwan Hall in the complex. 13 14 NISHAAN about it. dark the in kept was President the even taken, was complex the storm to decision final the when that claims Singh, Zail President late the of aide thecomplex. wasasked tostorm Sundarji, and the then Western Army Commander, Lt Gen K Parkash Singh Badal. The talks were inconclusive a Congress leader), while the Akali leaders included Mukherjee, laterIndia President(who of was then Pranab was Centre the for negotiated who those Interestingly,Punjab.among in out called was was held on 26 May 1984 six days before the Army Amritsar, the lastsuchmeetingwithAkalileaders Assistant Directorwiththe Intelligence Bureauin an then was officer, who IPS retired a Aulakh, Delhi for secret confabulations. According to MPS to flown and interned been had they where jails were taken times, senior Akali leaders outof of number A emissaries. through Bhindranwale to overturessome even made Centre the off, and On onthe other.on onehandandthe SADleadership behind-the-scenes negotiations between the Centre will never forgive you.” They theSikhs. whichcomplex, theVatican is of him that they shouldnever intothe sendtheArmy they in. I told shouldsendthe Army me to ask if sheMinister, sentthethenI&B HKLBhagat, to launched, was Operation the before days four or Veteran Kuldip journalist Nayar recalls,“Three advisers in. tosend the Army of within her group inearly 1984. supporters armed Bhindranwale moved toAkalTakht withhis power within struggle the Sikh intensified, groups failure.Meanwhile, asthe strong chancesof operation owing tothe dangers involved and in early 1984.Opinionprevailed againstalimited Government and Britain’s elite SAS was sought theBritish that suggest advice of reports and various sending commandos options,including explored IndiraGandhireportedly the complex, Former MP Tarlochan Singh, who was a close close a was who TarlochanSingh, FormerMP hectic by preceded was action military The Indira Gandhi finally succumbed to hardliners Initially uncertain on sendingInitially into the Army uncertain Singh Brar, GOC of 9 Infantry Division in Meerut, was Meerut, in Division Infantry 9 of Brar,GOC Singh the evening31 May, of Major General (later Lt Gen) Kuldip chosen for heading for the Operation Amritsar. started On units Army the Generals, the by May 27 on Operation that themilitantshadonly antiquated guns. presumed It battle. the for preparing while consideration ” country-made grenades. “thousands of 150-200 sten guns, 250 odd rifles, 1500 HE-36grenades, and (LMGs), 25-30 SLRs(self-loadingrifles), 100-125carbines, May 1984, there were 10 light machine guns of CID report the weaponry being of piled up inside the complex. As per a security agencies were able to get a fairly accurate account ammunition into the complex, the Punjab Police and andother arms of inflowprevent to unable were they that Jatha,Kirtani andtheAkalFederation. Althoughclaiming Students Federation, Babbar Khalsa, Dal Khalsa, Akhand Sikh All-India Taksal, Damdami included These groups. had been turned into an armed citadel by different militant for the Panth. confidants and armed guards who had sworn to “do and die” Besides, complex. Bhindranwale of had a group close-knit the within militants of build-up and fortification entire into the complex in March 1984. He was responsible for the out againsthim.HehadjoinedBhindranwaleandmoved made bungling financial of case” “false a alleged, he what Bangladesh. Hewasfeelingwronged dueto, thecreation of to led that war Indo-Pak 1971 the of heroes the of After General Sundarji was given the go-ahead for the for go-ahead giventhe was Sundarji General After Alas, did the not Army take this information into theOperation, theGoldenTemple complex On eve of Major GeneralShabegSingh Shabeg Singh, one Singh, Shabeg MajorGeneral former wasmost important The deserters. army as well aspolice and ex-soldiers were who manycountryside, of volunteers from the swelledhad with Bhindranwale’s ranks Bluestar,Operation months preceding During thesix The build-up called to Chandimandir Cantonment near Chandigarh Martyrdom day of Guru Arjan Dev, when thousands for a conference the following morning where he was of devotees had come especially to the complex. In told to submit his detailed plans to General Sundarji view of the ongoing Dharam Yudh Morcha, a group of by 3 June. It was also decided to seal the border with volunteers had also come from Sangrur to court arrest. Pakistan. Motives have been ascribed to the operation On 1 June, matters had begun to hot up in Amritsar coinciding with the martyrdom day of Guru Arjan Dev. and the CRPF and the BSF, which had occupied The government has explained that its decision was buildings around the Golden Temple complex, began to forced by a number of factors, which included increasing engage the armed militants which had occupied certain incidents of violence; Akali Dal’s plan to take the civil towering structures around the complex in order disobedience movement to the next level by stopping to size up their weaponry and deployment pattern. food grains from Punjab; reports of Bhindranwale By the evening, 11 people had been killed, creating planning to declare Khalistan on or about 10 June and considerable tension. its possible recognition by Pakistan; and intelligence reports of instructions having been issued by militants for killing Hindus in Punjab countryside.

Many Sikhs have refuted the government claims and believe that such an auspicious day was chosen for the attack to “teach Sikhs a lesson”, something that successive governments have denied.

The Army set up tactical headquarters atop a building overlooking the complex. The main offensive was tasked to 350 Infantry Brigade under Brig DV Rao. The four battalions tasked for the main operation being CRPF picquet on rooftop 10 Guards, 26 Madras, 12 Bihar and 9 Kumaon.

On 2 June, then Akali Dal president Sant Harchand The battle Singh Longowal, SGPC President Gurcharan Singh Before dawn on 4 June, while most of the Punjab was Tohra and Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Kirpal Singh met still asleep and a handful of devotees were engaged in to discuss the situation. The Akal Takht Jathedar and the morning rituals, an Army rocket from a shoulder- the Darbar Sahib Head Granthi, Giani Sahib Singh, held launcher slammed into the Akal Takht building issued a strongly worded appeal to the Sikh Panth to at 4.40 am, shattering the serenity of the complex. safeguard the sanctity of Darbar Sahib.

That evening, Indira Gandhi in her address to the nation made no reference of the Army being called out but stated that “the government could no longer remain a silent spectator to the sad happenings in Punjab.” Soon after, at 10 pm, an AIR news bulletin announced that the Army had been called out in view of civil disobedience in Punjab.

With the announcement the previous night, on NISHAAN 3 June the stage was set for the military operation at Overlooking the Darbar Sahib were fortified towers, 15 the Golden Temple complex critically at the time of 18th Century ‘Bungas’ 16 NISHAAN tried tocome out wereshotby militantsfrominside and announcements. Army officialsclaimed that a few who that claimed they hadnotheard the who surrendered any those takersfor theseappeals. Later, many of to come out with theirwere hands hardly raised. There Punjabi, askingallthosestrandedinsidethecomplex district administration wasmakingannouncementsin the area.Towards the theevening, apublicity van of andwhenArmy the tank collapsed, there waspanicin water wereengaged tankadjoiningthecomplex by the off. Militants who had taken uppositionsatop the by the evening, power supply wascut tothe complex landlines then) weredisconnected. a completenewsblackout. Phones(therewereonly and Chandigarhwoke upontoastate-wide curfewand residents. Anhourortwolater, the peopleinPunjab Two more such blasts soonafter woke up the city Intermittent firing continued the whole day and day whole the continued firing Intermittent Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and armed followers at the Golden Temple complex hrmi nrneo the complex. Ghar mainentranceof theGhanta their bodiescouldbeseenlying infrontof brought intomeetany eventuality. Amritsar. werealso maskscanisters Gas andCSgas to brought and airlifted been had NavaldiversEven hadalsoarrived specialweaponry inAmritsar.carrying the Special Frontier Force (SFF)A detachment of however, overruled overnight. andreplaced entrenched, therecouldbeabloody stalemate. Hewas, that since the militantswere highly motivated and well against the way the operation wasplanned and warned PandherGS plans, BSFDIG laid outhis he as argued intently Brar General to listened officers most while Ataconference inAmritsarCantonment, few hours. it believed surgicalstrike wouldbeaquick lastinga Meanwhile, wasbattle-ready the Army for what h tg a e o trigo thecomplex. stage of wassetforThe storming On 5 June morning, Major General Brar visited also automatic fire coming from the slits on the two sides various units taking part in the Operation. Meanwhile, of the staircase at the entrance. Troops trying to gain the heavily fortified militants’ positions atop the two entry from the Langar side were stalled by the militants eighteenth century ‘bungas’ on either side of the entrenched there. In the nearby hostel complex, where Langar building of the complex were bombarded by Akali Dal offices were housed, an unfortunate incident the Army using RCL guns and a 3.7-inch howitzer. was reported. Sometime in the night, when a large This had the salutary effect and on the afternoon of number of men and women had gathered in an open 5 June, about 120 men, women and children came out compound, a grenade was thrown, resulting in the killing of Darbar Sahib with their hands raised. of a large number of innocent people. These included many of those who had come to the complex either Within the complex, while Bhindranwale and to take part in the Morcha or to pay obeisance on the his close associates, including the All-India Sikh occasion of the martyrdom day of Guru Arjan Dev. Students Federation (AISSF) president, Bhai Amrik Singh, stayed put inside Akal Takht, General Shabeg Meanwhile, Army casualties began to mount. After Singh was seen by Army sentries supervising the bitter fighting at every level, the troops managed to fortifications. All five storeys of the Akal Takht gain a foothold in the buildings around Akal Takht. building had been fortified and slits made in the However, not only was Akal Takht holding out, it was marble slabs for firing automatic weapons. bringing heavy fire on the troops lodged around it. Then the reserve troops were inducted. Repeated attempts to It was at 7 pm on 5 June that General Brar issued storm Akal Takht were repulsed. The CS gas canisters “operational instructions” for Operation Blue Star. lobbed at the heavily fortified Akal Takht proved These said the operation would be in three phases: ineffective. Then, APCs were wheeled in, followed by clearing the militant morchas around the complex, tanks to cause ‘shock and awe’ on the militants. The capturing the terrorists through simultaneous military ‘zenon’ lights on the tanks were switched on to blind the action and then repairing the damaged buildings militants, but to no avail. before resuming the religious services. Nearly 50 gurdwaras in Punjab were also to be “searched.” It was then that General Sundarji, who was watching Part of the operation in Amritsar was to secure the from his command post outside the complex and listening sanctum sanctorum, Harmandar Sahib, by getting to the communications on his radio set, got desperate. divers and commandos to swim across the holy sarovar. With troops suffering heavy casualties, a stalemate stared him in the face. With daylight just an hour away, he The plan was based on an assessment that there feared the possibility of thousands of villagers marching were about 2,000 militants inside the complex, of in to the Golden Temple. Meanwhile, one of the APCs which about 500 were ‘hardcore’. Six to eight heavy in the ‘parikarma’ heading for Akal Takht had been tanks, eight BMP infantry carrying vehicles (ICVs) immobilised by a rocket. General Sundarji then called up and three armoured personnel carriers (APCs) were Delhi for permission to use the main gun of the tanks to deployed around the complex. It was decided that silence the militants in Akal Takht. A little after 5.00 am, in addition to the battalions earmarked for the New Delhi gave the green signal to use the main tank gun Operation, elite troops of 1 Para Commando and the and at dawn, two of the tanks targeted Akal Takht with SFF (the secret Establishment 22) would also take 105-mm high-explosive squash heads, General Brar told part in the main assault. Troops of 9 Garhwal and 15 me later that they had fired about 20 rounds at the Takht. Kumaon battalions were kept in reserve. While this silenced all opposition from Akal Takht, the use of tanks continues to be a rankle to this day. The Golden Temple complex was stormed at 10.30 pm on 5 June. The attacking troops surmounted Around 8.30 am some people came out of the NISHAAN tremendous opposition from militant battlements complex. While some made a dash for the sarovar, a few atop the Ghanta Ghar entrance of the complex and went for the buildings around. They were all killed by the 17 18 NISHAAN DDT powder wassprinkled on them, which made it which were bloated, werestinking. manybodies, of Goraya Singh Onkar “The recalls: then), colonel (a Brig it. in floating bodies had nectar’) of house (‘the was terrible stink inthe air and the holy sarovar sun heat the and in putrefied There over hours. 48 the thebodieshad was extremely difficult.Someof be evacuated inanAPC. priority. Itwasonly by that they could the afternoon rooms, andtheir evacuation wastheArmy’s topmost the Theyhadbeensecuredinoneof the complex. SinghRamoowalia, although safe, were still inside SantLongowal,Dal leaders GS Tohra andBalwant Akali hadotherworries. secured. ButtheArmy 6June, hadbeen the Complex By aboutthe noonof Complications and SLRs. LMGs, launchers, rocket-propelled grenade including 927weapons were recovered from the complex, of alsoannouncedthat Army challenged. atotal The However, complex. the figures official these have been were apprehended from persons 1,592 of Atotal 86. and five children among them. Civilians wounded were civilians,women 30 killed,were492, militants including The officers. 13 including wounded, were armymen 248 of total A officers. four including personnel, 83 lost Army the government, the by out given figures According tothe the complex. placed at entrance of strapped and pistol identified was it, to customary his Bhindranwale, which had body The the complex. of announced that wasincompletecontrolof the Army President GianiZailSingh visited the complex. bodyThe wasdiscovered only on8June, theday the room asbattle raged outside. of a sheetincorner was. Hediedsoonafterandhisbody lay covered with Akal Takht, where Bhindranwale into the basement of wascarried Singhhadbeenonthe‘parikarma’, Shabeg success:aninjuredGeneral had gainedanunexpected they a breakthrough, make to difficult it finding were later thatlearnt earlier in thenight when thetroops Singh, were among those killed in the group. Army The troops. Bhindranwaleandhisassociate, BhaiAmrik Removal of the dead and injured from the complex thedeadandinjuredfromcomplex Removal of It wasaround5.00pmon6June that GeneralBrar including inthe latestincluding book by Brigadier Goraya, been documentedinvarious eyewitness accounts, the Operation have notbeeninquiredinto. have These the years isthat excesses allegedly committed during What hascontinued toanger theSikhcommunity over Excesses not probed unbearable.” was DDT and flesh decaying of cocktail The worse. rmtdi ep f10to15. cremated inheaps of werecrudely were cremated others rituals, withproper hisassociates,Singh, BhaiAmrikSinghandThara of recalls BrigadierGoraya. While Bhindranwaleandtwo carried,” being firewood awaylike carried and trucks garbage weredumpedinto “Bodies thebodies. from thewristwatches valuables other and keeping taken When they hesitated, they weregiven theincentive of sweepers. municipality local the summoned officials Anguished peopleinspectdamagedbuildingsoftheComplex Since the Army had referred toremove hadreferred Since theArmy the bodies, Troops with ‘Prisoners ofWar ’ inthestreets ofAmritsar who had as a colonel then led the Army team which An Army Court of Inquiry also confirmed instances evacuated the Akali Dal leaders from the complex. He of looting of household goods by some jawans from said that on the morning of 6 June when he had gone houses around the complex. The Sikh Reference into the complex, he was told by the Akali leaders, Library, which was repository of about 1,500 rare including Balwant Singh Ramoowalia that they had manuscripts and artefacts, was destroyed after seen people being made to sit along a wall and then shot the Operation, which has further infuriated the the previous night. Brig Goraya also narrated another community (see The Sikh Forum’s communication to incident of a young officer shooting an arrested person the Government). in cold blood. He said he was witness to an injured person being killed by an irate jawan on the evening The aftermath of 6 June. As news of Operation Bluestar spread, there was a megaton fall-out. While Darbar Sahib, the sanctum A question that has persisted even after 30 years sanctorum, was intact, Akal Takht, seat of Sikh is whether many people were killed with their hands temporal authority, had suffered irreparable damage tied behind, which referred to an Associated Press as its edifice had all but crumbled. Since the Punjab (AP) report on 14 June 1984, which said, “Sikh rebels Governor, BD Pande, had expressed himself against tied and shot”. The post-mortem reports of some the Operation, he resigned soon after. Author-journalist of the people killed with gunshots did mention that Khushwant Singh and the founder of Pingalwara in their hands were tied behind their back. General Brar Amritsar district, Bhagat Puran Singh, returned their categorically denied that any one was shot after being Padma awards. lined up with hands tied. He, however, admitted in his book that some people who had been detained were The Army operation resulted in instant polarisation. fired upon when they tried to escape. The Golden Temple was hitherto the binding force

