Why 1984 Golden Temple raid still rankles for Sikhs

The attack on Lt Gen Kuldeep Singh Brar, 78, in September last year brought one of the most controversial events in recent Indian history back into the headlines.

The storming of the Golden Temple, codenamed Operation Blue Star, was aimed at flushing out Sikh separatists.

They had been demanding an independent homeland - called Khalistan - in the Punjab.

The army's operation outraged Sikhs around the world, who accused the troops of desecrating the faith's holiest shrine.

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Storming of the Golden Temple

• 1982: Armed Sikh militants, led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, take up residence in the Golden Temple complex
• 3-8 June 1984: The Indian army attacks the Golden Temple, killing Bhindranwale, his supporters and a number of civilians
• 31 October 1984: Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who had given the go-ahead to Operation Blue Star, was assassinated by two Sikh bodyguards
• November 1984: More than 3,000 are killed in anti-Sikh riots across India

According to the Indian government, about 400 people were killed, including 87 soldiers.

But Sikh groups dispute this figure. They say thousands died, including a large number of pilgrims who were there for an important Sikh festival, the anniversary of the death of their fifth guru, Arjan Dev Ji.

Parts of the temple were damaged during the fighting and Sikhs felt it was an attack on their religion.

Operation Blue Star led to the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who was killed by her Sikh bodyguards in revenge.

Almost three decades later a group of Sikhs saw an opportunity to take revenge on Lt Gen Brar, who was in London on holiday with his wife Meena, a visit the couple regularly made, astonishingly without any security.

Lt Gen Brar told the court - by video-link from India - there had been many attempts on his life since 1984 and several extremist Sikh websites had had him listed as their number one target.

The jury at Southwark Crown Court were told by Lt Gen Brar: "[Operation Blue Star] wasn't carried out against the Sikh community but against militants who had been carrying out a lot of killings."

He said they had given the militants lots of warnings but when they had failed to respond, they had had no other option but to go into the temple.

Armed with knife, axe and gun, boy attacks girl in JNU, then kills self

NEW DELHI: Campus killings, a dark phenomenon Indians till now largely associated with America, made a chilling entry into one of our top universities on Wednesday when a 23-year-old student of JNU coolly walked into a School of Languages classroom and almost decapitated his female classmate before killing himself with a mouthful of sulphas, a potent insecticide that doesn't take long to snuff the life out of people.

As the university froze in silence and dread, authorities with the aid of the police quickly secured all entry points, barring access of both people and information to outsiders. But from what TOI gleaned after talking to the few people willing and available to speak about the incident, Aakash Kumar, who was studying Korean and was in his BA final year, came armed with a loaded pistol, which misfired, a knife and an axe with the clear intention of murderingRoshni Gupta, 22, a girl from Muzaffarnager that he was rumoured to be dating.

Roshni, hit multiple times on the head and stabbed in her stomach, is in critical condition and fighting for life at the Safdarjung hospital where she was rushed by fellow students soon after the gruesome attack at about 11am. A team of doctors who first stopped her bleeding and then performed a surgery before doing a number of scans to ascertain internal injuries to the skull has kept her under close observation.

Shockingly, medical staff at AIIMS apparently turned away the bleeding girl and refused to admit her. A few students and one of the professors accompanying her alleged that the hospital was unrelenting. Rattled, professor Kamal Mitra Chenoy of JNU said, "We agitated for reform during the Nirbhaya protests but it was surprising to see AIIMS turning down the patient like this."

Aakash, though, who had slashed his neck just in case the sulphas didn't work, died an hour after he was brought to the AIIMS trauma centre at around 12.15pm. "He succumbed to the poison," a senior doctor said. "We could not revive him."

Shiv Sena demands separate Jammu state

The Shiv Sena on Wednesday held a rally in Jammu demanding statehood for it saying it was very different from Kashmir, both culturally and geographically.

Over 200 activists of Jammu and Kashmir unit of the Shiv Sena and the Dogra Front took out a procession from the Parade Ground to City Chowk demanding a separate Jammu state.

“The state government has been biased in allocating funds. Most of these go to the Valley while the remaining is divided among Jammu, Leh Ladakh,” JK Sena leader Ashok Gupta said. - PTI 

Virat proves that he is a good captin. He can be future of indian team

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly celebrated his 41st birthday recently and voiced his opinion on Virat Kohli's captaincy. Kohli is leading the Indian team in the ongoing tri-series in the Caribbean which is involving West Indies and Sri lanka. Mahendra Singh Dhoni's injury has given Kohli this opportunity.

Ganguly said that as of now he isn't looking at Kohli as a long term leader, but rates him highly as a batsman. He also says that a team can be assessed only be judging its form in the long run.

Recently, Kohli smashed a hundred against West Indies to keep India alive in the tri-series in the Caribbean and they are still eyeing a berth in the final.

Sensex at 1-week low; down 145 points as RIL, M&M slump

Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty lost 42.30 points, or 0.72%, to close at 5,816.70. Also, SX40 index, the flagship index of MCX-SX, closed 64.41 points, or 0.56% lower at 11,533.78.

- DNA

The BSE benchmark Sensex on Wednesday lost over 145 points to close at a fresh one-week low, pulled down by fag-end selling in bluechips, including RIL, M&M and Bajaj Auto, in line with weak trends in Asian and European markets.

Investors were seen adopting a cautious stance ahead of key economic data and the first quarter earnings season which will be kicked off by Infosys on Friday.

The 30-share index started the day slightly higher from its previous close at 19,489 but soon erased all gains as reports of fall in global markets trickled in.

It finally ended down by 145.36 points, or 0.75%, at 19,294.12. This is Sensex's lowest closing level since 19,177.76 on July 3. The index had gained 114.7 points yesterday.

Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty lost 42.30 points, or 0.72%, to close at 5,816.70. Also, SX40 index, the flagship index of MCX-SX, closed 64.41 points, or 0.56% lower at 11,533.78.

Brokers said profit-booking by investors at high levels and fall in refinery stocks led by market major Reliance Industries and ONGC, mainly pulled down the market besides a weak global trend, following unexpected fall in China's export and import.

In global markets, FTSE 100 was down 0.45%, Nikkei 0.39% and Kospi ended lower by 0.34% today.

Refinery stocks were also under pressure as the RBI asked state-run oil companies to purchase dollars from a single bank to avoid unwanted volatilities in the rupee, they said.

Market heavyweight Reliance Industries dropped 1.95% to Rs856.35, ONGC by 1.79% to Rs296.65 and GAIL by 0.80% to Rs315.20.

Out of the 30 BSE index components, 22 stocks fell led by Mahindra and Mahindra losing 2.63% to Rs911.90. Among other major losers were Hindalco (2.58%), Bajaj Auto (2.13%) and Tata Steel (1.97 per cent).

Sectorally, the oil and gas sector index suffered the most by losing 1.82% to 8,587.73 followed by auto index by 1.50% to 10,525.88. Realty sector index lost 1.32% to 1,490.75 and capital goods index by 0.98% to 9,177.90.

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