 The final item of business today is the member's business debate on motion number 10022 in the name of Sandra White on Operation Blue Star. This debate will be concluded without any questions being put and I would be grateful if those members who wish to contribute to the debate could press the request to speak buttons now. I call on Sandra White to open the debate around seven minutes, please, Ms White. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer, and can I welcome the Indian ambassador to the Parliament? Can I also take a moment to welcome all of the members of the Sikh community here today in the public gallery for this member's debate? Very much welcome you all here today. Presiding Officer, 25 years ago Operation Blue Star began with the massing of Indian Army troops to be sent to the northern Indian state of Punjab, along with helicopter, gunships and tanks. What happened next has had lasting repercussions and the recent release of documents illustrating UK Government involvement in the planning of the operation have only served to raise more questions than they have answered. What happened next, from an outset perspective, is hard to know for sure, for the authorities imposed a complete curfew on the entire state, denying entry to foreign observers and driving up journalists to take them out of it. What we do know is that the army attacked with a ferocity that had not been seen before and that tragically many, many lives were lost. The temporal seat of the Sikhs, the actile tack, was severely damaged and the Sikh reference library containing many precious documents was lost to fire. Unconfirmed reports from those caught up in the battles spoke of hundreds being taken with their hands tied behind their backs and shot. Many newspapers reported that atrocities had taken place across the Punjab and the army had acted with impunity. Of course, we also know that the holy site, the Golden Temple, was attacked with many inside killed and its holy treasures looted. The whole story and the stories of this bloody episode are perhaps yet to be told. The truth is still yet to be fully brought to light and for those involved to be able to close this chapter in India's history. I for one do not profess to hold the right to judge those involved, for that is for those affected by it from all sides. It is for them to come to terms with what happened and to heal wounds in whatever way they can. However, when documents released under the 30-year rule revealed that the UK Government had provided, at the very least, advice on removing Sikhs from the Golden Temple, I and others wanted answers. In Scotland, we pride ourselves in having vibrant and diverse communities and I believe that the different peoples who make up those communities are as integral as one another and they deserve exactly the same respect and compassion as any others. I am sure that we would all stand up for anyone in our community who we thought had been the victim of an injustice and for me this is no different. What exactly did the UK Government know? What advice did it give and what information is it still keeping from us? I do not believe that the inquiry set up by the Prime Minister understood the depth of bearing among the Sikh community on this issue and I do not think that it gave them the proper respect that they are due. The inquiry stated that over 200 files with over 23,000 documents were looked at as a part of the inquiry yet it has failed to release them and I think it is time we know why they did not release them. I also note in the reports to the Prime Minister that many military files related to the period from December 1983 until June 1984 were destroyed. The UK High Commission reported that a revised plan had been approved of although it states to be unsure whether that is one based on UK advice or not. Those uncertainties only add to the doubt felt by the Sikh community rather than allaying them and give strength to calls for an independent judge-led inquiry to be established to look into the extent of UK Government involvement in Operation Blue Star. As the UK Government said at this time, these events led to a tragic loss of life and we understand the very legitimate concerns that those papers will raise. To this I applaud the UK Government for acknowledging that the concerns that the release of those papers raised are of illegitimate nature. I hope that it will understand that the concerns have not gone away but rather have grown and that in order to give the Sikh community the answer they deserve a full public inquiry should be undertaken. If we had lost family members, relatives or friends, yet had not been able to have closure as to the circumstances that led to their loss, the least we would seek would be the opportunity to uncover all the facts surrounding what involvement our Government had had in the events. This is a right that I think should be fundamental to all. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Many thanks. I call Liz Smith to be followed by Linda Fabiani. Deputy Presiding Officer, at the weekend BBC Radio ran an item on the Sunday programme which examined the facts of Operation Blue Star and the events in Hyde Park to mark the anniversary. It included comment from the highly respected former India correspondent Mark Tully, who had reported on the 1984 military operation, highly respected senior members of the Sikh community, both in Britain and in India, and also comment from some young Sikhs. It was an extremely interesting piece and it urged public caution and careful understanding of the very deep-seated concerns that have marked the legacy of Operation Blue Star. It is very clear that, apart from capturing the headlines around the world, the events of 3 June to 8 June 1984 were seen by many as a defining moment in Sikh political history. The potent mix of a military attack on the Golden Temple, the Holy Shrine in the Sikh faith, the demand for a Calistan to be a separate state, and the mix of militants, pilgrims and other faiths, all becoming involved in the dispute, was clearly toxic. Of course, the aftermath was the assassination of Indira Gandhi in October 1984. Feelings quite naturally run very high still, and there is debate among those who have been asked to comment about this weekend's anniversary as to whether it should perhaps be seen more in the context of a commemoration or in the context of a rally to promote future political support. Opinion on the BBC programme and within the newspaper coverage, probably within this Parliament too, is strongly divided. That makes it even more important, just as Sandra White has said, that we are sensitive about the way forward. I note that Sandra White's motion states that there was, British For Knowledge, an involvement of the planning of the operation, as indicated by the release of the papers under the 30-day rule. Those poor papers rightly prompted an investigation ordered by the Prime Minister, who was very clear in recognising that the events of 1984 had led to a tragic loss of life, and he said that he understood the very legitimate concerns that those papers will raise. That is something that has been welcomed by the Sikh community, notwithstanding that the fact remains for a