Britain says it advised India on Operation Bluestar with 'limited impact'

More than 1,000 people were killed in Operation Bluestar, the raid on the Golden Temple

London:  UK Foreign Secretary William Hague told Parliament today that an official investigation has shown Britain did advise India on planning the controversial Operation Bluestar against Sikh separatists at the Golden Temple in Amritsar in 1984. However, Mr Hague said Britain's advice had limited impact.

Prime Minister David Cameron ordered a review into the matter last month after newly released official papers suggested that Margaret Thatcher, then prime minister, had sent an officer from the elite SAS special air service to advise India on the raid at Sikhism's holiest shrine. Indira Gandhi, who was then prime minister, was assassinated four months later by her Sikh bodyguards in retaliation for the military operation.

"The nature of the UK's assistance was purely advisory, limited and provided to the Indian government at an early stage," Mr Hague told Parliament. "It had limited impact on the tragic events that unfolded at the temple three months later."

The report of the official enquiry says that three months before Operation Bluestar, the officer from Britain's elite Special Air Service (SAS) advised the Indian military to launch a surprise helicopter attack to flush out militants.

But the eventual assault, "was a ground assault without the element of surprise and without a helicopter-borne element", Mr Hague told Parliament.

His words are likely to provoke a strong reaction from Sikh groups in the UK who have been saying that they're shocked by the idea that Britain may have been involved in the attack.