Heart-rending image of the Akal Takht, badly damaged by tank and artillery fire NISHAAN

19 20 NISHAAN hsi h klTkto today.this istheAkalTakht of structure throughamassivestructure voluntary communitywas dismantled.The then raisedanew sponsored through a governmentwas sought to be repaired that thedamaged AkalTakht building, which this issuecontinues torankle to thisday. and the SGPChonouredthe ‘dharami faujis’,but swayedthe deserters by AkaliDal emotions.The forced tochange itsstancetowards themajorityof Defence was dismissed from service, of the Ministry andwere tried many by martial deserters court India.” Though bysupported the Government of and traditions,which have beenapproved and onhis religious tenantsis essentially nurtured, other religiousdenominations in the IndianArmy, fact that like “he(Sikhsoldier), hiscomradesof the of inthecontext shouldbeunderstood soldiers theSikh that Hefelt Sikh troops. of theactions the deserting shocked anddefendedthe actionsof the Sikh Regiment, LtGen Harbaksh Singh, was of Army, Colonel at leastfor legendary sometime.The the impendingactions. inthe darkkept of command failure:the troopsshouldnothave been Regiment officer, attributes to thedesertions wereinjured. his twodeputies Cheema, wereattacked. While Brigadier Puridied, Jagdev Col deputies, his two HS Col and Singh Regimental CentreinRamgarh, BrigSCPuri,and theSikh of Commandant The deserters. 3,000 unitsinvolvingin aboutonedozen morethan collective insubordination (mutiny) instances of SikhRegiment, therewere The 9th battalion of with the unitsthe Army with Sikh troops. Starting the Operation onsomeof fallout wasthe effectof affront. action,the Sikhssawin themilitary itasaterrible the Hindus saw justification while the majority of amongst theSikhsandHindus.Afteroperation, uhwsteagro theSikhcommunity theangerSuch was of the incidentsshatteredThe thevery ethos of Major GeneralCharanjitSinghPanag, aSikh But what wasperhaps themostdisturbing kar seva b iagcifSanta Singh, by Nihangchief kar seva and and compared”. feasible. not inlets was Also, operations thetwo can’t be all “Plugging But GeneralBrarrefutessuchsuggestions, therightlessonsfrom1984Operation. in 1988,hadlearnt thisnature hadbeenavoided.” do this.Iwishataskof that Icouldhave done. Ihave always that Ihadto regretted the GoldenTemple. isnothing better There and comeoutof possible.theextent Iwish he(Bhindranwale) had seen reason to weresafeguarded religiousimportance sure that placesof thathad said,“Imadesure minimalforceused. Imade was order. outalegitimate do —carry Inadetailedinterviewhe General Brarinsiststhat hedidwhat wasrequiredto soldier a Alternatives in Chowk Mehta. Bhindranwalefromhis headquarters involved of inthearrest and J&K.Hehadin1981 prevented from getting theArmy Western Assam Commander Army and later Governor of LtGen SKSinha,former Operation andiscredible isthat of hindsight.The benefit one of which was made much before the thecomplex. the layout of wereunfamiliar with Operation. Mosttroopsthat tookpart outthe aBrigadiertocarry together underthe commandof undercriticism. Units from variousformations were brought hideout inAbbottabad inPakistan in2011. the US SEALS while picking out Osama Bin Laden from his also advocate a“topdown approach”, which wasused by have beenattempted fromthenarrow alleys behind it.Some out Security Guards,which carried about fighting in built-up areas.” He said that the National towhatconducted justcontrary you aretaughtinthe Army Operation was through.The an Operation which wasrushed was leading his commandos “This inthe Operation, narrated, into the complex.” We couldhave pluggedallinletsfor water andfood going Operation wasnotneeded.We shouldnothave orderedit. Divisionthe 15th Infantry inAmritsar, had stated, “The General Jagdish SinghJamwal, who wasthencommanding Some officers feel that storming of Akal Takht should Takht Akal of storming that feel officers Some However, there aremany who feelotherwise.Major However, thesesuggestionsaremadewiththe mostof command hasalsocome Breaking thehomogeneity of Lt Gen PC Katoch, who asamajorwasinjured while Operation BlackThunder Operation

Following this experience, General Sinha had a religious place having weapons of war like rocket laid down a procedure for conducting operations in launchers, machine guns and grenades? Even after religious places. “Had this procedure been followed three decades a closure awaits the event. Says Gurpreet even remotely, things would have been very different,” Singh of the Institute of Sikh Studies, Chandigarh, he explained to me in an interview. He said that as per "We demand an inquiry under the aegis of the United his plan, the Army would have involved the local Sikhs Nations into the entire gamut of issues relating to the to see what the Army was doing. There would have been Operation. In its absence, the newer generation of TV coverage. A temporary gurdwara would have been Sikhs, especially abroad, is at a loss to understand the established outside and Bhindranwale and his people event. The anger instead of diminishing is rising." would have been asked to come out and offer prayers. “If still we were forced to go in, all troops taking part Will an apology or regret help? Says Ashok Singh in the Operation would have offered prayers at the Bagrian, a Sikh scholar, “It sure will. If the British temporary gurdwara before going in. And when you Prime Minister could express regret for the Jallianwala enter, use minimum force. And if it takes one day or Bagh massacre and Canadian PM apologise for two days, so be it. You should be patient.” the ‘Komagata Maru’ incident, why can’t our own government?” Chaman Lal, a historian, feels that an Lt Gen SK Sinha was soon superceded and in 1983, apology by the government endorsed by all political General Vaidya became the Army Chief. The rest is history. parties could mitigate the anger. But, he asks, "Will vested political interests allow that to happen?" He Looking for a Closure also feels that since religion has an overriding influence Operation Bluestar throws up some uncomfortable in our society, it would be difficult to bring about a questions for the Sikh community too, especially closure in any real sense. "Perhaps with the passage of its leaders. While the government can be time, the event will get relegated to the pages of blamed for using excessive force, history," he adds. including the use of tanks, and carrying out the Operation This article first appeared in on an auspicious day, can ‘The Tribune’ the community justify NISHAAN

The Akal Takht today 21 22 NISHAAN uigtetruettmso teegte n ieiso the20 theeightiesandninetiesof response Sikh during theturbulent timesof the and mind Hindu the into insight deep a offers and conflict Indo-Sikh the of genesis the thePunjab. explores Hisbook,inPunjabi, of history contemporary of intoananthology transforming is what third his in of book more for others and Sikhs toanswer several raises and theSikhs agitating CatastropheIn hisbook, 1984-Unimagined Book Review 1984: Who, What,andHow Why , activist-writer Ajmer Singh reviews many questions many , activist-writer Ajmer Singh reviews W as they accept the martyrdom of Baba Deep Singh Singh Deep Baba of martyrdom the accept they as 1984 with the same spirit of martyrs of martyrdom chose it? Why are Sikhs today unwilling to he accept the did Or ground? fighting the as Complex Sahib Why Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale chose Darbar Sahib? Darbar of status theo-political the is What theaverage as GoldenTemple Sikh? inthemindsof What is the Darbar statusSahib, of popularly known neutral? establishment Indian the Is state? Indian the nationalism? What istheethniccharacterof etn fits destiny of political history contemporary insight intothelabyrinthine lanesof an offers and 1984 post and pre relations, Hindu Sikh- of gamut entire the analyses Singh Ajmer political theoristandactivist of inthepersona and bu h eouino about the the political resolution conflictof and the undecided seems and struggle the of nuances with terms to coming still is freedom-struggles of pyre which despite its losing children thousands to of the nation, Sikh the confronts that conflict eternal the of exposition and evidence analysis, depth in- book, chapter 12 this in offers Singh Ajmer off-tangent, go argument the letting without and apologetic being without words, mincing Without rights. human and equality social of domain the in articles newspaper and monographs through author,an contributeextensivelydid he though of Ajmer Singh has recently donned the mantle book, new his In

his th century.

compatriots? state a protector and promoter of Hindu Hindu of promoter and protector a state Indian the is How conflict? Indo-Sikh the hy did1984happen? What isthegenesis of peoples.

of

the

1984-Unchitvaya Kehar,1984-Unchitvaya

Punjab.

the The 432–page book, well-produced by the Amritsar- fondly recalled as the ‘Golden period’ of Sikh history. based publishers Singh Brothers, with an attractive He offers example after example as to how Sikhs at the and relevant title is essentially on 1984: past, present time of Diwali and Baisakhi, unmindful of death that and future. Likely to upset many and enrage others, stalked them at every step, reached the sacred holy the book does some plain speaking about the role of tank surrounding the sanctum sanctorum of Darbar the Government of India, the Akali leaders and those Sahib, rejuvenating their commitment to Sikhism and Sikhs who were entrenched in high positions in the if required to attain martyrdom to defend their faith. government, but who not only failed to understand the pain of the Sikh people, but in fact colluded In his characteristic pithy, visionary, logical and and conspired with the perpetrators who were fully direct approach, Ajmer Singh has raised the bar of prepared, armed and clear about “teaching Sikhs a political debate on what is commonly construed as lesson”. This not in the commonly perceived sense of the Punjab problem, enabling readers and activists temporary political retribution for an adverse political to be critically aware rather than to take things for act or set of acts, but to browbeat and subjugate them granted. Whether dealing with the character of Sant so that they do not raise the “ugly head” of “unique Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale or the role of BJP leader identity, opposition, revolt and rebellion.” Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the author does not resort to compartmentalising his thoughts in any particular mould and idiom. His stance throughout the book remain uncompromising.

Apart from some English historians, not many have had the courage to mention that it was only the Sikhs who did not relent anytime in history when their holiest of holies–Darbar Sahib–was attacked. Ajmer Singh categorically mentions in the book that it is the unique theo-political status of Darbar Sahib, which non-Sikh minds have failed to comprehensively comprehend, lies at the root of the problem. He further goes on to say that perhaps others cannot decipher the problem, and that “you have to be born Sikh to understand the Author of ‘1984–Unimagined Catastrophe’, Ajmer Singh Sikh psyche in so far as it relates to Darbar Sahib.” It According to the author, rationale for the book is failure to understand this and its entire ramifications emulates the words of scholar Howard Zinn, who says which led Mrs. Indira Gandhi to storm the Golden that, “When you take interest in the past, it ceases to Temple with the might of the Indian Army, says remain the past and becomes the present; therefore to the author. understand the present, go back centuries or into the future, as it is required to uncover the dimensions of Another question which has baffled the ‘Hindu’ the whole problem in perspective.” This is precisely mind and the Western scholar alike is the Sikh tradition what Ajmer Singh has done. He has traveled deep into of martyrdom. To simplify, Ajmer Singh says that “a history, tracing the unique status of Darbar Sahib and Sikh is not necessarily always ready to die under all the tradition of martyrdom amongst the Sikhs. circumstances and at the call of anyone and everyone.” However, when any issue, problem or incident or event In the early chapters, Ajmer Singh comprehensively relates with the Gurus, Guru Granth Sahib, Gurbani, dwells on why Darbar Sahib fascinates every Sikh history of the Gurus, then there is no compromise for -believer, agnostic, the undecided. He uncovers layer the Sikh. In view of his unique relationship with the NISHAAN after layer of Sikh history from the medieval times Guru, a Sikh is ready to sacrifice self and family at the which although a period of repression for the Sikhs, is altar of faith. This explains the swelling of numbers 23 24 NISHAAN of systemic crisis of the Indian state, the crisis of the of crisis the state, Indian the of crisis systemic of sum-total was it situation, the of perspective in but emergency? this genesis of whatthe understand ableto been not has Hindu “the that said who Malik Harji activist, liberties civil the quotes author The point. the miss likelyto than more is gains pecuniary and strife political unemployment, of terms in explanation worldly a only seek to trying state. Indian the of reach and strength the Bluestar, post-Operation to bemartyred continued thousands and complex Sahib Darbar the in him with die to chose hundreds why is fear.This without religion of banner the uphold to youth Sikh the exhorted Bhindranwale Singh Jarnail Sant when against Sikhsfor their roleinthe ill-conceived national anger revenge by IndiraGandhi onthebasisof of “Was the code-named “Wasthe

Inamicrosenseitmay have beenpersonal

conflict

is.”

a war a Bluestar Operation umnflo of unmindful

An yone this the mission part to of create a monolithic h a encnitdo who moral had been convicted of with examples, facts and rulers of the time that the attack on Darbar Sahib is Sahib Darbar on attack the that time the of rulers the of perception the was leadership…..it political Indira’s and legitimacy Indian state andthecrisesof ocmrhn h iesoso theproblem and tocomprehend the dimensions of intellectuals and intelligentsia Sikh so-called the of failure abject and interest of lack silence, the by disturbed particularly is author the detail, great in stressed been has leadership Akali of attitude the to state.parry onslaught of While the nincompoop the Sikhintelligentsia andthe sincerityof leadership even delivering a suspended sentence to the police chief and happen to things allowing spectator…..silently to groups act extrajudicially, the judiciary was a mute vigilante had they that declared openly had Gill KPS chief police then though evenPunjab, the of case in been declared illegal by the respective High Court, but governmentChattisgarh the has Judum,of vigilantes Salwa them. of one just take us let but examples, used. This aspect has been extensively dealt in the book “a foreign hand” was ruthlessly sections, the bogey of all of support get to Tocontinue unison. in and force full with state Indian the behind rallied bureaucracy state…judiciary,forces, the armed of components all and India of hinterlands the in people the street, the on man the exception, without parties political all Singh says that Indian all society–thespheres of media, Ajmer history”, with “loaded as described been has removeto precisely launched were 1984 eventsof the and abovemission the stated to threat a as construed was spirit Khalsa the revivalismof in resulting Bhindranwale Singh Jarnail Sant of propagation religious the and Dal Akali Shiromani party political the assimilation. activities The of continuing trend of it, there was on diversitythe face of but in actuality, a target was the a buildingsingle of Indian nation, where Enumerating eventthe period which after event of After the savage 1947, (for the Punjab) partition of h uhras usin optnyo The the author Akali also questions competency of many are There collude? judiciary the did How

challenge.

citations.

turpitude.

Indian

state.”

mind set….his strategies…. we have to neutralise his methods of persuasion, pressure and persecution.

The pogrom of November 1984 should be viewed in this perspective…it was not an aberration, but a premeditated plan, executed with cool calculation, with full support and coordination of many sections of Hindu society.

