London: The David Cameron government has withheld the release of Punjab-related documents for 1985 and 1986 from a large cache of official documents declassified earlier this week. Four files related to India have been withheld: three from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) listed as ‘temporarily retained’, and one from the Cabinet Office described as ‘retained under section 3(4) of the Public Records Act, 1958.
The three PMO files withheld are: ‘Visit to UK by LK Jha, member of the Brandt Commission and adviser to Indira Gandhi: meetings with Prime Minister’ (04/07/1983-21/03/1985); ‘UK/Indian relations: situation in Punjab, activities of Sikh extremists; proposed visit to UK by Rajiv Gandhi in June 1985; part 4’ (05/03/1984-22/05/1985); and ‘Assassination of Indira Gandhi, October 1984: Prime Minister’s visit to India to attend funeral’ (31/10/1984-12/12/1984). The Cabinet Office file withheld is listed as ‘India: Political’ (04/05/1979-08/08/1985).