Thatcher supported Indira after Operation Bluestar: report
January 16, 2014  17:00
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Margaret Thatcher in a personal note to Indira Gandhi extended Britain's full support in the aftermath of the 1984 Operation Bluestar to flush out Sikh militants holed up in the Golden Temple, a media report has said.

Thatcher, the then British prime minister, sent the note to her Indian counterpart Gandhi, saying Britain supported India's unity in the face of demands for a separate Sikh homeland and that police were investigating threats against the safety of Indian diplomats here, the Guardian reported.

In what appears to be the first letter to Gandhi after the operation, sent on June 30, 1984, Thatcher wrote: "These have been anxious weeks for you, involving difficult decisions. I have followed closely your efforts to restore calm there, and I very much hope that the 'healing touch' for which you have called will open the way to a peaceful and prosperous future in that troubled region."


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