The book also deals with how the country’s December offer solace and solutions. He attributes the lack 1984 elections were unprecedented how the entire of clarity, confusion and negativity of the Sikh electoral campaign was focused on the Sikhs, even in response to this lacuna and rues the fact that such areas where Sikhs were in insignificant numbers and apathy still continues. how the verdict was an endorsement of the pogrom against the Sikhs in Delhi and eighty other places Unforgiving, the author who throughout his years which had taken place barely four weeks before. of political activism was able to understand the nature of this section of Punjab society from close The book concludes with the Hola Mohalla in March quarter, provides a thorough analysis of why the 1985 at Anandpur Sahib where a sea of humanity from Sikh intelligentsia failed, what were their priorities all parts of Punjab descended in an unprecedented and how they continued to be swayed with the wind manner to raise the banner of defiance against of Indian nationalism, overriding peoples’ basic and the Indian state. Kesri turbans and dupattas were fundamental rights and distinct religious identity. overwhelming in the White City of Anandpur Sahib, So, according to the author, it was understandable showing the true spirit of the Khalsa in fighting back that under such circumstances, the Sikh response was such onslaught. spontaneous, emotional, purely confrontationist and at times, directionless. The author has acclaimed the role played by Ragis and Dhadis of the Sikhs, who in this period of acute The catastrophic times continued for the Sikhs and extreme crisis and fear, virtually took to the till the 1990s and beyond. Ajmer Singh says that the streets and bolstered the morale of the community genocide of November 1984 was just the culmination of through references to Gurbani and Sikh history. events started in June 1984; it was part of a continuum. Their contribution, according to the author has not He writes in the book, “This has been studied in been adequately acknowledged. relationship to the holocaust of the Jews …this incident was not an aberration….it is the tendency of the Hindu Summing up all aspects of the catastrophe to dwarf, undermine and dilute the distinct identity that struck the Sikhs, Ajmer Singh writes that of the Sikhs, so when you assert that, he reacts.” Vis- “whatever happened was unbelievable, unimaginable, à-vis the Sikhs, if the goal is assimilation, he reacts unforgettable and unforgivable.” violently….it started from the rejection of janeu by NISHAAN Guru Nanak at the age of 9….the Hindu’s objective Jagmohan Singh is assimilation, so we need to understand the Hindu (From World Sikh News) 25 26 NISHAAN O civil power’, tobe handed over to the General. Mr Pooni askedready us tokeep theletter for usual ‘Armyto aid arriving at 6.30pmtomeethiminthisconnection.He Western would be LtGen KSundarji, Command, Golden Temple at Amritsarand that the GOC-in-C the in ensconced terrorists the out flush to Army the at 6pm.Hetoldusthat ithadbeendecidedtocallin Punjab Raj Bhavan at Chandigarhon2June 1984 (Mr ASPooni)me and the Home Secretary tothe Operation Bluestar Operation First Person account by Chief Secretary of the Punjab in 1984, ofthePunjab in1984, Person account by ChiefSecretary First Minister, Punjab Governor Mr BD Pande called perhaps he hadbeensummoned by the Prime n return fromavisittothecapital, where return KD Vasudeva recalls decision incompliancewith the direction. had mostreluctantly toputhissealonthat fateful calculated to terrorise thecivilcalculated toterrorise populaceincluding otherincidentsState. Besides, therehadbeensundry bus passengers (Hindus)inthe selective killingsof of incident first the wake of in 1983 October 6 on office Singh. Hetendered his resignation and demitted SardarDarbara of Ministership during theChief Punjab toGovernment Secretary of as the Chief witness tosince9June 1982when Ihadtaken over hswstecliaino aprocessIhad been wastheculminationThis of Chief Minister S. Darbara Singh with aides in Chandigarh bomb explosions, attacks on policemen, random Amritsar on 4 August1982 and expanded it to become shooting of bystanders in market places and so on. ‘dharam yudh’ (crusade) morcha for their demands Earlier on there had been mischievous attempts to including that about river waters. It was also supported incite communal passions by throwing meat/cigarettes by Bhindranwale. in or around temples and gurdwaras, respectively. After the 1978 clash between Nirankaris and a Meantime, factional fights of the Congress Party group of orthodox Sikhs, led by Sant Jarnail Singh were in their heyday. It was widely known that there Bhindrawale, in which three Nirankaris and twelve was no love lost between Sardar Darbara Sigh and Sikhs had been killed, the Nirankari Baba (Gurbachan Giani Zail Singh, who had since been elevated to the Singh) had been killed on 24 April 1980 at Delhi. Home Ministership of India (later, President of India Thereafter, Lala Jagat Narain of the Hind Samachar at the time of the Operation) in the game of one group of newspapers was murdered on 9 September upmanship between the two. Giani ji clearly had the 1981 for his bold and fearless editorials which were upper hand and lost no chance to run down S Darbara severely condemnatory of terrorists. Singh. On one of my visits to the North Block to meet a colleague in the Home Ministry, a chance encounter Analyses galore have appeared over the years, those with a member of his personal staff, who had earlier on the political background and events leading upto served under me, led to the gratuitous setting up of the Operation Bluestar. Suffice to say that compulsions an unsolicited interview with the Home Minister. He of out-of-power Akalis to launch a ‘morcha’ against graciously asked me to get in touch with him directly the Government had received a boost, virtually a New in future on the phone or otherwise, since the Punjab Year gift, when peremptorily on 31 December 1981, situation, in his view, resembled the helter-skelter the Prime Minister had announced a decision on the strewing of unstuck pages of a book (‘Kitab da varka distribution of Ravi and Beas river waters between varka khillarya hoya hai’). Naturally I had post haste the three states of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. to get back to Chandigarh to prevent any suspicion of This was perceived as discriminatory against and my politicking with the Chief Minister’s arch-enemy ! detrimental to the interests of the Punjab. Inevitably followed the ‘Nehar Roko Morcha’ from the border After the resignation of S Darbara Singh, NISHAAN village of Kapuri in Sangrur district in April 1982. President’s Rule was imposed by the Centre and This, for tactical reasons, the Akalis later shifted to Governor BD Pande took over on 10 October 1983 27 28 NISHAAN that the problem waspolitical, in approach. It wasthe conviction found itrather hardtodigest this the proudPunjab Administration problem andthelaw &orderfront, Centre. Leaving asidethe terrorist the at briefing induction their of mayright. This have been the result shambles andthat they hadtosetit Punjab Administration wasin came with the mindset that the neutrality. Advisers The generally efficiency, and political integrity Hewasrenownedsupport. for his did notneedmuch administrative India,perhaps the Government of having in Secretary beenCabinet himself Pande Mr officers. experienced and able all his duties, to assistMr Pande inthe discharge of India Advisers wereappointed by the Government of political andtheadministrative levels. Anumber of withthe Centreat rapport both the of was thelack ours mentioned tohimthenthat amajorproblem of on transfer fromWest Bengal.Irememberhaving “Deceptive calm”: The Punjab Raj Bhawan at Chandigarh political dissimulation! could hardly beaneffective remedy for their masters’ bureaucratsthe Central at theadministrative levels genieinthe bottle.”Tinkering back bythe “terrorist be the foremost requirementwaspoliticalwilltoput both at the Centre and inthe State. What appeared to then ruling Party itself the Congress fact acreation of Entrance to HallBazaar inAmritsar holies amongst shrines of the Sikh faith by not only the devout but also the non-practising Sikhs. The trauma of such a man-inflicted wound upon the Sikh psyche could unleash a reaction of violent retribution.

Another Adviser deputed by the Governor to sort out a tricky terrorist-related situation in a Malwa town had reported a happy outcome in the evening, whereupon His Excellency the Governor held an impromptu dinner at Raj Bhavan to celebrate the achievement. Later on, the Adviser’s report was found to have been “economical with the CRPF jawans outside the Golden Temple truth.” Incidentally, during the currency of the Operation, perhaps The ‘Advisers’ were mostly retired or serving IAS/ on its very first evening, it fell to this writer’s lot to IPS officers. All of them obviously enjoyed a high convey to the same Adviser the Governor’s order “to degree of credibility and clout at the Centre. Pooni and leave Chandigarh at once” on demitting office; upon I had at times found answers to our posers at official his demurring, to re-convey His Excellency’s insistence level meetings at Delhi rather difficult to decipher. upon its immediate compliance. The case was now expected to be different with the Adviser(s) dealing with law & order. May be he/they By-passing the seniormost Police officers within had political insights and inputs which were valuable the state, heads of the Punjab Police to tackle the in the current scenario? One has a vague feeling, to this situation were chosen, one after the other, by the Centre day, that tendering of informal advice to the Central and deputed to the Punjab, with high expectations authorities, behind the back of the Governor, was not and mixed consequences. The Police force, or officers, even beyond them. That Operation Bluestar may have could not be blamed in the absence of clear and visible also had its incubation in such informal soundings may be an unfair surmise–but it persists.

While discussing the issue of posting an IAS officer as Deputy Commissioner at Amritsar, the Adviser (Home) had suggested to me that compliance with orders without asking questions should become the hallmark of the prospective incumbent even in a situation where, for example, the Golden Temple had to be entered into. I had then expressed the view that, leaving aside the abstract desideratum, the specific contingency would be not just a physical entry, but a step into the dark ages of history. This view was NISHAAN based on the consideration that such an act would be 29 construed as a horrible desecration of the holiest of Troops inside the Golden Temple 30 NISHAAN In factthisinformation usedtobeupdated and smuggled into, hoardedorbuilt upinsidethe Temple. inside the Golden Temple had which the terrorists about arms, the armament and extent fortifications of information HS Randhawa did have afair amount of theOperation. IG(CID) The State Police oneve of the Intelligence the from of sought Wing was briefing to make twopoints.Oneisthat, sofarasIknow no written aboutthisallength.However Iwouldlike haveBluestar, competentprofessionalsandothers the Operation itself. wasorderingof course, drama of spontaneously forthcoming. ultimate actinthe The events too, Central guidance or direction was freely and equipped for crisesor task.Inother themomentous adequately policedidnotevenThe consideritself action. of at course sucha against was Chandigarh entry. Inany case,theconsensusthatof hademerged idea any abandon later,to and instructions; further Secretary, Cabinet for wait the to through first Delhi, werereceived instructions mind, telephonic fromNew before thePunjabGovernment couldmake upits and isupheld byunderstood, the higher ups.Here, involved andthe general policybeingwellknown and the timefactor spot at thelocallevel itself, becauseof circumstances,suchadecisionistakenon the normal Kumar hadonceenteredtheTemple In inhotpursuit. Punjab too, the police under Mr Ashwinipartition criminals.Perhaps inpost- the law of orinhotpursuit grave violation of onoccasionsof worship places of thePolice having entered Punjabof pre-partition culprits andnabthem. Exampleswereavailable from the Police shouldenterthe Temple of ‘inhotpursuit’ on 23April whether 1983,itwas debated ornotthe down by frominside the Golden Temple terrorists downwards, Politicking canneither inspirenordeliver. thepoliceforce fromthetop theethosof permeate only when discipline,dedication andprofessionalism theforce by of beundertaken risks can members force itself,generalwith the as gravepopulace, personal the within some sections of commanding allegiance misguideddesperadoesand highly motivated bandof ‘warby witha othermeans’replete a situation of command.In political directive andany unityof In regard to the role of the Army in the Army tothe role of In regard When DIGJalandhar Range ASAtwal,was gunned Operation is happening? Were you asleep?”] they huay Kya aapsoay accosted MrPande thus“ after. While getting down fromhisaircraft,theGiani toreceiveairport, thePresident,who followed quickly enough the Governor Mr BD Pande landed at the TempleGolden seethesituation to for himself. Soon was scheduled toreach inalittle while tovisitthe India,GianiZailSingh, received that the Presidentof fromthere inthe evening,to return amessage was about While report. first-hand a for Amritsar visit to On the8 for interrogation. a fewincarcerated for longperiodsinthe Jodhpur jail unnecessarily, being innocents quite roundedupand of the Operation,ledtoalarge This number conduct of known norfully appreciated by inthe theArmy had thronged theTemple. factwaseithernot This Sikh devotees fromthe countryside a large number of the sacreddays in the lunar calendaronwhich one of theOperation was redress. Foror D-dayinstance, of rectification for force field the of notice to anything and even frombringing theState headquarters authorities, thusdisabling theDistrictAdministration withthecivil communication weretotally cutoff Singh). who hadbeencashiered (GeneralShabeg led by genius, earlieraprofessionalsoldier amilitary instance daredevilrythis committed in motivation of perhapsArmy tendstounder-rate thedare-devil Bangladesh in1971).Anefficientandprofessional thorough homework leadingtosuccessinliberating (IPKF inSriLanka which contrastedhistory with later in repeat a find perhaps and preparation flawed compliance withthe Centraldirective asthe causeof Uncharitable criticsmay faultthe Army’s tooready the decisionaboutthe Operation that prevented this. such anOperation. Perhaps itwasthe suddenness of of the Temple precinctswouldhave taken placeontheeve about briefing specific course, normal the In general. periodic interaction with us about the situation in P&HP area [Generals Dayal and Gaur]used tohave and Command the Western from officers on, Earlier submitted tohigher authorities fromtime totime Operation Bluestarlastedfrom2 Operation secondaspectrecalledisthat meansof The th or9 th o June, by Iwasdeputed theGovernor of ?” [“MrPande, what isthis that Pande horahahai Sahibkya nd to6 th June 1984. ? As the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, the President was presumed to have authorised the Army’s Operation Bluestar. But it was he himself who was now indirectly questioning the need for it. If he was kept in the dark by the Prime Minister (since disillusioned about his role in the entire series of events) that was matter between him and her. So far as the Governor was concerned, he had made honest attempts at the political and other levels to avert the catastrophe. It was believed that the Government of India’s draft White Paper on the Operation had originally passed on the blame to the Punjab Government for the entire saga but when Mr Pande protested against being made the scapegoat, this was amended.

Many would surely like to question as to whether the Punjab Government/ Administration was entirely blameless in the chain of events in the build-up to the Operation. My answer is: no, it was not. As the Chief Minister of Punjab during the early seventies (1971-77) Giani Zail Singh had been adept at doing one better than the Akalis by initiating, one after the other, symbolic moves to capture the imagination of the Sikh masses, for instance Guru Gobind Singh Marg, Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar, and others. Such political acumen was not in evidence in the staunch secularist successor of his from the very same Congress Party who was Chief Minister S Darbara Singh.

On the administrative front, the failure to President of India Giani Zail Singh visiting the Golden Temple check smuggling of arms etc. into the Golden just days after Operation Bluestar Temple in ‘Kar Sewa’ trucks was inexcusable. This was One of the most ironical moments in history, Mr made possible through casualness, complacency and, Pande, the perfect gentleman, however kept quiet. worse, complicity all combined. Undeniably, there was Giani ji was widely believed to have been the patron a mixture of fear, sympathy and admiration evoked by saint of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who had Sant Bhindranwale in sections of the Administration later acquired a halo and an independent persona at different levels ‘(officers included), besides the Sikh inspiring a multitude of young militants whose populace in general. To discover leaks of official level activities had led to the Operation. And now Gianiji meetings, attended by district heads and above, to the was arraigning the Governor, Mr BD Pande, the other side in the Temple was not uncommon. Whatever NISHAAN innocent victim, who had reluctantly to carry out the was said at a meeting became known in the Temple by Union Government’s orders! the evening or the next day. The residence telephone 31 32 NISHAAN the Governorship, Ihadalready applied for longleave. direction. Pande Mr and revoke to enough gracious was earlier his towithdrawinstituted, they agreed their applications he toowouldlike tojointhe‘karsewa’asandwhen andthat anguish wassharedby the Governor himself However, onmy assuringthe four colleaguesthat their he asked for me toissue orders their suspension. indiscipline and annoyed theGovernor asanactof protestagainstGovernment actionnaturally mark of senior Sikh theIAS Stateofficers of then resigned. This the community, intothe holiest shrinefour of entry Operation inescapable. which somemay thegathering storm say madethe of situation at Amritsar.ground Allthese wereportents the in enforcement matters wasalso afeature of the PunjabPolice andthePara-military forces (CRPF) relationship between harmonious of Lack occurrence. had tobepassedondownwards, wasnotaninfrequent NewDelhi,when from calls instructions important going deadimmediately Secretary after theChief of Indira GandhiattheGoldenTemple, post-Bluestar Soon afterthe Operation, MrPande resigned from To forces’ at the armed hurt their express deep erigfo h ndqaismsae fOperation fromtheinadequacies/mistakes of Learning activitiesandtheir terrorist in the State increased. fillip a got insurgency militants’ The elsewhere. and Sikhs inDelhi and barbaric massacre of the brutal pay for followed 1984 October 31 on itwithher life PrimeMinisterhadto was realisedsoonenough.The ewsmd ulfegdCifSecretary.he was made full-fledged Chief him out, tokeep the experiment After afew months of butSecretary the sopas“unnecessary.” he declined Chief Additional to-be-created a offered was of post Cadre Punjab the from PH Vaishnav Mr bill. the fill to imported was State Bihar from Officer IAS Sikh a had never Sonow thought insuch communal terms. officer Secretary. as the Chief The Punjab bureaucracy that theState neededaSikh had convinced itself request for leave by wasgranted that timethe Centre days. Ultimately, August, 1984my fromthemiddleof few a in reciprocal became confidence of lack This thePunjabAdministration. of against anddistrustful peopleinsuspense.Hewasobviouslyto keep prejudiced rather was functioning mysterious heliked and style of The flamboyant Mr KT Satarewala succeeded him. His That, MrPande said,wouldbedecidedby hissuccessor. That Operation Bluestar Operation hadnotcuredthe problem Bluestar, Operation ‘Blackthunder’ was conducted, this time, in the full gaze of TV cameras, with the desecration of the Temple by the holed-up miscreants exposed and the scrupulous behavior of the Police highlighted. Mr KPS Gill had been in position as DGP for some time by now. In the regime of the late Sardar Beant Singh, who followed Sardar Surjit Singh Barnala as Chief Minister, Mr Gill was to receive full political backing and was given a free hand to curb militancy.

The misdeeds of militants in the countryside imposing themselves on country folk in midnight knocks and misbehaviour with womenfolk, The Golden Temple Complex under bombardment, June 1984 besides extortion of money, had by now alienated have to be condoned, the malafide wrong doers should much of the general populace and evaporated whatever receive condign punishment. Only then can the little sympathy of indulgence they had earlier human rights of the ordinary citizens be protected enjoyed. Ruthless and unorthodox initiatives under from depredations of marauding militants as also the Mr Gill’s leadership led the Punjab Police to complete arbitrary actions of “armed goons in uniform.” domination of the trouble makers and/or their elimination in the process, human rights activists at Operation Bluestar was a case of Mark Tully calls times had reason to complain or protest. But fighting “too much too late.” Political one upmanship had the enemy from within is always more difficult than created the crisis, that is sponsorship protection and face to face them in battle formation. However, the encouragement of Bhindranwale by the Giani, while line has to be drawn at the springs of motivation i.e. frustrating Darbara Singh’s efforts to control the whether one was prompted by public interest or to situation. Central bureaucratic penchant for covering settle personal/private scores. While bonafide mistakes up political dissimulation with administrative tinkering and parachuting rootless favorites into mined territory, compounded the mess. Hasty conception of and over- confident approach to the Operation made its own contribution to the tragic dimensions. The fatal flaws in the character of different wings of the polity led to the inexorable outcome of this national tragedy.

Now that peace has descended upon the strife-tone Land of the Five Rivers after a decade of turmoil, it NISHAAN will hopefully never have to witness 33 ‘Millitants’ surrender during Operation ‘Blackthunder’ again those dark deeds of the eighties. 34 NISHAAN The Dramatis Personae Hamid Hussain, a well-known and writes historian, onOperation Bluestar Giani Zail SinghandIndiraGandhi atNew Delhi Sant JarnailSinghBhindranwale withvisitors attheGoldenTemple complex holy precincts of theGoldenTemple at holy precinctsof whose was climax conducted inthe Personae situation, inthistragic Bhindrawale were thekey Dramatis the DamdamiTaksal Jarnail Singh Amritsar in June 1984. Committee ShiromaniGurdwara Prabandhak Tohra Singh Gurcharan of head Longowal Parkash and Badal, Singh Singh Harchand Akali Dal leaders Singh, Minister Darbara Chief Home MinisterButaSingh,Punjab President GianiZailSinghandUnion Gandhi,Prime MinisterIndira

(SGPC)

and head of andheadof

with the Government and his views hardened even as his popularity increased. Zail Singh had allegedly thwarted Chief Minister Darbara Singh’s efforts to curtail militant activities. Sant Longowal became fearful for his life especially after Bhindrawale moved to the Golden Temple complex hostel which also housed offices of Akali Dal and SGPC, who then used another splinter militant group Babbar Khalsa to push Bhindrawale’s followers from the hostel to the into Akal Takht. When the law and order situation deteriorated in Punjab, the state's Chief Minister was sacked and President’s Rule imposed in the Punjab. Sant Harcharan Singh Lonogwal (centre) with Farukh Abdullah of Kashmir and others ormer Chief Minister of Punjab Zail Singh and Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale Congress leader Sanjay Gandhi had supported According to various sources, some three to four Bhindrawale in their attempts to weaken the hundred supporters of Jarnail Singh were the core FAkali Dal and when Bhindrawale was arrested on group of militants, most of them radical. A small charges of inciting assault against the Nirankaris, number of Sikhs belonging to Babbar Khalsa, the All Zail Singh, then Union Home Minister arranged for India Sikh Student Federation (AISSF) led by Amrik his release without due judicial process. Bhindrawale Singh and the Dashmesh Regiment were also present, thus emerged as a hero who had won this showdown while about a dozen close confidants of Jarnail Singh were assigned different tasks. Rachpal Singh was Bhindrawale’s secretary and Dalbir Singh, who was political advisor. An inner security ring of about half dozen hard line militants guarded Bhindrawale and Gurmukh Singh was in charge of weaponry. Four deserters from the Punjab police Kabul Singh, Gurnam Singh, Sewa Singh and Amarjit Singh later joined Bhindrawale at the Golden Temple complex.

During late 1982, more than 5000 ex-servicemen had gathered in Amritsar for a convention, with more than one hundred and seventy above the rank of Colonel including retired Major Generals Shabeg Singh and Jaswant Singh Bhullar. The majority of ex-servicemen were advocates of non-violent means to achieve the long-stated demands of the State, but some including Generals Shabeg Singh and Bhullar NISHAAN had were allegedly influenced by Bhindrawale. General 35 Sanjay and Maneka Gandhi Bhullar actually left India just before the operation 36 NISHAAN and BuaSingh (June 1984–August 1985). 1983–March 1984),SubeSingh (March1984–June 1984) 1983–October 1983),Ajay Pal SinghMann(October Baines (April 1982–July 1983),SarabjitSingh (July 1981–April Singh AS Atwal(September 1982),Surjit times: six shuffled was post Amritsar of (SSP) Police SeniorSuperintendentof year of period,thepost Pritam Singh Bhinder and KSDhillon. K TSatarawala (June 1984–March 1985). Bhairab DuttPande (October1983– June 1984)and (FebruaryAnant PrasadSharma 1983–October 1983), ChennaReddyMarri (April 1981–February 1983), Aminuddin Ahmad Khan (August 1981–April 1982), Jaisukh 1977–August LalHathi (September 1981), In fact,from1981to1984thereweresixgovernors: bureaucrats intheprovincial administrative machinery. deteriorating situation inthePunjabby changing In early 1980s,thecentralgovernment respondedto The State's CivilianAdministration in theComplex. automatic weaponsat positions andsnipers strategic was responsible for the fortifications and placement of Temple at complex thetimeof but Singh remained inthe Golden General Shabeg four times, in turn beingBirbalNath,four CKSahni, times,inturn PunjabPolice wasshuffled DirectorGeneralof of During the same time period the top police position During thesametimeperiodtoppoliceposition Major GeneralShabegSinghbeingpresented his portraitby aBangladeshiartist

Operation Bluestar Operation

In the four

and

dio flaw andordertothe governor.advisor of IndianPolice Service(IPS)as and Surendranath of Ranjit SinghDayal wasappointed asSecurityAdvisor Western Command,LieutenantGeneral (COS)of Staff force. settlement rather thantheuseof quit orwererecalledasthey advocated apolitical Gajjala Jagathpathi. Shivandar SinghSidhu,HarbansSingh,PGGavi and appointed four advisors thegovernor to including the province wentunderPresident’s rule. olpeo policemorale. collapse of owing interferenceandvirtual topoliticalinertia, civilian administration was completely ineffective byand wasreplaced Chaturvedi). hisstrongobjectionstothe operation June becauseof Amritsar wasGSPandher (hewassentonleave on5 General (DG)BSFwasBirbalNath andDIGBSFin Security Force Director (BSF)wasBKTirpathi, InspectorGeneral(IG)Border Sharma, Ram Swarup Reserve Central General (DG) Police Force was (CRPF) Assistant DirectorIntelligence Bureau(IB). Singh and MPSDSP Aulakh CID Sudarshan was Singh, (DSP) city Opar Singh Bajwa, SPCIDHarjeet Police Superintendent (SP) Police Sital Das, Deputy Superintendent included district Amritsar of officers SinghRandhawa. (CID)wasHarjit Department CriminalInvestigation and InspectorGeneral(IG)of Punjab Pritamwas SinghBhinder Police(DGP) of Secretary). MinisterandChief Chief to Punjab cadre and served tothe asPrincipal Secretary district his first appointment(later hewastransferred development rural inPunjabandthiswas director of as serving then officer cadre Bengal a was Ramesh on3Junewas replaced withRamesh 1984 Singh. Indar Singh had sympathies with the militants and therefore S Dhillon. senior intelligence officers of the Research & Analysis & the Research of officers intelligence senior Gurdev was Amritsar citymagistrate and Singh was was HomeSecretary, Commissioner (DC) of Deputy KD Vasudeva, Secretary Singh PooniAmrik theChief thegovernment as the Punjabandbecameheadof Governor BhairabDuttPande to wastransferred rvnilbracayo Punjabwasheadedby Provincial bureaucracy of Former West and Secretary Cabinet Bengal In New Delhi, a group of serving and retired and serving of group In NewDelhi,a

The Army wassuspiciousthat Army GurdevThe

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Wing (RAW) was advising Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. This group included chief security advisor Rameshwar Nath Kao (first Chief of RAW), NF Santook (former head of RAW) and Girish Chandar Saxena (then head of RAW). Political leadership provided legal cover to the security forces bypassing several acts. These included the National Security Act 1980, Punjab Chandigarh Disturbed Area Act 1983, Armed Forces (Punjab and Chandigarh) Special Power Ordinance in October 1983, Terrorist Activities and Disturbed Areas (TADA) Act 1984 and Terrorist Affected Areas (Special Courts) Act 1984. No Sikh political leadership could acquiesce with the Centre’s Left to right: Major General KS Brar, Lt General K Sundarji and General AS Vaidya at the Golden Temple after the Operation plan therefore Punjab was put under direct central rule in October 1983. leadership its own troops to reorient for internal security tasks. In April 1984, XI Corps went ahead The Army Action with its normal Corps exercise and troops were in Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) was General A S training area when the exercise was shortened and on Vaidya and he assigned the operation to GOC-in- 27 May, troops were ordered back to their permanent Chief Western Command Lieutenant General K locations. Sundarji. Western Command, whose Chief of Staff was Lieutenant General Ranjit Singh Dayal moved from its 9th Infantry Division commanded by Major General headquarters at Simla to an advanced headquarters Kuldip Singh Brar was given the task of clearing at Chandimandar, for planning and conducting the the Golden Temple and he was informed about the operation. Western Command had three Corps: II operation only few days before the planned date. Brar’s with headquarters at Ambala, IX at Yol and XI with Deputy GOC was Brigadier N K ‘Nikki’ Talwar and headquarters at Jallandhar. XI Corps commanded Colonel Administration was Colonel E W Fernandez. by Lieutenant General Gauri Shankar consisted of 7th Jallandhar-based 350 Infantry Brigade consisting Infantry Division based in Ferozepore, 9th Infantry of 9 Kumaon, 10 Guards, 12 Bihar and 26 Madras Division based in Meerut and 15th Infantry Division and commanded by Brigadier DV Rao was assigned based in Amritsar were assigned the task of border the task of clearing the temple complex, supported defence and internal security of Punjab. Meanwhile, by Special Forces from 1 Parachute Regiment and three more Infantry Divisions, including the 4th, the Special Frontier Force (SFF). 15th Infantry 14th and 23rd were inducted into the Punjab for the Division commanded by Major General Jagdesh Singh operation, in fact, a larger force concentrated than that Jamwal was in the support role in Amritsar and along during the 1971 war with Pakistan. with other troops sealed the border with Pakistan during Operation Wood Rose. Deputy GOC of 15th There were three components of the military Infantry Division was Brigadier ‘Chikky’ Diwan, GSO operation: the main operation was to clear the Intelligence was Lieutenant Colonel Adarsh K Sharma Golden Temple complex and it was supported by and Colonel Administration was Colonel Onkar Singh two other operations. One was focused on clearing Goraya. other gurdwaras in the state where militants had taken refuge. Operation Wood Rose was aimed at sealing Troops involved in the main operation belonged to of Indian border with Pakistan to prevent escape of 1 Parachute Regiment (Special Forces) commanded by militants across the border and prevent any assistance Lt Colonel KC Padha, 10 Guards commanded by Lt. NISHAAN to militants from the Pakistan side. However, neither Colonel Israr Rahim Khan, 12 Bihar commanded by Lt political leadership had prepared the army nor army Colonel K.S. Randhawa, 26 Madras commanded by Lt 37 38 NISHAAN headquarters was on the rooftop of a building a near of therooftop on was headquarters to the assaulting troops. to theassaulting Sahib.Harmandar the holiest place) andsecurepool that surrounds commandos wastoswim throughthe Sahib. of Harmandar A group the holiest place of operationA separate codenamedMETAL wastosecure resistanceallover thePunjab. up remainingpockets of task. teams from60Engineer battalion wereassigned for this assault fire three that fact the by supported is This fires and repair any structural damage to the holy site. extinguish quickly to plans included also phase This to eliminate orcapture militantsfromthecomplex. on started actually andthisphase thecomplex surrounding militantsfrombuildingsPhase Iwastoclear militants. moved of to Brahm Buta Akhara after it was cleared wasestablished atheadquarters Kotwali andlater to theDivision tacticalheadquarters. the GoldenTemple. Brigadier AK‘Chikky’ Dewanwereinreserve. 15Division GOCof Deputy under thecommandof Rifles Garhwal 9 of companies two and Kumaon 15 Chowdhury andcontrolledby the CabinetSecretariat. operation. Special Frontier Force inthe (SFF)alsoparticipated Force (BSF),Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and operation. 16Cavalry wereusedinthe andtanksof Infantry 8Mechanised (APCs)andBMPsof Personal Carriers commanded by Colonel EWFernandez, Armoured Division. 15 from Rifles Garhwal 9 of battalions belonged to 9Division withtheexception NC Pant, 9 Garhwal Rifles and 10 Dogra,. K. Bhaumik,15Kumaon commanded by LtColonel Colonel Panniker, 9Kumaon commandedby LtColonel headquarters at Chandimandir and headquarters entry and exit points to the complex andprovide points tothecomplex andexit entry cover BSF andCRPFwereusedtosealall and troopsof h iiayoeaincnitdo threephases: operation consistedof military The establishedLt GeneralKSundarji histactical 12 Biharcommandedby LtColonel KSRandhawa

