bhai kartar singh bhattal interview 1984 golden temple
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Operation Blue Star was the codename of a military-operation carried out by Indian security forces between 1 and 10 June 1984 in order to remove Damdami Taksal, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and their followers from the buildings of the Golden Temple, the holiest site for Sikhs located in Amritsar, Punjab, India. The decision to launch the operation rested with the Prime Minister of India, then Indira Gandhi,[25] who had already authorized military preparation for a confrontation at the temple complex 18 months prior according to the then-Vice Chief of the Army Staff, S. K. Sinha.[26] In July 1982, Harchand Singh Longowal, the president of the Sikh political party Shiromani Akali Dal, had invited Bhindranwale to take up residence in the Golden Temple to evade arrest by government authorities.Indian intelligence agencies had reported that three prominent Sikh figures; Shabeg Singh, Balbir Singh and Amrik Singh, referred to in reports as "prominent heads of the Khalistan movement"; had each made at least six trips to neighbouring Pakistan between 1981 and 1983. Shabeg Singh, an Indian Army officer who later deserted to join Bhindranwale, was identified as the provider of weapons training at Akal Takht. The Intelligence Bureau alleged that training was being provided at various gurdwaras throughout Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. Amrik Singh responded to these allegations by stating that student training camps with “traditional weapons” had existed prior for four decades at these locations.[29] The KGB intelligence agency of the Soviet Union had tipped off India's Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) about a joint operation between Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the United States' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to stir separatist unrest in the Indian state of Punjab. False claims were also made that R&AW had received intelligence by interrogating a Pakistani soldier that over a thousand Special Service Group commandos of the Pakistan Army had been dispatched by the Pakistani government into Indian Punjab to assist Bhindranwale in his fight against the Indian government; however, no signs of commandoes were found and no proofs were provided by R&AW. Only Sikhs within India could join Bhindranwale due to the high-level militarization of the India–Pakistan border.[citation needed] Pakistani intelligence agents were also allegedly dispatched and followed smuggling routes in Kashmir and the Kutch region of Gujarat with plans to commit sabotage.[8]
On 1 June 1984, after negotiations with the militants failed, Indira Gandhi rejected the Anandpur Resolution and ordered the army to launch Operation Blue Star, simultaneously attacking scores of Sikh temples across Punjab.[32] 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 8 civilians. A variety of army units and paramilitary forces surrounded the Golden Temple complex on 3 June 1984. The official stance of the army was that warnings were made to facilitate the evacuation of pilgrims but that no surrender or release occurred by June 5 at 7:00 PM.[34] However, in April 2017 the Amritsar District and Sessions Judge Gurbir Singh gave a ruling which stated that there was no evidence that the Indian army provided warnings for pilgrims to leave the temple complex before commencing their assault.[35] The army's assault on the temple complex ended on June 8. A clean-up operation codenamed Operation Woodrose was then initiated throughout Punjab.[8]The army had underestimated the firepower possessed by the militants, whose armaments included Chinese-made rocket-propelled grenade launchers with armour-piercing capabilities. Tanks and heavy artillery were used to attack the militants, 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. The government-issued white paper stated that 1,592 militants were apprehended and there were 554 combined militant and civilian casualties,[15] much lower than independent estimates[24] which ranged from 18,000 to 20,000.108 According to the government, high civilian casualties were attributed to militants using pilgrims trapped inside the temple as human shields.[36] However, 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.[37][38][39] 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.
