Papers Seized in Temple Reveal Sikh Plot on Gandhi

Documents found in the Golden Temple of Amritsar revealed a Sikh plot to kill Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Home Affairs Minister Buta Singh, the authoritative Times of India said today.

The documents, seized after the Indian army assault on the temple in May, also implicated Pakistan in aiding and arming the Sikh militants in Punjab, the newspaper said. It gave no indication how it had obtained the documents.

It quoted letters written to extremists within the temple by Wassan Singh Zafarwal, a Pakistan-based Sikh militant leader.

“The way Bahmani (Indira Gandhi) was done away with, her son has to be set right in the same way,” he wrote.

Indira Gandhi, Rajiv’s mother and predecessor, was assassinated by Sikh bodyguards in November, 1984, after an army assault on the Golden Temple, Sikhdom’s holiest shrine.

“Many Sikhs from Gurdaspur (a Punjab city on the Pakistan border) are in the Delhi police,” the letter said. “From among them you should select some Sikhs who can keep track of all the program of Rajiv and Buta. After that we will do away with them.”

The report said the seized documents contained repeated references to Pakistan, with accounts of arms smuggling, amounts to be paid and addresses of contacts.

Their publication led to angry scenes in the Indian Parliament later today, with members demanding strong action against Pakistan for its alleged involvement.