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From: http://www.goldentempleamritsar.org/images/guide-map-of-golden-temple-amritsar.jpg APCs and four BMPs supported 26 Madras. The lamps of stiff resistance from militants and slow progress, of tanks did not last long and one APC was hit by a around 11:30 pm, an ad hoc force consisting of the Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) and disabled. reserve of two companies each of 15 Kumaon and 9 Garhwal Rifles along with elements of 26 Madras Militants were posted on few high buildings was launched from western Atta Mandi Gate. In overlooking the entire area especially the water tower the meantime, about thirty commandos under the and two high towers; Ramgarhia Bungas. Sniper fire command of Major P C Katoch tried to secure Darshni from these positions caused significant casualties to Deodi in front of Akal Takht but suffered heavy NISHAAN security forces. Neutralisation of these commanding casualties. A second assault by another team of thirty positions required use of heavy weapons. In view commandos led by commanding officer of 1 Para 39 40 NISHAAN Sarai toaMES bungalow. Ram Das 9 Kumaon fromGuru Akalileaders escorted complex. the hostel clearing Kumaon wereassignedthe taskof rooms. of returned. Major GeneralJamwal madesurethat allitemswere wereengaged Madras 26 inlooting. men of was notunfounded aslater itwasdiscovered that some Subedar toguardtheSikhtreasures. aNaib 2SLI under the command of man guard of ten a for arranged and officer commanding the called commanded by Lieutenant Colonel D D Singh. (SLI)Sikh unitinAmritsar;2Sikh Light Infantry operating againstthe militants. securing thisSikhheritage but notsureabouttroops of the importance Colonel Goraya was aware of Sikh archives where other treasures were alsokept. innocent civilians caught in numbers the of firefight. militants but alsolarge laid deadalongwithscoresof Bhindrawale Singh too and Major General Shabeg severalsurrendered. toescape fromAkalTakhttrying werekilledand that silencedthe opposition. Takht Akal at shells twenty about fired tanks Two team surviving, it of was then decided to use tank fire. When alsofailedwith only thiseffort threemembers teams. by LieutenantJyoti Kumar Dangwasdivided intotwo tanks. use of asked for militantsbefore onemorechancetoclear the entrenched inAkalTakht. and twenty three wounded. while BCompany retreated aftersufferingseven killed 15Kumaon MajorBKMisrawaskilled commander of also sufferedheavily losingseventeen men. to secure Darshni Deodi. injured butone immediately theyableand thirty were killed were seventeen commandos, five sixty the Of which launched was heavy suffered also casualties. from New Delhi to use tank fire to neutralise militants akfr a eutdi etuto finvaluable of destruction in resulted had Tankfire Hostel complex around Hostel complex By that time,Brarhadreceived authorisation

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difficult and unconventional task. A delicate balance Colonel IS Sabarwal’s jeep and headed towards the was needed where Sikh troops were not used for the Punjab. Soldiers forced through an armed constabulary fear that they may refuse to attack their holiest check post on the Rajasthan-Punjab border killing a place but two Sikh officers; Brar and Dayal were constable. 11 Rajputana Rifles and 94 Field Regiment put in the forefront. In defence of Brar, he was not were given the task of intercepting these rebellious given the option of taking his time for planning and soldiers and were able to arrest some and later near reconnaissance before launching the operation. Govindgarh a clash resulted in many casualties. Over 200 made it to Moga where they were surrounded in With the benefit of hindsight, there is much criticism a gurdwara. A force consisting of 3 Garhwal Rifles, 15 of the manner in which the military operations were Garhwal Rifles, 12 Grenadiers, APCs of 9 Mechanised conducted. These include timing of the operation; its Regiment and few tanks of 20 Lancers under the conduct; the employment of heavy tanks and failure to command of Brigadier AS Bains surrounded the anticipate the reaction of Sikh serving soldiers. Gurdwara. After tense negotiations soldiers surrendered without further violence. The battalion was disbanded 5 June was the martyrdom day of Guru Arjan on 1 April 1985 and has not been re-raised. Dev when very large numbers of devotees were inside the temple. As Sikh leadership had called for non- On 10 June, around 1500 Sikh recruits of the Sikh payment of taxes from 5 June and some also felt Regimental Centre at Ramgarh in Bihar mutinied. that Bhindrawale would announce establishment of Although the Subedar Major rushed to Commandant Khalistan on that day, the Army was directed to finish Brigadier SC Puri’s home to inform him, he along the operation quickly as it was feared that thousands with Deputy Commandant Colonel Jagdesh Singh of angry Sikhs from villages around would descend and battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel HS on Amritsar on hearing the news of attack on Golden Cheema were fired upon and Brigadier Puri died from Temple. Many suggested that the army should have cut his wounds. Cheema was not severely wounded and he off water and electric supply of the Golden Temple and returned to the centre and tried to rally the soldiers. forced militants to surrender. Thousands of devotees Mutinous soldiers and recruits commandeered civilian visit Golden Temple and such action was bound to cause vehicles and headed towards Amritsar. Near Varanasi, major reaction. Few months earlier in Moga, police they divided into two groups for their onward journey. laid siege to a cluster of gurdwaras and cut off water The army dispatched 21st Mechanised Infantry and electric supply when they were fired upon from Brigade along with an artillery unit to face the Sikh these gurdwaras. Sikh leaders had threatened to send recruits. The other group of rebels was tackled by ‘martyr squads’ to free these gurdwaras. One can easily 20th Infantry Brigade along with some artillery. In the imagine the kind of reaction from a prolonged siege ensuing firefight, thirty five soldiers were killed and the of the Golden Temple. Some Sikh officers suggested others detained. that if army commanders had been briefed about the operation, they could have shared this information with In Jammu, one hundred and thirty soldiers of 18 Sikh soldiers to allay their concerns. Sikh left their lines but later captured by 2 Grenadiers without violence as most deserters were unarmed. Fall out for the Army One hundred and thirty three soldiers of 14 Punjab Operation Bluestar enraged the entire Sikh community Regiment (Nabha Akal) in Pune deserted with their and discontent quickly spread to the Army as well. weapons. 13 Mahar intercepted the deserters and 9th Battalion of the Sikh Regiment stationed at later 2 Kumaon clashed with deserters killing many. Ganganagar; in Rajasthan were restive and on the night On 11 June, over two hundred soldiers of the famous of 7 June 1984, broke into the armoury and fired in the 3 Sikh (‘Rattrays’) stationed in Tripura deserted. They air near officers’ residential quarters forcing the officers drove their vehicles to railway stations to head towards NISHAAN to hunker down. Over 400 soldiers then commandeered the Punjab but Commanding Officer Lieutenant the battalion’s vehicles including CO Lieutenant Colonel G S Kalhoun persuaded them to return to the 41 42 NISHAAN some militants frombuildings around theGolden Police PunjabJFRebeiro cleared Director Generalof 1986 Operation targetto troops any militantinfrastructure. outprimarily by were carried police and paramilitary in theyears which followed, several small scaleoperations holiest placeprovided for themilitantsand newrecruits their General angstamongSikhsat thedesecration of Aftermath being asingle-class Sikh unit. years on,thiswasreversed andthe battalionto isback GarhwaliandSouthIndiancompanies. Dogra, in thisprocess13 and somesingle-class regiments ordered mixingof washelplessinthismatter.concerns theirfeelings. differently. was unusual andtheaffectedtroopsbedealtwith such unrest Singh protested that the case of and Sartaj Harbaksh Singh(5/11Sikh),JSDhillon,MSWadalia Generals Jagjit SinghArora(2nd Lieutenant including officers Sikh senior retired Five suggestedamoreconsideredapproach.some others Lieutenant General TS Oberoi) while Sikh officers and Command Southern of officer thenGOC-in-Chief wasaSikh seniormutinous (an exception soldiers COAS GeneralVaidya measuresagainst suggestedstern army.the in opinions toenterAmritsar.tanks trying at shoot to any withorders Amritsar outside Ghumman MajorGS a tank squadron underthe command of Regiment commanded by Colonel BSSandhu sent much morehavoc troops. thaninfantry could cause regiments as mutinous inarmoured soldiers but were concerned leaders corps army in the armoured deserted. FieldRegiment 171 stationed inAlwar seven of soldiers Mountain Regiment stationed inthe eastandtwenty Sikhs. of number significant guard. thequarter weapons and5Mahartookcharge of the they deposited them at morning nightandnext lines. nteatraho this unrest, there were two of In the aftermath There was unrest in two artillery regiments with regiments wasunrest intwoartillery There

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e ietrGnrlo Police PunjabKPSGillswept new DirectorGeneralof was assassinated inabombblast. and in1990,SP(Operations) Tarn Taran Singh Harjit SinghVirk CRPFSarabdeep wasshotandwounded of refuge inthecomplex. Temple. Gobind Ram waskilled inabombblast. Police1990, Commandant75Punjab Armed battalion 1989, DSPGopalSinghGhuman wasassassinated. year, DSPFaridkot assassinated. also HSGillwas office. in killed were Brar BS (Detective) trail. KRSGillwereassassinateda jogging on Headquarters AvindarSingh Brarand Superintendent Police (SP) 1988, SeniorSuperintendentPolice (SSP) Patiala Singh andDSPOmParkash wereassassinated. Singh,DSPTaraDSP Harpal Chand,DSPGurcharan Arvindar Singh Brar, SP KanwarRanbir SinghGill, killed. were officers several and officers during theDecember1971warwithPakistan! more thanonthe the Western entire Indian Army Front weredeployed theIndianArmy for theseoperations, of General BKN the operation. in NSGparticipating Special ActionGroup(SAG) of theIBplayed role, acrucial Doval of itsheadVed MarwahandAjit under theguidance of In thisoperation National SecurityGuards(NSG) through Golden Temple to complex flush out militants. Operation years PunjabLieutenant later, thethenGovernor of TarnTaran, Majithia, Batalaand Gurdaspur. Some launched, themostaffectedareasbeingaroundAmritsar, However, militants retaliated by targeting police

In1988,inPatiala, SSPSitalDasandSP KPS Gillexamining weaponsseized frommillitants

In 1988, some militants again started totake In1988,somemilitantsagainstarted Blackthunder II Blackthunder

In 1990-91Operation Chhibber revealed that upto28brigades

Deputy Inspector General (DIG) InspectorGeneral(DIG) Deputy udrtecmado of underthecommand Rakshak

a thousand strong a thousandstrong

On 6May 1988

In

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the same same the

In In In In In year, DSP Baldev Singh and DSP Harjit Singh were activities including extortion and even robberies. After assassinated while DSP Surjit Singh Ghuman was investigation into these allegations, it was decided to killed along with his wife and two guards. In 1991, DIG remove Dalbir from the force. He was asked to report Border range Ajit Singh was killed in an encounter in to the police station in civil lines and interviewed by Tarn Taran and SP of Ropar Jogindar Singh Khaira was senior police officers. Dalbir pulled his gun and after assassinated. In 1992, SP (Detective) RPS Teja and DSP killing SSP Sital Das and SP Brar, shot himself dead. Ram Singh and DSP Rupindar Singh were assassinated. There were also life attempts on DGP Julio Rubeiro and Militancy was finally subdued by the Punjab Police Governor Shankar Roy. At the highest level, in August and this success was owed to strengthening of police 1985, Harchand Singh Longowal was assassinated and in in large numbers, proper equipment and training and 1995, Chief Minister of Punjab Beant Singh was killed selection of good officers to lead the campaign. Punjab in a car bomb explosion at Chandigarh. Police numbers increased from 35,000 to 65,000 by the end of 1989, better weapons and communication During his two stints in Punjab as head of police, equipment were provided and policemen were trained KPS Gill put in place some tough police officers giving for the job. Punjab Police was also strengthened by them a free hand to tackle the militants. The list 6000 special police and 20,000 home guards. Amritsar, included SSP Taran Taran Ajit Singh Sandhu, SSP Tarn Taran, Majithia, Batala and Gurdaspur were the of Amritsar Izhar Alam, SP Bathinda SK Singh, SP most affected areas. In Tarn Taran alone, about 200 Gurdaspur Vivek Mishra and DSP of Tarn Taran, policemen, Special Police and home guard members lost Jaspal Singh Khalra. In such situations, problems with their lives. Punjab Police and their families paid the morale following target killing of police officers and price and in the years 1988-92, about 1600 policemen government’s concern about the potential sympathy had been killed in the line of duty. In addition more of some police officers with their co-religionist militants than sixty family members of policemen were killed by prompted induction of several officers of paramilitary militants in revenge attacks. forces (mainly CRPF and few from BSF) in the Punjab. The list includes SS Virk, Rakesh Chandra, SK Singh, Like any crisis, there were examples of bad handling AK Pandey, Khubi Ram, SPS Basra, RC Sethi and SK of a given situation but also many cases where volatile Sharma. Several of these officers served at SP rank situations were professionally handled by competent during most troubled times in areas heavily infiltrated men at great risk to their own lives. In Ludhiana, by militants at great personal risk. They were later an angry crowd of Sikhs was demonstrating in the absorbed in Punjab Police in 2006 and rewarded with immediate aftermath of Operation Bluestar. Brigade promotion to the rank of DIG. commander Brigadier MM Lakhera was inclined to fire at the crowd to disperse them but Deputy Extra judicial killings Commissioner KR Lakhanpal dissuaded him and The Police used many controversial tactics including handled the situation at great personal risk. extra judicial killings. Some former low level police officials with criminal record were quietly hired for The human side of the conflict is exemplified by the job of infiltrating and in some cases eliminating two stories. Bhindrawale’s own brother was Subedar militants in the countryside. The case of Dalbir Singh Major Harcharan Singh Rhode then serving with is a good an example of both benefits and risks of this 61 Engineers Regiment stationed at Jallandhar. approach. Dalbir was a constable in the Punjab Police Harcharan visited Akal Takht in his uniform right was dismissed in 1983 on criminal charges. In 1986, after the death of his brother at the hands of the he was quietly re-hired for a different task and worked Indian Army. A young boy named Bashir Muhammad undercover, helped in arrest and elimination of some joined the Punjab Police and served as guard of DSP high profile militants. He was promoted as Assistant Sukhdev Singh Chahal. The Punjab Police needed to NISHAAN Sub Inspector (ASI) and made a fortune from ‘head infiltrate Sikh militant groups and Bashir was chosen money’ of militants. He started to engage in criminal for the task. He was instructed to grow hair and beard 43 44 NISHAAN is willingtotalk onrecordagainstBhindrawale and the expand their influence. gaveThese for militantswideroom manoeuvreand religion. Sikh of place holiest the inside fortifications style militantsandmilitary armed to gathering of owingand partly tofear, resultedin no vocal opposition andcivilpolitical leaders fromsympathy societypartly the GoldenTemple, priestsof the Sikhs,silenceof lasted that conflict over decade. a a in resulted Sikhs alienation of further and predictable response of answer. force wasthoughttobethe brute useof a short-term the issue, thetimedecided to tackle the government of allthewaythe topandseeping down. Finally, when from settledinstarting control,fearandinertia out of fornot tackled andwhen politicalexpediency itspun be noexception. volatile forces isnever indoubtandPunjabproved to purposes. religionfor political andespeciallyleaders useof Sikh of power leadership,political struggle internal betweencentralandprovincialresulting fromclashes evolved several had over years Punjab the in Conflict remain The deep scars West Bengalpoliceandclearly extra-judicial. as these officers went on their own without informing the PunjabandWest Bengalprovincial governments incidentcausedamajorrow This apartment. between and murdered Lachmanwife in and their his pregnant with twootherpolicemenwenttoCalcuttaandshot May 1993,SPBathinda SKSinghandDSPChahal wife. situation, LachmanSinghmoved toCalcuttawithhis militancy. of break theback to many killing situation, the subdued finally Police against thesecurityforces. militants of Babbar, operating onbehalf andbegan was baptised aSikhandnamedLachmanSingh as butinformant now wantedtojointheSikhcause. of leaders and decidedtoconvert toSikhism. topolice. back to join andammunition. from jailwitharms wasleakedand thenafake that story hehadescaped dedication and religious zeal of leaders of the group thegroup of leaders of dedication andreligiouszeal

