Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal seeks apology from British govt over Operation Bluestar

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal Wednesday sought an unconditional apology from the British government for secretly assisting the government of India in the Indian Army's Operation Bluestar.

Talking to the media in Karaarwala village in Bathinda district, about 250 km from here, Badal blamed the British government for becoming a party to the attack on the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar, the holiest of the Sikh shrines, in 1984.

"This hurt the religious sentiments of Punjabis in general and the Sikhs in particular. Both the national governments were equally guilty for this unpardonable act and the Sikhs would never forgive them for this sin against humanity," Badal said.

"The British government must tender an unconditional apology for supporting the government of India in this brutal crime in which many innocent people were also killed," Badal said.

Slamming the Congress party for "inflicting a deep wound on the Sikh psyche", the chief minister said there was "hardly any parallel in the entire world history when a national government had sought the help of a foreign nation to attack its own religious shrine".

He said it was totally wrong on the part of the then Congress government to take the support of the British government in dealing with an internal matter of the country.

Badal added that the British government, on its part, also committed a crime by illegally helping the Indian government in this sensitive matter.