37th anniversary of Operation Blue Star
THE 37th anniversary of Operation Blue Star was observed in Amritsar.
Readers may recall that Operation Blue Star was the code name of an Indian military operation which was carried out between 1 and 10 June 1984, in order to capture the Sikh Damdami Taksal leader and the Sikh separatist leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his followers from the buildings of Harmindir Sahib (Golden Temple) complex in Amritsar, Punjab on the orders of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
In July 1982, Harchand Singh Longowal, the President of the Sikh political party Akali Dal, had invited Bhindranwale to take up residence in the Golden Temple Complex to evade arrest.
Indian intelligence agencies had reported that three prominent figures in the operation, Major General Shabeg Singh, a highly decorated Indian Army officer who fought in major battles for India but had been maliciously wronged, Balbir Singh, and Amrik Singh, “prominent heads of the Khalistan Movement”, were planning the secession of Punjab from India. The weapons training was being provided at Kal Takht Sahib by Shabeg Singh.
It is ironic that Shabeg Singh had provided guerrilla warfare training to the Bengali militant group the Mukti Bahini prior to the 1971 Pakistan-India War of 1971.
The Indian Intelligence Bureau alleged that the training was being provided to Sikhs at Gurdwaras in Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.
Amrik Singh responded to these allegations by stating that student training camps with “traditional weapons” had existed for four decades at these locations.
The Soviet intelligence agency KGB malevolently tipped off the Indian intelligence agency RAW about an alleged CIA and ISI plot to sever Punjab from India.
In 1981 USSR had launched Operation Kontakt, which was based on a forged document purporting to contain details of the weapons and money provided by the ISI to Sikh militants who wanted to create an independent country.
In November 1982, Yuri Andropov, the General Secretary of the Communist Party and leader of the Soviet Union, approved a proposal to fabricate Pakistani intelligence documents detailing ISI plans to foment religious disturbances in Punjab and promote the creation of Khalistan as an independent Sikh state.
Indira Gandhi’s decision to move troops into the Punjab was based on her taking seriously the false information provided by the Soviets regarding secret CIA support for the Sikhs.
On 1 June 1984, after negotiations with the militants failed, Indira Gandhi ordered her army to launch Operation Blue Star.
On 1 June Indian security forces commenced Operation Blue Star when they fired into various buildings with the goal of assessing the training of the militants, which resulted in the deaths of eight civilians.
A variety of army units and paramilitary forces surrounded the Golden Temple Complex on 3 June 1984. The army’s assault on the temple complex ended on 8 June.
The army had underestimated the firepower possessed by the militants, whose armaments included rocket-propelled grenade launchers with armour-piercing capabilities.
Tanks and heavy artillery were used to attack the Sikhs, who responded with anti-tank and machine-gun fire from the heavily fortified Akal Takht. After a 24-hour firefight, the army gained control of the temple complex.
The official casualty figures for the army were 83 dead and 249 injured. However, Rajiv Gandhi disclosed in September 1984 that 700 soldiers were killed.
The government-issued white paper stated that 1,592 militants were apprehended and there were 554 combined militant and civilian casualties, much lower than independent estimates which ranged from 18,000 to 20,000.
It is regrettable that the Indian army had allowed thousands of pilgrims and protestors to enter the temple complex on 3 June 1984 and prevented them from leaving after imposing a curfew at 10:00 PM on the same day.
Eyewitnesses alleged that on 6 June after the fighting had stopped the Indian military executed detainees who had their arms tied behind their backs, and fired on men and women who had heeded the announcements of the military to evacuate.
The military action in the temple complex was criticized by Sikhs worldwide, who interpreted it as an assault on the Sikh religion.
Many Sikh soldiers in the army deserted their units, several Sikhs resigned from civil administrative office and returned awards received from the Indian government.
In the bloody aftermath of Operation Blue Storm, on 31 October 1984, Indira Gandhi was assassinated in an act of revenge by her two Sikh bodyguards, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh.
Public outcry over Gandhi’s death led to a state organized pogrom leading to the killing of more than 17,000 Sikhs in Delhi alone, in the ensuing 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
The organized ethnic cleansing of the Sikhs resulted in a mass exodus of Sikhs who sought asylum in Canada, USA and UK.
To observe the 37th Anniversary of Operation Blue Star, a huge gathering was witnessed on the Akal Takht.
A ceremony to mark the occasion was held by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), in which the bhog of Sri Akhand Path Sahib was performed.
Jathedar Sri Akal Takht Sahib Giani Harpreet Singh, Jathedar Takht Sri Kesgarh Sahib Giani Raghbir Singh, and SGPC President Bibi Jagir Kaur were present during the event, which remained peaceful.
In 1919, at Amritsar, the Jallianwala Bagh massacre had taken place, when General Dyer ordered troops of the British Indian Army to fire their rifles into a crowd of unarmed civilians, killing 379 and injuring 1,200.
Operation Blue Star remains one of the most gruesome actions by the Indian government against Sikhs and its anniversary is observed solemnly.
—The writer is retired PAF Group Captain and a TV talk show host.