The Police finally traced Lachman Singh and in

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among Sikh Diaspora. after1984–especially Sikhsborn younger generation of but 1984still evokes emotions, even deep among the the last two decades brought to normalcy Punjab back militancy and re-newed politicalin participation of scaronSikhpsyche.1984 hasleftadeep Sikhs. cultstatus amongstmanySant hasattained avirtual entrenched inGoldenTemple. she ordered India Indira Gandhi Dramatis Personae had strongly objected tothe planned operation Western Commandand of he wasGOC-in-Chief he commanded the battalion in1964.In1983, 3/5th the to transferred in theJat Regiment. and wascommissioned his course the best cadet of Training at Belgaumin1942 School(OTS) was assassinated in his office. down 1985, Das neartheirhouseandinSeptember On 31July 1985,Makanandhiswifeweregunned IndiaShankarDayal Sharma. Presidentof former toGitanjali,daughterof Makan wasmarried tohaveDas werealleged aroleinanti-Sikhriots. Rajiv Gandhi,Arjun Counselor andfriendof Parliament fromDelhiLalitMakanandCity of were directly involved in these attacks. Member holders office party Congress many that alleged some estimate that about3000werekilled. in Delhi where Hindu mobsattacked Sikhs and and mobsattacked violencebeing Sikhs,theworst murder.” hanged, amatter, describedby many as“judicial his,wasalso in 1989.Kehar Singh,afriendof murder and hanged Singh waslater convicted of Beant Singhwaskilledonthespotwhile Satwant she wasassassinated by hertwoSikhbodyguards. Sinha Operation Bluestar Operation Lieutenant GeneralLieutenant Srinavas Kumar

– He was commissioned from the Officer the from commissioned was He –

Indira’s assassination enraged many

nmd18,a rm iitro –In mid-1984, as Prime Ministerof the army to flush outextremists adteat-ihpgo f of and the anti-Sikh pogrom

After partition, hewas partition, After

Gorkha

On 31 October 1984, On31October1984, Rifles (FF) and (FF) Rifles

Elimination

Sikhs Sikhs , was against Sikh militants in Golden Temple, suggesting a Krishan Pal Singh Gill – An IPS officer of different approach. In 1984, he was Vice Chief of Army 1957 batch from the Assam cadre serving most Staff (VCOAS) and as the senior most officer expected of his career in the northeast, rising to the post to become Chief of Army Staff (COAS) on retirement of DGP Meghalaya. He also served as IG Punjab of General Krishna Rao. In an unexpected move, the Armed Police (PAP), IG BSF – Jammu and DG government announced appointment of then GOC- CRPF. In 1988, he was brought to Punjab to tackle in-Chief Eastern Command Lieutenant General A S militancy. He served two tenures as Director General Vaidya as new COAS superseding Sinha. Lt. General of the Punjab Police 1988-89 and 1991-95, attacked Sinha was retired but later served as governor of Assam militants with ruthless efficiency, surviving at least and in due course Jammu & Kashmir. five assassination attempts and remains hated by Sikhs. He died in May 2017 of natural causes. General Arun Shridar Vaidya – A cavalry officer who commanded Deccan Horse in the 1965 war, Major General Shabeg Singh – His life story was a well decorated officer winning the Maha Vir is amazing: a graduate of the Government College Chakra (MVC) in 1965 and bar to MVC in 1971. In 1984, Lahore, he was commissioned in the 2nd Punjab he became Chief of the Army Staff, retired in January Regiment, his battalion later becoming the 1st 1986 and moved to Pune. On 10 August 1986, he was Battalion, Parachute Regiment in the Army’s re- driving his car coming back home from the market when organisation. He participated in every war which two gunmen ambushed his car killing him on the spot. India had fought, in 1947-48 against Pakistan In 1986 Sukhdev Singh and in 1987 Harjindar Singh in Naushehra area of Kashmir. In 1962, Indo- were arrested and charged with murder of Vaidya. Both China war, he was GSO-Intelligence at IV Corps were convicted and hanged in 1992. headquarters. In 1965 Indo-Pakistan war, he commanded 3/11th Gorkha Rifles in Haji Pir sector General Krishnaswamy Sundarji – He was of Kashmir. Later he commanded 19 Infantry commissioned in the Mahar Regiment and commanded Brigade in J&K. He later served as Deputy GOC 1 Mahar. He was GOC-in-Chief of Western Command in of 8 Mountain Division during the Naga counter- 1984, later serving as COAS from 1986 to 1988. He was insurgency operations. In 1971, in preparation author of Exercise Brasstacks, regarded as a prelude to for war with Pakistan, as a Brigadier he was given fullscale war with Pakistan, stopped last minute by PM charge of Delta Sector with headquarters at Agartala Rajiv Gandhi. He died of natural causes in 1999. to train Bengalis fighting against Pakistan and was instrumental in organising the Mukti Bahini later, Lieutenant General Ranjit Singh Dayal – when he refused to order troops to arrest Jay Prakash Highly decorated officer from 1 Parachute Regiment Narain, then agitating against the ‘Emergency’ winning MVC in 1965 war ( the ‘Haji Pir’ action). He he was posted to UP Area. In his enquiry against because Chief of Staff of Western Command in 1984 unauthorised Kumaon Regimental funds being given later retired and died from cancer in January 2012. to a former COAS, Shahbeg was immediately relieved of his command and an inquiry started against Lieutenant General Kuldip Singh Brar – him. Although, he was cleared, Shahbeg Singh was ‘Bulbul’ was commissioned in 1 Mahrata Light Infantry dismissed from service just a day before his retirement (MLI) and received a VrC for supporting Mukti Bahini and subsequently became very bitter. operations in East Pakistan. In 1984, he was GOC of 9 Division which spearheaded Operation Bluestar. He later joined Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale Promoted later to Lieutenant General, he became GOC- and was at the Golden Temple when Indian Army in-C Eastern Command and after retirement is housed launched its operation in 1984. Ironically, his own NISHAAN in a highly secure bungalow in Mumbai. 1 Para (Punjab) were at the forefront of the assault. 45 46 NISHAAN ‘ the Sahib, Granth Sahib and Sri Harmandir for the Guru noend;for the Sikhsoldiers the latter, the reverenceof that the Sikhs and particularly event the psyche hurt of which cataclysmic arebeingfacedtilldate. This of consequences proportion, magnanimous flawa was of andneedsnoreiterationexamples here; thispossibly such isfullof institutions were threatened. History Sikhs had given whenever their religion orreligious that martyrdom willing and sacrifices immense the of soldier. aSikh is absolute,andplays acentralrole in the lifeof Granth Sahib the Guru Gurdwara where veneration of Sikh Regiment: every Sikhunit/battalion hasits’own the every soldierof of etched intheminds andhearts O Travails Bluestar Operation of sanctum completely ignored a great historical truth that, historicaltruth completely ignoredagreat action minds whoThe decided this line of peration Bluestar’wasamonumental blunder.

santorum for the Sikh Soldier o theSikhs,isvery special, of differ withthisstatement, but and for asoldierborn the SikhRegiments.’ Somemay spiritof corporate the of influence the to chiefly existence continued its not always observed now, Sikhismowes andmodern thus, commands ‘Those (meaning the ‘Five K’s) are India of Oxford History appropriately by endorsed Vincent A.Smithinthe immenseThis feeling for their faith has been very Deori. Darshani the at plaque a place endeavoredto theSikhRegiment hasproudly and every battalion of obeisance Sahib is adivine at the Harmandar duty SriAkal!’ ‘Bole SoNihal,Sat the Ardas and areverberating by priorrecitation of preceded is significance of matter or task operational Book hasalways ledthetroopstobattle; indeed,every Granth Sahib and, traditionally theoath Holy onGuru Regiment asasoldierafterbeinginitiated andtaking A raw isonly admittedintotheSikh recruit , 1919 (Third Edition, pp.432), 1919(Third Moreover, topay brought up in the Sikh Regiment for over six decades Pakistani media) which went viral and began nefarious this is so very true. psychological warfare, windmill of rumours took over the environment, speaking of complete destruction 1984 was a challenging, difficult and most unhappy of the Harmandir Sahib aka Ahmed Shah Durrani, year for the Sikh Regiment. The scourge of militancy destruction of villages, food supplies being cut off, had spread in parts of Punjab and though the militants atrocities on women etc. To expect that that the troops comprised only a small percentage but sadly, the needle would be unaffected by these happenings would be very of suspicion went on to point at the entire community: naïve: sentiments were grievously hurt, tempers rose, even a casual travel through the country could not be it was natural that Sikh soldiers would get swayed. In taken without detailed checks. The Sikh soldiers (like most Sikh units, where the leadership was alive to the in every community across the country) are a close-knit problem and incidentally closer home, necessary steps part of society and, with nearly all of them coming were taken to educate the men and the situation was from rural stock with a large number from the border controlled, but where this was not done, matters went districts of Punjab more affected by militancy, there out of control, as happened at the Sikh Regimental was no way that the soldiers could remain immune Centre at Ramgarh (in Jharkhand) and in three Sikh to these happenings. ‘Operation Bluestar’ must be battalions. Although hurt religious sentiments took the seen and studied in this back drop of the psyche of better of discipline in these units, but what stood out the Sikh soldiers. The operation was unexpected and was the loyalty and respect that the men had for their like a whirlwind took the unprepared Sikh soldier by officers (majority were non-Sikhs), as these officers surprise; the sealing of the border with Pakistan by moved around unsuccessfully to stop their men from ‘Operation Wood Rose’ and blocking all moves to and doing a wrong. The men ensured that no harm came to from Punjab within the country gave no indication of their officers or the non-Sikh element in the units, and what was to follow. The adverse fallout of the blanket in the odd case, as an inquiry later proved, their was NISHAAN ban on Indian media created a complete information more due to panic and random firing and not because void which was quickly exploited by BBC (and of any premeditated plans. 47 48 NISHAAN from history willonly havefrom history torepent. those who do not learn caseof the Sikhtroops,aclear level which didnotperceive the religioussentimentsof at leadership the highest situation. Itwasafailureof avery delicate of perception planning owing of to lack this operation, that it isclear it stood outfor poor lingers on. that hurt 33years 9Sikhhasnotbeenre-raisedand the lapse of made apureSikhbattalion in1999.However, despite subsequently,and status Sikh pure also a was Sikh 13 and by May 1986,both 3 and18Sikh were reverted to the Sikh soldier was unshakeable, better sense prevailed realisation dawned that theresilienceandloyalty of mixed troopswasnotvery successful, of experiment thisthe better. The by but thelesssaidof ourGurus, should have looked afterthemaspertenantslaiddown Sadly little or nohelp came from Sikh Institutions who income, very fewcouldmanage someother vocation. serving theirpunishmentalsowithoutany sourceof home after returned punished by courts, military indisciplinewereseverely those found guiltyof livelihood asthey weresenthomewithoutpension; only their lost officers non-commissioned and sepoys adversity major other The troops. that was many of Regiment withmixed also wasraised,this class the Sikh 1985, when anewbattalion (13Sikh) of other twobattalions (3and18Sikh).Later inFebruary Sikh) andsecondly tohave mixed castetroopsinthe (9 Battalion one disband to firstly taken, were steps Unprecedented in theircareers. most, therewasnoprogression andfor theArmy Regiments of tootherwere transferred from the affected battalions and men(approximately 2000) levels were ruined. Some officers many at brightcareers various and actions weremisconstrued overtook theboard, across down toasepoy),suspicions officers (from soldiers Sikh the of was the reliabilityandtrust casualty first the telling, was forepisode the SikhRegiment Whatever may ormay not have beenachieved by h fe fet fthissad aftereffects of The (former Colonel of the Sikh Regimant and ex-Chairman, andex-Chairman, theSikh Regimant Colonelof (former the point. militants tosurrender, which they willingly didproves camerasandmedia,askingthe under openglare of subsequent successful wereimplementedinthe factthatThe lessonslearnt black-out media informed, of. illthought was kept and confidence into taken havebeen should troops thesituation andlikely aftereffects:allSikh of atplanning thehighestlevel comprehension lacked have been done differently? Yes, it could have been, as severe. pacifying andhealing wounds,the punishments were publicity world-wide.Post the operation, rather than the Sikhpopulation alsogave the community adverse rosewhich besideseffectingpropaganda, rumours and withintheArmy. gave This risetonefarious by imposinganinformation black outonIndian media what was going tohappen, agrave folly wascommitted A question oft asked is whether this operation could of When the troopsinformed the needwas tokeep Punjab Public Service Commission) PublicService Punjab Operation Blackthunder Operation Lt GenRSSujlana(Retd.) in 1988, Targetting Gurdwaras throughout the Punjab

Blue Star over Patiala

The world remembers Operation Bluestar and the assault on Darbar Sahib in Amritsar. Less known is that some 37 or more Gurdwaras all over the Punjab were simultaneously assaulted by the army or para military forces in the first week of June 1984. These included those at Moga, Mukatsar, Faridkot, Patiala, Ropar and Chowk Mehta. The exact number of Sikhs killed are not known but 257 people were shot and killed during the storming of the Gurdwara Dukh Nivaran Sahib in Patiala itself, as recalled by Mallika Kaur, a lawyer and writer in the USA.

s they drop their children off at schools, clock put up a stiff fight against the Army for days. Through into factories, perform surgeries, drive taxis, and censorship and fear psychosis, the accompanying teach classes, many Sikhs around the world ride deaths of thousands of innocent civilians remains Aa wave of mixed sensations every first week of June: shrouded, known only to few. parents grow quieter and the children of 1984 will again waver between saying nothing and asking too much. As some 100,000 soldiers sealed the Punjab on Meanwhile, news about Indian paramilitary troops 1 June 1984, worshipers and visitors were trapped marching into Amritsar, Punjab, home to the golden- not only in Darbar Sahib at Amritsar but also in domed Darbar Sahib, accompanies the handful of usual other gurudwaras hundreds of kilometres away from political suspects calling for a shutdown of Amritsar to Bhindranwale, against whom there was no arrest mark the black anniversary of that June 1984 attack. warrant or legal case at the time. Over three decades after the terrible events, I listened to this old man, who Once upon a time, as per the government version, reminded me about the sights and smells imagined as extremism was being promoted by an uneducated but a child whenever I heard the sanitised term ‘Bluestar’: charismatic ideologue, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who misguided some Sikhs, making military “You know how when a turban is washed, and then intervention necessary in June 1984. The world has you wring it out, and water splatters out, just think about learnt since then, including through declassified British that…but with blood. So much blood. All these bloody documents, that the Indian Army’s attack on Punjab turbans. Blood everywhere…we could not even estimate resulted from long pre-planning rather than exigency how many bodies this had come from. Because there were NISHAAN and was centered at the heart of Sikhdom, Darbar no bodies there, just the blood….and the loosened soil below Sahib in Amritsar, where Bhindranwale and his men had porously retained so much blood.” 49 50 NISHAAN fthemany notoriousjails. of detention at Ladda Kothi,Patiala, southwest of just one in onSikhGurdwaras attack andtortured army heels of various Sikhboys andmenpicked upon theimmediate governmentPunjab investigate to in1985 thefate of the by appointed was Tiwana Tiwana. Justiceby 257 thesemany,at Patiala, of justone wererecordedat other gurdwaras. The casualties at Dukh Nivaran Sahib 42 were there that divulges 1984, June after hurriedly government’sIndian The White official Paper, released Genocide Ashes),Politics 75( of ( 41 1984: June in India north in attacked othergurdwaras thetotalnumber of estimates of all Sikh morale,” she summarised. There remain varying Itmeansthisattack wasinfacttodestroy gurudwaras? and the family was reunited. was only years later that their children could join them government totheUnitedStates. It jobs,andmigrated their quit soon both They Patiala. in happen seen byand remained“mentally tortured” what hehad how her husband home after came aweek back in1984,explained College aNursing principal of overwhelming.Kaur,theJadish was monstrosity howl, which my relative’s testimony re-awoke. heat, my child’s mind hadimaginedonly amonstrous NivaranDukh swelteringJunethe Punjabi in Sahib of who had slept the night before on the cooler marble floor trapped pilgrims visualising thebullet-ridden bodiesof animal before itdies”.Perhaps thankfully, rather than alarge, wounded growl, likehearing apersistent that of then, and flames, gurdwarain the up lit of parts seeing hours, many for firing continuous then explosions loud move intothecity. Herecountedhearingthreetofour witnessing, fromhisrooftop, theArmy of tell thestory awayhad beenfarther fromthegurdwara. Helived to In hiswords,“my father’s relative’s homeinPatiala DukhNivaran Gurdwara inPatiala. wallof boundary Suffering’). fromthe Hishouse had been 250-350meters DukhNivaran (meaning‘Eradictorof the premisesof never metrecountthemacabresightsandsmellsfrom the watershedyear, hereIwaslisteningtoamanhad Project History “Darbar Sahib was one…but what of the other 37 theother37 “Darbar Sahibwasone…but what of the first-hand, there were who those of Formany ihata fvolunteers fromthe With ateamof eodn etmne n eoiso , recordingtestimoniesandmemoriesof The Guardian ), 38(The 1984 Living Reduced to ). ). on YouTube. She speaks of the reddened earth in the in earth reddened the YouTube.on of speaks She thecitylimits. wobbling their way outof each laden with dead and almostdead bodies before they hadbeencounting,heard storiesaboutthe lorries family,petrified the to he milk of can small a handed forced togo withoutfood ormilkfor days. Ashe right acrossthe gurdwara andwho hadayoung child friendswho lived roads,tothe homeof through back during theattack.Ourrelative hadmadehisway, thosekilled in Rajindra Hospital,Patiala, the fate of Y ears later, I listen to Manjit Kaur’s testimony Kaur’s Manjit to listen Yearslater,I Growing up, fromdoctors wehadheard, including Devotees at Gurdwara Dukh Nivaran Sahib, Patiala

