Amid the raging row over claims that Margaret Thatcher's government had aided India in Operation Bluestar, Lt Gen Kuldip Singh Brar (retd), who led the offensive, on Tuesday said it was planned and executed by Indian military commanders.
"I am quite dumbfounded because the operation was planned and executed by military commanders in India. There is no question... we never saw anyone from the UK coming in here and telling us how to plan the operation," Brar told a TV news channel.
Maintaining that there was no involvement of British agencies in the operation, he said the authenticity of the documents that have surfaced suggesting England's assistance should be checked.
"I am not a politician. I don't know what are the political motives of these letters coming out. I am a straightforward soldier and therefore cannot give any view besides the soldier's view. I conducted the operation and no aid came in. This is the first time I am hearing all this. It is obviously some mischief at some stage or the other. There was no aid given to us, no advice given to us, there was no representative from the UK government who came and met us to help us plan the operation," the 79-year-old former general said.
There was a murderous attack on Brar by a group of Sikhs in London in 2012, in retaliation for his role in Operation Bluestar. Three Sikh men and a woman were last year convicted of carrying out the attack and sentenced to undergo imprisonment from 10-and-a-half years to 14 years by a British court.
{{/usCountry}}There was a murderous attack on Brar by a group of Sikhs in London in 2012, in retaliation for his role in Operation Bluestar. Three Sikh men and a woman were last year convicted of carrying out the attack and sentenced to undergo imprisonment from 10-and-a-half years to 14 years by a British court.
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