Operation Blue Star Tenure of Smt. Indira Gandhi

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 leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his 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, 26 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. 27 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. 28 29 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. 30 The KGB intelligence agency of the Soviet Union had tipped off Indias Research and Analysis Wing RandAW about a joint operation between Pakistans Inter Services Intelligence ISI and the United States Central Intelligence Agency CIA to stir separatist unrest in the Indian state of Punjab. From its interrogation of a Pakistani military officer, RandAW had received intelligence 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, 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 Dr. Rajesh Kumar Chouhan "Operation Blue Star: Tenure of Smt. Indira Gandhi" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-6 | Issue-3 , April 2022, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd49613.pdf Paper URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/humanities-and-the-arts/political-science/49613/operation-blue-star-tenure-of-smt-indira-gandhi/dr-rajesh-kumar-chouhan