INDIA: UK to investigate documents suggesting it colluded with India in 1984 Golden Temple attack

Record ID: 1375038

  • Title: INDIA: UK to investigate documents suggesting it colluded with India in 1984 Golden Temple attack
  • Date: 16th January 2014
  • Summary: AMRITSAR, PUNJAB, INDIA (FILE- FEBRUARY, 1984) (REUTERS) VIEW OF THE GOLDEN TEMPLE NEW DELHI, INDIA (FILE-FEBRUARY 27, 1984) (REUTERS) POLICE LINED UP, WHILE SIKHS SIT ON THE GROUND, SHOUTING SLOGANS AMRITSAR, PUNJAB, INDIA (FILE-APRIL 30, 1984) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ARMED MEN OBSERVING A GATHERING OF SIKHS IN THE STREETS SIKHS IN TEMPLE PREMISES BRICKING-UP WINDOW AND ARMED SIKHS ON TOP OF TEMPLE BUILDING ARMED SIKHS SITTING IN THE GOLDEN TEMPLE PREMISES
  • Embargoed: 31st January 2014 21:12
  • Keywords:
  • Location: India
  • Country: India
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics,Religion,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVAC6I0JPCUTI72DQ0JOUKZAFQJP
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: Britain is to investigate declassified letters suggesting it colluded with India's former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi over Indian security forces entering the holy Sikh shrine, the Golden Temple in India's northern Amritsar city in 1984 to flush out militants.


    The United Kingdom on Thursday (January 16) said that it would investigate declassified letters, which suggest that it colluded with India's former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, over Indian security forces entering the holy Sikh shrine, the Golden Temple in at India's northern Amritsar city in 1984, to flush out militants.
    During his visit for a bilateral meeting with K. Suresh, India's junior minister of labour and employment, the UK's minister of state for skills and enterprise, Mathew Hancock, emphasised the strong bonds between UK and India.
    "Well we are very clear about the strength of the relationship between Britain and India and also, the relationship with the Sikh community within Great Britain. The Prime Minister himself has put a huge amount of emphasis into this relationship and so we will investigate the backgrounds to these letters that have become public and will be absolutely open with the full revelations that come from that investigation," said Hancock.
    A lawmaker from Britain's Labour party says that he has seen documents which suggest then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's administration dispatched Britain's Special Air Service (SAS) officers to help Indira Gandhi in the storming of the Golden Temple.
    The 'Stop Deportations' website quotes from the documents which were made public by the National Archives in London under the 30-year rule over the New Year.
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