Patiala gurdwara, and later the overwhelming smell the else from Patiala listening to this can come forward, locals inhaled, coming from the village of Badoongar. they too can add a wall to this foundation, so we can “The smell gave us the idea of what was really going build toward the facts.” on… what was really going on was the mass burning of the bodies,” she recounts. The dead of Patiala were Instead of accounting or remembrance, what Punjab whisked away, just like the bodies from Amritsar were sees again is reporting on shrill political maneuvering in recorded being carted away in garbage trucks to be Amritsar, under the hawk-eyed watched of the central disposed of through quiet mass cremations. They left government troops. Once again, we see a violence- the earth red in their trace. centric, selective telling of the Punjab story. This telling does little to amplify the voices of ordinary citizens, or Says the eyewitness who as a boy counted bloody to diminish antagonisms, or respond to the prevailing NISHAAN turbans: “[The] Indian mass population doesn’t know intolerance that prevents any human rights remedies this… they didn’t let this come out at all… If anyone for the wrongs committed under the guise of Bluestar. 51 52 NISHAAN I Muktsar Sahib was one of them, as recorded by them,asrecorded Colonel(Dr.) DalvinderSinghGrewal. Muktsar Sahibwas oneof first the in attacked June historicgurdwara any at contain to ostensibly 1984, their premises.The within simultaneously militants dayswere of historical, them of many Punjab, the in gurdwaras 37 Over lotdwti h eihr fthe Gurdwara. of allotted within the periphery the employees towhom hadbeen living quarters of head Granthi and families werethe sewadars, complex the Gurdwara public, those present within precincts of atobeisance theGurdwara that day. the from Apart everywhere, at Muktsarhadcomefor thecongregation theSikhs.Like Gurdwaras Dev, Arjan of FifthGuru from the officialavailable and unofficial records. confirmation with - Singh Swaran Sardar and Bhatia SubaSingh,SardarSingh, BhaiPiaraGyani :BhaiBahadur theevent of eye-witnesses by provided been thisaccounthave detailsof intoaccount. The taken Muktsar. hasbeen Nopoliticalthoughtorconsideration Tuti Gurdwara 1984at Gandhiin of the historicalevents to only article this confine would I prestige. and power life andproperty, losstotheir but alsoanirreparable loss of suffered grievous notonly the Sikhs,whenthey era,1984 remains for thedarkestyear n themodern ue18 a h atro a fGuru 4 June Day 1984wastheMartyrdom of Recalling the attack on Muktsar

Gurdwara observation on the entire Gurdwara and the complex the BSFhadmadebunkers wherefrom they regular kept wall Onthehousesadjoining boundary Complex. imposed andtheBSFdeployed around theGurdwara rods toit. bySahib beingsupported the Attariby attaching iron building, the Nishan known constructed, was Attari, as multi-storied a Alongside, Singh. Hira hisson, of birth fromEngland tocelebrate the Nabhahadimported of SarbLohmetal,which the Maharaja Sahib, madeof the Gurdwara waserected the Nishan of the left corner was towards while on Gurdwara Shahidaninthe north Waala Khuh a historicalbanyan treeandthe wellknown as toGateGandhi wasnext No.and at 1 the frontwere periphery, Gurdwara for intothe complex. Tuti entry around, witheightgates (numbered 1to8)alongthe In the first days of June, 1984, curfew had been had curfew 1984, June, of days first the In wallall Gurdwara had aboundary The complex h ando fGurdwara Tuti Gandhi maindoorof . The

Bohad area around. Some young Sikh students had earlier come recalled, “when the first announcement was made, I in with antique weapons, most of them young Sikh boys was on duty and started helping families staying in from neighbouring villages who, having been hounded the Gurdwara complex them jump over the boundary by the police because of assumed past connection wall. “The present Jathedar of Akal Takht was then to Bhindranwale, having taken shelter in Gurdwara the Head Granthi of Gurdwara Tuti Gandhi Sahib. complex to save themselves from ‘encounter killing’. I helped him along with his family to cross over the Indeed illegal encounter killings were rife. wall. But when I was about to jump across, I was caught by the soldiers, who also fired a burst towards In the early hours of 4 June 1984, even as Operation the Jathedar; who however escaped. Many animals Bluestar was launched in Amritsar, another 37 belonging to a carpenters hut were killed alongwith Gurdwaras in the Punjab, including that at Muktsar him by the soldiers, his last rites performed later in were savagely attacked by the Army, including use the day behind Tamboo Sahib Gurdwara in the dera of tanks during which action. Gurdwara Tuti Gandhi of Nihang Sikhs. Sahib was virtually destroyed. The holy sarovar, which became site of the battlefield, was behind the Gurdwara After the artillery fire soldiers charged at the Tuti Gandhi, having steps of lime stone. In between the Gurdwara complex with LMGs and assault rifles. The steps and the Gurdwara was a baradari at one corner firing continued till morning. No one knows how many with the counter for karah parsad at the other, close to students or pilgrims were killed as soldiers took away number 1 gate, between the well and the Banyan tree bodies of the dead and wounded. on one side and gurdwara at the back. The firing stopped at day break. All those arrested According to Bhai Bahadur Singh, who was were now ordered to lie down on the floor (parikarma) then on guard duty at the Gurdwara complex, loud of the sarovar. The construction of Tamboo Sahib was speakers announced at 2.40 a.m. that ‘whosoever was in progress those days, being done through (karsewa) in the Gurdwara complex must surrender immediately; organised by Baba Harbans Singh and Karnail Singh otherwise firing is going to start.” Exactly one hour Kar Sewa Wale. They too were in their dera outside later; at 3.40 am, heavy firing begun including by the periphery of the Gurdwara complex but were also artillery from Gate Number 4, on other side of the brought in the parikarma and thoroughly questioned, sarovar. The first rounds hit the Attari and then later released after the officers got a phone call from continued, creating havoc. Bahadur Singh remembered Delhi. seven rounds having been fired that set the buildings ablaze. Many innocents were ‘murdered’ by troops. One Gurdeep Singh of village Maujewala had come to pay First shells hit the Attari, then the Baradari and obeisance at the Gurdwara on the eve of Guru Arjan subsequently the Gurdwara itself. Gunfire was so Dev ji’s martyrdom day, and when a soldier asked intense that girders of the Gurdwara and Baradari him to raise hands; he did not understand the order, melted in the fire. Holy Birs of Guru Granth Sahib were but when he raised his arms, a cloth bag fell from his also destroyed in the fire. New( Birs were later brought arm pit and tried to grab it with his second hand. The from Amritsar and installed after a new Gurdwara soldier probably thought that the person was going to complex constructed through kar seva). throw a hand grenade and fired an LMG burst, killing him instantly. A Nihang of karniwala was also killed The few armed young men of the Sikh Student in similar manner. Federation had already left the Gurdwara complex much before the first rounds were fired and the few “As the day dawned, the floor became blazingly hot who were left behind were amongst the visitors who owing to direct hot sun rays in that month of June NISHAAN were trapped within the complex due to the curfew (Asadh), our bodies burning from the heat. We were and did not know where to go. Bahadur Singh further very thirsty, but if we requested for water, we got kicks 53 54 NISHAAN yet deadandsanginourhearts, ? Wewe stand such torture took solace that we were not by Dev Arjan andhistortures the Mughals.Could Guru Wetorture. of only could rememberthemartyrdom whole The day in return. we wentthrough this extreme photographed usmanyphotographed times. andwooden nameplates onoureyes,tied cloth attached usincessantly.tormented He hatredmade false casesand and evil and Amar Singhwasfullof breaking point.One Thanedar, criminals”. as “very clever and hardened upto 1/7/84 we being described which thisremandwasextended obtained upto25/6/84after was remand police first the and wasshown arrest on17/6/84The the individuals who were listed inthe charge-sheet. all the charge-sheet alongwith the listof a copy of Act2554/59.Igot 435/295A, 322/353,156andArms 307/201. against uson7June 1984,underprovisions of then putinprisonandcase number 162wasfiled questioningthey gave chapattis ustwodry each, of speak. Seeingthisstate andtomeettherequirement hadmadeussoweakthatthirst wewerebarely able to about ourpastand present activities. Hunger and Singh died inagony. the Gurdwara, Baldev of heat storekeeper andthirst, where wecouldbarely breathe andfacedby extreme 12years. We werealllocked inasmallroom Singh of 70years toGurpal their ages rangingfromLalSingh of the Gurdwara Sahib, people alsoemployees included of room where there wasnolight orwater 62 orfan.These single a in confined and building college nearby a to who 62wereseparated werethentaken Sikhs encircled, about400 questioning.tortuous Intheevening, of ‘They’ tortured us beyond‘They’ tortured the us questioning started “they” day second the On The dayThe heat passedintheburning andfacing most sympathy andtreated ushumanely. colleague, who belonged totheSikligarcommunity, had Rajput his but rude very also was officer Army Sikh even know driving andhadnosuchlicense.Another charge-sheeted for thisaswelleven thoughhe didnot Bhindranwaleandwas Singh wasshown asadriver of 70year-oldto beusedlater infalsecases.The Lal got–our signatures and thumb impressions by force, withthem. Hewanted–and and take ourphotographs orother weapons Sometimes he wouldplacegrenades Gyani Balwant SinghRasia andsomeothers. Balwant Gyani SubaSingh, Gyani theevents: otherdirect witnessesof by also been killed but I do not have much information.” to death. may Others Khapianwalli wastortured have WaryamSingh and “encounters” in martyred been Muktsar had Singhof SinghandDarshan Harminder Rupana, of Singh Jaskaran that know to came we andhellish life.When wecameout, ceaseless torture GovernmentBarnala after18monthsand11days of against us.Finallywerereleasedby all61persons the and remainedinjailbut nothingcriminalwasproved better treated thanMuktsarJail. We wenttothe court the SDM,wasaveryThere goodandwewere person and we were shifted from Muktsar to Fardikot Jail. over court cases wereadmittedin till our months, six Wewater withafewgrains. wentthroughthishellfor eat :the chapattis werehalf-cooked anddaljustboiled The foodThe given to us in the jail was too rotten to This account of Bahadur Singh was also corroborated alsocorroborated BahadurSinghwas accountof This “De-classify!” Knowing the extent of UK’s involvement in planning of ‘Bluestar’

n January 2014, the National Archives in London A letter dated 3 February 1984, to BJP Fall, declassified certain documents under the 30–year Principal Private Secretary to the British Foreign declassification rule which revealed that Mrs Gandhi Secretary, sent by FER Butler, Prime Minister Ihad sought British military help to evict dissidents Margaret Thatcher’s Principal Private Secretary, from the Golden Temple in February 1984, even acknowledges receiving New Delhi’s request for “advice though, until the last minute, she maintained publicly on plans for the removal of dissident Sikhs from the that she was looking for a negotiated settlement and Golden Temple.” A UK special forces expert visited had promised Sikh leaders abroad that “under no New Delhi and advised the Indian authorities on how to circumstances” she would send the army to the Golden retake control of the Golden Temple. A top-secret letter Temple. written on 23 February 1984, by Fall to the British Foreign Secretary, states: “The Indian authorities This story was first broken by The Guardian, recently sought British advice over a plan to remove London, and later picked up by some Indian papers, Sikh extremists from the Golden Temple in Amritsar. The Indian Express and The Tribune. In her book The Foreign Office decided to respond favourably to ‘Bluestar over Amritsar: the real story of June 1984’, the Indian request and, with the Prime Minister’s Harminder Kaur gives the following details: agreement, a SAS 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.” He further goes on to write: “An operation by the Indian authorities at the Golden Temple could, in the first instance, exacerbate the communal tension in the Punjab. It might also, therefore, 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 NISHAAN been tightly held both in India and in The British and Indian Prime Ministers in London London.” 55 56 NISHAAN receiving the advanceoperation.” notice of government (British) the of record no is there and between the this provisionadvice of and defence sales the temple three months later; that there was no link at unfolded eventsthat tragic the on impact limited had it stage; early an at government Indian the to advisory,purely was assistance providedand limited UK the of nature the that finds report Secretary’s Cabinet “The concluded: Hague documents. 23000 and files 200 involvedsearching It Heywood. Jeremy Secretary Cabinet UK by out carried was fortifications in the temple complex. extensivebuilt had force dissident large considerably a as months three following the in significantly” training was offered. or equipment low,no butnumbers casualty keep to try to helicopters, as well as surprise, of element an using suggested advisor same The resort. last a as be should attack any that recommended 1984 February an “unnamed British military adviser” sent to India in Operation Bluestar. advancesaid in Hague months of givenand advisory” “purely was advice the that London in Parliament told Secretary,Hague William ForeignBluestar.UK Operation planning in India to assistance British about inquiry an ordered Cameron by the British government after Prime Minister David I expect a full explanation.” this matter and will raise it in Commons. the House of Gandhi...I am writing to the Foreign Secretary about Indira of Government the with collusion military British the of extent the of explanation an for ask to unreasonable not is It enough. good not is This withheld. havebeen that others are there and 2014) January (13 morning this documents the seen I’ve Sikhs. British many to offence and upset huge cause the GovernmentIndia over of Operation Bluestar will “The claim that the British Government colluded with Labour MP Tom Watson said in the Community,British Parliament:Sikh the among as well as Parliament declassification hadraisedafurorein British An investigation intotheBritishroleinBluestar “changed plan Indian the said then Hague confirmed was documents the of authenticity The their after documents the on Commenting whether documents relating to Britain’s involvementBritain’s to relating documents whether decide will Tribunal the of outcome The London. inTribunal First-Tier the at case Commissioner Information UK versus Miller Phil the in began after a year. only hearing for up put was case the officials, busy being case the in witnesses the including reasons, appeal to the First-Tier Tribunal, but due to various down yeara appeal.his an made turned then Miller approached the information commissioner, who after then Miller declined. was request his but public made be to papers further for requests made He scope. limited of was enquiry Cameron David the involvement in Operation Bluestar. Britain’sto related documents public making for by freelance journalist Phil Miller and Sikh Federation to the 30-year Mayrule.) has not responded yet. been released in August 2016 after 32 years (contrary Commonwealth India files from 1984, whichForeignand had33 only of recall the with lost was this to A valuable opportunity to bring greater transparency misleading.be to conclusions its of presentation the and inaccurate be to many by felt was review 2014 British history.” Corbyn’s letter underscored that the a fresh, independent investigation into this episode in considerreview, must 2014 Januarybelievewe the I theeffectiveness regarding of concerns andintegrity military action on the Golden Temple thein in 1984. role “Given alleged UK’s of extent full the of details representations” from the Sikh community demanding “significantfollowing demand the made 2017, pledge. Corbyn had made Operation Bluestar probe his election Bluestar.”Operation ‘appalling’ the involvementin “fresh, independent investigation into Britain’s alleged a for calling May Minister,Theresa Prime British the to wrote Leader,CorbynJeremy Party Labour elections Parliamentary British 2017 January the The matter, however, is far from settled as during as settled from matter,however,far The is Finally, on 6 March 2018, the three-day proceedings that felt journalist, freelance British Miller,a 2018 March in stepped-up were efforts Meanwhile, January4 dated May Ms. to Corbyn’sletter in the Indian military operations at the Golden Temple in Amritsar in June 1984 can be released in the public domain in entirety or be kept away on grounds of national security and international relations.

