Over Seas » Sikh News
Declassified British Secret documents – revelations from 1985
January 2, 2015 | By Sikh Siyasat Bureau
London: Reading the various papers, you get the impression that Sikhs in Britain were religious extremists wanting nothing less than the violent overthrew of the Indian state by all means and establishment of a separate Sikh state with no mention of the 1984 ‘Genocide’ acknowledged last week by the Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
On Valentines Day in 1985 the Cabinet met to note down the Indian Ministry of External Affairs’ ‘irritation over the activities of Sikh extremists.’ Soon, alarm bells start ringing at a meeting held at 10 Downing Street to discuss the ‘Sikh demonstration in Hyde Park’ set for 8 April.
‘The Indian Government would not readily understand an apparent failure by the British Government to contain the activities of such extremists to their sedition purposes and the risk of damage to Anglo-Indian relations was very considerable.’
‘It was the clear view of the Cabinet that it would be in the public interest that the rally should not take place.’
At the 25 April 1985 Cabinet meeting the mask slips off with discussions about the sale of the Westland Helicopters to India, which points to the very reason why, in the end, the Thatcher government was so obsessed with appeasing New Delhi.
More shocking, the 6 June 1985 Cabinet meeting leads with the topic of ‘Sikh violence’, referring to the peaceful protest outside the Indian High Commission in London on the 1st anniversary of the attack on the Sri Harmandir Sahib or Golden Temple. Beside one arrest for burning an Indian flag, no other incident, or any violence took place.
On 25 July 1985 the Sikh Sports Tournament due to take place in West Bromwich is discussed. These were no Olympics and no threat to the Indian state, but as the organisers named the tournament in honour of former Indian PM, Indira Gandhi’s assassins Margaret Thatcher hurriedly sent her advisors to exert ‘heavy pressure’ on the organisers to retract the names.
To Get Sikh Siyasat News Alerts via WhatsApp:
(1) Save Our WhatsApp Number 0091-855-606-7689 to your phone contacts; and
(2) Send us Your Name via WhatsApp. Click Here to Send WhatsApp Message Now.
Sikh Siyasat is on Telegram Now. Subscribe to our Telegram Channel
Related Topics: 1984 Sikh Genocide, Indian State, Sikh Federation UK, Sikhs in United Kingdom, UK and June 1984 attack on Sikhs
Leave a Reply
Listen Live Kirtan from Darbar Sahib (Amritsar)
Get Sikh Siyasat’s Android App
IMPORTANT DOCUMENT:
