UK office ‘borrows’ files linked to Op Bluestar

London, November 4

The UK Foreign Office today admitted removing from the National Archives a number of files on the India-UK relations in the 1980s, including some related to Operation Bluestar, prompting a Sikh group to demand an independent investigation into the matter.

The files were released by the National Archives under the 30-year declassification rules earlier this year.

The Sikh Federation UK claimed to have found a memo within the files referring to the possibility of the Special Air Services (SAS) unit of the British Army being involved after “an Indian request for military assistance in the setting up of a National Guard for internal security duties” during the 1984 operation.

“Lawyers have now written to Home Secretary Amber Rudd, demanding an independent investigation into Britain’s role in one of the darkest periods in Sikh history, after new evidence was found at the UK National Archives,” a Sikh Federation UK statement said.

Sikh Federation UK, a UK-based Sikh NGO, has accused the government of a “cover-up”.

But the Foreign Office has insisted that the files had been merely “borrowed” following concerns raised by the group.

“The FCO [Foreign and Commonwealth Office] borrowed some of their files from 1984 that were released to the National Archives so they could read the content following concerns raised by the Sikh Federation. They will return all the files in full shortly,” a UK Government spokesperson said.

“The issue of SAS advice prior to Operation Bluestar was dealt with in the 2014 report by the Cabinet Secretary. These files contain nothing about this incident,” the spokesperson added. — PTI