On the first day of the hearing, four witnesses gave evidence: Philip Barton, director general, consular and security at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Owen Jenkins, former FCO director for South Asia and Afghanistan; Dabinderjit Singh of the UK Sikh Federation and journalist Miller. Barton’s evidence was taken behind locked doors. The bulk of the session was held in secret as Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) officials explained their stand that the declassification of the files posed a threat to national security and international relations with India. The final decision in the matter NISHAAN was to be taken in six-weeks and was not known at the time of going to press. 57 58 NISHAAN F politically motivated. Intheprevailing cloistered and the SGPC President isarbitrary removal of appointment or is discernible. Even thesystemof itspolitical bosses,asubservientattitude bidding of the at SGPC ‘politicised’ the by followed religiously Given theclergy,the ‘hire and fire’ policy in respect of Reformation ofSikhinstitutions? Parbandhak Committee)andAkalTakht. fthe apex organs: SGPC (Shiromani Gurdwara of andsovereignty,independence orwhatever remains, questions. Particularly, ontheerosioninautonomy, expectations and frustrations has raised freshexpectations andfrustrations Sikh aspirations, institutions of in articulating Sikh or quitesometime,the roleandfunctionof Politicisation the of SGPC –and the Sikh clergy a fertile ground for them to flourish, ostensibly under flourish, to them for ground fertile a and gurus; sects, cults and babas as adetergent politics. tocleanse to show ‘unalloyed loyalty’ to their political masters. religio-political system, the incumbents are expected have politicisedreligion.Religion hasnotbeen evoked religionandpolitics,the factisthat vested interests of institutions? Even isoutonthejuxtaposition asthejury these of continuousbeen a denigration and erosion opaqueness indecision-making. Why hasthere given concern, the contradictions and causeisa of h oiiiaino theSGPCandSikh clergy politicisationThe of hnteei h rwn uto thereisthegrowing cultof Then deras

. Punjab provides sants, mahants,

Vote bank politics of the Deras

‘state’ or ‘political’ patronage. The key Sikh institutions saffornisation of institutions, the Akali leadership has have failed to checkmate these. Understandably, maintained a silence for fear of annoying the BJP or a majority of those who flock to the deras is from losing a Cabinet berth. And, the religious wing never among the ‘weaker sections, Scheduled Castes and made any attempts to ‘own’ the estranged sections that other backward classes’. The deras are not just a opted for deras and invested their faith in ‘gurus’ and vote-bank, but something more than that. This vast ‘babas’. section of society feels left out of the state’s ‘welfare schemes’ denying them economic emancipation, social To reverse this trend, it is time the government equality, income generation, employment opportunities implemented its ‘welfare schemes’ and changed its and affordable, quality education and health delivery approach towards dera followers. It is also time for services. They have been ignored and marginalised by radical reforms to restore dignity, independence, the Sikh religio-political leadership. This has alienated sovereignty and autonomy of the Sikh clergy and them, depriving them of societal recognition, respect, SGPC. It is equally important to restore ‘inner equality, and human dignity. democracy’ in the SAD. Punjab must maintain communal harmony, peace and tranquility, which is Thus, deras flourish as they provide their followers ever so fragile. ‘recognition’, something neither the governments nor Sikh religio-political leadership gave them. While the Often, concerned scholars, not necessarily neutral, governments ignored them, Sikh institutions never have suggested alternatives to ride out the crises. Since welcomed them into their fold. Resultantly, there are conflict, contradiction and confrontation dominate sharp divisions based on religion, caste, creed and class the Sikh institutions and Sikh psyche, scholars need to in villages, where segregation is widespread. Proof cooperate and coordinate in the larger interest of the lies in the existence of separate cremation grounds, state and the Sikhs. gurdwaras and dharmshalas for different communities. Have there been attempts to reform or restore lost NISHAAN Strangely, in the wake of the countrywide outcry dignity of these institutions? One attempt was initiated against ‘atrocities’ on the minorities, cow vigilantism, at the World Sikh Sammelan in Amritsar in September 59 60 NISHAAN h rseiyo the entire community.the prosperityof consensusfor of circle senate couldcreate avirtuous order: Sikhs,hebelieved, beingaconsensualsociety, the imperative for secularSikhsocial globally integrating the 21stcentury. Hebelieved that suchasenate was for optimum viable moving prosperity into itself atthe homeandabroadtomeetchallenges andadapt attempts have remainedstillborn. These folds. religio-political Sikh in unity ‘forge’ to havethese institutions.Numerousseminars beenheld from ‘power’ drew they since control, and hegemony those who holdsway over them,fearingthelossof Sikh Senate. Butallsuchattempts werescuttledby Singh Grewal, floated a setting the Global up idea of of and 1996)by Colonel,the late aretired Army Gurdip widening itsambit,worldwide.(between1994 Then broad-based SGPCwitharepresentative character; 1995, withSikhsmostly settledabroaddemandinga Grewal’s idea was to enable the Sikh community Sikh the enable to was idea Grewal’s Sikhs in SGPC elections. The matterSikhs inSGPCelections.The isthecourt. GlobalSikh Senate. of Sikh Council orinthe concept disbanded allunitsinMarch,2000. Badal). And,thethenJathedar, GianiPuranSingh, Minister up amongthepower-wielders Chief (including duetodifferencescropping wasaborted concept The n prahtwrsnal 0prcn fthe and approach towards nearly 50percentof Sehjdhari sects, cultsandderas;oronthevoting rightsof sants,mahants,babasandgurus; in thegrowing cultof Gurdwara Actenacted,inthepastsixdecadesortorein toeitherget theSikhleadership anAll-India failure of SGPC, SAD and Akal Takht, other pending issues include: decades, showed interesteitherintheWorld littleorno religio-political institutionsbetweenthemselves for It is time the government recalibrates its policies Besides the key needed for reforms reinventing the With theAkalileadership, having parceledvarious minds fromparticipating. the Sikh affairs, obstructing enlightened enlightened obstructing the Sikhaffairs, orthodox, maintainedastranglehold on gurdwara-based politics, generally ultra- confrontation; two, theguardiansof thoughtlessnessandattitude of of politics intoanarchetypicalmould Sikh one,the castingof factors: two of account wereon imperfections existing set up under the Jathedar of Akal Takht. Akal set upundertheJathedar of Sikh CouncilandZonalCouncilsbe also resolvedbesides itwas that aWorld ewso the opinionthat the He wasof At the 1995 WorldAt the1995 SikhSammelan, out-of-the-box reforms. orthodoxy-shell andthink of its of out comes leadership and the religio-political Sikh deras and feels alienated, population that believes in Commissioner of Punjab) Punjab) Commissioner of First Published in ‘The Publishedin‘The First ( Former

Information Information PPS Gill Tribune’

Can there be closure from The pain and politics of Bluestar ?

the Sikhs, continue to be felt even after 34 years, not only in India but also in countries with the Sikh diaspora.

These questions are now back in focus following a court order in the UK to the British government to declassify the documents relating to Operation Bluestar. A part of the tranche that was de- classified earlier had for the first time revealed that India in February 1984 had sought British consultancy for this action. Sikh radicals are active in the UK where large-scale protests against the arrest of Jaggi Johal by Punjab police in the case of killing of Hindu leaders he British court’s decision to declassify in the state were recently witnessed. India cold- documents relating to Operation Bluestar brings shouldered Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau back questions about the number of people early this year as he was perceived to be pandering to Tkilled in the Golden Temple in June, 1984 and the the Sikh radical political discourse there. options that PM Indira Gandhi had had to avoid it. It was the deadly politics of Operation Bluestar Several questions related to Operation Bluestar that not only consumed Bhindranwale but also took remain unanswered. These include the total number the lives of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, retired of men, women and children who were killed during Army Chief General AS Vaidya in Pune and then the storming of the Golden Temple complex in Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh in Chandigarh in the first week of June in 1984. The tremors of this 1995. That politics is still to witness closure. It is for unprecedented army action, ostensibly targeted at this reason that certain questions must be answered NISHAAN Sikh militants commanded by Sant Jarnail Singh and that is possible only in case the entire record is Bhindranwale holed up in this most sacred shrine of declassified. 61 62 NISHAAN proved. washitby country The thisviolentpolitical is could cashuponinelections incasethe allegation alliance the which on issue an is It papers. official and he hadbeenrebutting thisallegation. Akalis usedtoattack himfor thisduringthat period the Evenby Congress. asectionof thethenruling created hisbeinganinstrument of is the perception Operation Bluestar. demand for Khalistanandthiswastheproductof Bhindranwalehad never unequivocallyraised the Yudh Dharam launched August 4 on Morcha 1982. thedemandsonwhich theAkaliDalhad of the Anandpur Sahib resolution that wasone of onlyhad for beenpressing theimplementation followed by yet another round. recording wassent tothe Prime Minister. was This and the entire conversation wastape-recorded. The on 25May 1984.Aninterlocutormethimon28May at AkalTakhton-one interactionwith this journalist hismindduringthe one-hourlongone- had disclosed was Bhindranwale.Henotaverse totalksandhe Golden Temple eightdays later. would reveal of therealreasonfor thestorming airlifted toDelhi on28March for secret consultations. sorry. Madamdoesnotagree.” andsaid,“Verywas tobeconsulted.Theyreturned deliberations asthe Prime Minister after four of hours government representatives told the Akalis towait Rao, and Shiv Pranab Mukherjee Shankar. The PVNarasimha cabinetministers Centre included present fromthe Those by SinghBarnala. Surjit on May 26,1984inDelhithat wasalsoattended Tohra wentonrecordyears later onameetingheld government. Singh Gurcharan stalwart hisparty But the and the ninesecretmeetingsbetweenAkalis Singh Badalcontinues tobeinadenialmodeon In casehe wasso, there mightbesomehintin the Yet another aspectassociated withBhindranwale All suchdetailsmust berevealed asBhindranwale While the Akalis were one dimension, the other thismeetingwhich thenistherecordof This ietm he Mnse fthe PunjabParkash Ministerof Five-time Chief

Earlier, Badalwas battle. Bhindranwale and his associates who died inthat in the Golden Temple tocommemorate complex Gurdwara Parbandhak Committeetoraiseamemorial patriarch who gave signaltothe Shiromani the green was Bhindranwale.ItBadalastheAkaliDal that militantstruggle violence andthesymbolof Going by the CMP, that instigated itwastheCongress reopen oldwounds.Butthe woundsstillneed closure. aftercomingintopower,backtracked saying itwould handbehind the violenceinPunjab.”Congress examination. move. Were therenootheroptions? 72-hour curfew during which even did not bullock carts guns wereusedandanentirestate wasbroughtunder against one's “own people” inwhich tanks and artillery Bangladesh. turned situation like when in1971 theone Pakistan East going andthat tobedeclared wouldhave created a was Khalistan that version official the debunk papers British of instalment first The normal. than higher devotees intheGoldenTemple ismuchnumber of the Fifth Sikh Master, Dev, Arjan Guru of when the anniversary coincidedwiththemartyrdom attack huge gap. factsmust The comeout. by theCentreinJuly 1984tomany isa thousand.This hundred (493)asmentionedinthe White Paper issued speculative estimates vary domain.The fromafew in inquiry, headedby the aretiredjudge, toexpose promised: “We will set up aspecial commission of forminimum the programme 1997election had peoplewerekilled. thousands of forPunjab rootedin discourse years15 about which in Operation Bluestar Operation h ubro deaths, bothcivilian andmilitary, numberThe of These are some of the questions that thequestions needurgent of some are These India independent in action such first the was This thereisanother unansweredThen questionasthis Notably, theAkaliDal-BJPallianceinitscommon cniust eapr fthe of continues tobeapart From :TheTribune Jagtar Singh

Badal Resolution by The Sikh Forum

he Sikh Forum, an independent think tank body the very first admission in three decades by Government was established in late 1984 by prominent Sikhs authorities that priceless books and documents kept at of New Delhi led by Lt Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora, the Sikh Reference Library at the Golden Temple at Tin the wake of the holocaust perpetuated against the Amritsar, had been taken away by the Army in June Sikh population of India’s capital and many other 1984, which fact was denied for 33 years. cities. Over the decades its role has broadened from essentially being an organisation to assist victims of the The main speakers at The Sikh Forum function, November 1984 pogrom, to becoming an opinion maker moderated by Dr Amarjit Singh Narang the Vice on various issues concerning the Sikhs, including those President, were S Surinder Singh Jodhka, Professor in the diaspora. School of Social Sciences, JNU, New Delhi, Harminder Kaur, senior journalist and author of several books The Forum has continuously held annual functions including ‘Blue Star Over Amritsar’, S Tarlochan in New Delhi, one in early June every year to mark that Singh, former MP and Chairman National Commission, ignominious Operation Blue Star and the second, in early Minorities, S Sukhdev Singh, Chairperson, INTACH at November every year, on the genocide by politically- Amritsar and Mr Rahul Dev, an eminent journalist and sponsored elements against the Sikh community at large. language activist.

The theme of this largely attended special function At conclusion of the function, a Resolution was at the India International Centre, New Delhi on 3 June proposed by the President S Pushpindar Singh and NISHAAN 2018 to mark the 34th Anniversary of Operation Blue unanimously adopted for forwarding to the Prime Star was on ‘Recovering our Heritage’, which referred to Minister of India (and reads) : 63 64 NISHAAN instance of Punjab, anextreme intheborder Amritsarandyouths beltof at devotees and its flawedexecution innocent resulting in thousands the of killing of decision Reconciliation Commission’ thebackground behindthat to expose India appointa‘Truth And of weaponry, theGovernment itistimethat usingheavy theIndianArmy wereassaultedby inthePunjab Gurdwaras 37other Sikhismandover Darbar SahibinAmritsar, of heart thevery documents. andsacred theirmostvalued whereaboutsof justiceabout of dispensation and sincere explanation any of intheabsence hurt senseof a terrible with anguish, in remain to continues community Sikh The fire. in set before theReference andMuseumwas personnel shortly Library Army by removed recordsbooks, reference and paintingswereostensibly library SikhGurus,transcriptsof hand-written Adi-Granth,Hukamnamasof Tragically also, most priceless documents which included ‘puratan’ ‘puratan’ Tragically also,mostpricelessdocuments whichincluded inwhichthe ignominiousoperation four yearsafterthat Thirty

theviola Audience attheIndiaInternational Centre, New Delhi ino HumanRights. tion of the SikhCommunity. persists in that anguish deep the assuaging in go are. would someway This they condition, wherever (via SGPC)inany totheSikhCommunity returned forthwith are otherDepartments Home/CBI orany of Defence orMinistry of Ministry or the Army documents still held by allavailable 4.1.2018, demandsthat dated VII 17012/5/2002-IS. letter No. their by confirmed as SGPC, to books 53 Home Affairs for release of of Ministry The SikhForumThe whilethankingfor Back Cover The Nishaan: Collection 2003

The Nishaan Collections for 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 are now available in bound volumes, also including the Premiere Issue of the Journal released in April 1999 at the Tercentenary of the birth of Khalsa. The Nishaan, published quarterly, is considered a collector’s item, to be read and kept with pride and faith. Published by The Nagaara Trust, New Delhi, India.

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