full public inquiry. Again, opinions differ markedly between those who allege the full involvement of the UK Government and those who led Operation Blue Star who deny that that was the case. Those facts are clearly a matter of dispute, and as Sandra White has rightly said, the member's business is not the appropriate forum to debate politics of that dispute. What is appropriate is to move forward towards reconciliation, to try whatever method is possible to heal the deep-seated wounds that have existed and which continue to exist within the Sikh community. I note that over the weekend hundreds of British Sikhs marched from High Park to Trafalgar Square to protest against Operation Blue Star. They were peaceful and were correctly exercising a democratic right. What concerns the vast majority of people, however, no matter what their political views are, is the more militant acts that have persisted since 1984. At the Golden Temple itself on Friday morning, there were violent clashings involving all kinds of attempts to take opposition to its extreme case, and obviously six people were badly injured. Media personnel were assaulted and cameras were broken. As recently, of course, as events in August just last year, there were issues about military leaders being under attack as well. I think that it's important that we understand that world events, wherever they take place, when things are as divisive and, obviously, as reflective on the difficult situations that have arisen, we should not allow these extreme elements to start inciting hatred of other religious communities. I know that the Sikh community in Scotland is working very hard to ensure that that is not the case. Rather, in both India and in the UK, religious works are working tirelessly to find ways where people on all sides can live together and interact peacefully. We've seen so many issues of tensions and violence, but it's very clear that the events of 1984, if they are to be remembered properly, then it must be a way forward of reconciliation and not retribution. I hope that that is the guiding principle about which we can all abide as we work forward. Many thanks, I call Linda Fabiani to be followed by Neil Finlay. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer, and I'm pleased that Sandra White has brought this debate to the chamber, although I wish it hadn't been necessary. I think that, like many, many people in Scotland, I didn't know at all much about Sikhism. I think that it was the last election, there was a Sikh chap in East Kilbride that got in touch with me to say, you don't know enough about our religion, our culture, our heritage, our history, and it's about time you did. He was absolutely quite right and I know that it's a terrible thing to generalise about people, but it seems to me that Sikhs are a pretty straightforward kind of folk who say things like they are. I did start to learn about it and I visited the Gurdwaran Glasgow and was fascinated to learn about the history of Sikhism in the Indian subcontinent and indeed that related history of the UK that has been there for a couple of centuries now, I think. In fact, I was reading in the briefing that came from the Gurdwaran about the first Sikh who came to Scotland and that was in 1849. So, what we're talking about here are British citizens, we're talking about English Sikhs, Welsh Sikhs, Irish Sikhs and Scottish Sikhs that deserve justice. I have to say, as shown in Sandra's motion, it doesn't look to me like they're getting much justice at the moment from the Government of the country in which they live. It seems very clear now from what we've heard and I can understand why members of the community were ruling. Absolutely, really, when they learned that the UK Government had in fact been involved in the planning of that 1984 Indian Army attack on the Golden Temple, having received British advice over a plan to remove Sikh extremists from the Golden Temple in Amritsar. I can understand why people feel that at its time the truth was uncovered. I can understand why people feel very strongly that a public inquiry should be held to bring all this out into the open. I was aware that when the Prime Minister, David Cameron, visited the Golden Temple last year, just over a year ago, he did decline to apologise for the 1919 massacre there and said that we must learn lessons. That's fair enough, let's learn lessons. Surely one of the lessons that should be learned is that you have to be open and transparent about the truth when it is people in your country, when it is your own citizens who are calling for this and who feel they are being very, very unfairly treated. When you look at the issues with the report, there are events and documents relating to the events that were pivotal to the inquiry that were not specified. There is a view that those have to be so that we can get full transparency. It was said that the report said that the reason such documentation had not been permitted was due to the practices of the Indian government. Well, that's a bit of a woolly statement. Practices are not law, they aren't legislation. If there are practices of the Indian government, it doesn't mean that the British government have to agree with them. There is surely room for much discussion there. The bit that really got to me was that no question was raised as to the practical UK support for military operations and it was an internal matter. Well, that's just a bit of a cop-out really. We've heard that over and over again. I remember back some time when the UK government was sending arms to Indonesia under a so-called ethical foreign policy, which said that they should never be used for external aggression or internal oppression. However, there were still selling arms although people were getting slaughtered both in East Timor and West Papua. It seems to me that that lesson hasn't been learned, so I'm aware that I have to close. What I would say is that I agree with everything that's in Sandra White's motion. I agree with the call from the Sikh community, the Scots Sikhs, that we must have this inquiry because we deserve the truth. I would really like to see the UK government agreeing that they will look for the truth and declaring that lessons have in fact been learned. No intentions there. Speaking in this debate, I don't have anything particularly illuminating to add. I only stayed out of nosing this to hear about the subject. I vaguely remember the events happening when I was in, I think, fourth or fifth year at school. I think that what we're seeing about the events at the temple in the Punjab 30 years ago strikes me as having many similarities with a number of domestic issues in the UK, a number of domestic issues that I have an interest in. I'm only going to speak very briefly on that, but there are clearly some similarities in the way in which the role of the state has been involved in us, the role of the security services, probably the role of the police and the general establishment. There is a shared interest in that, because if we look at things like the Hillsborough disaster, the case of the Shrewsbury pickets, the case of the camel-leared ship workers, the black-listed workers, the Hillsborough victims and victimised miners, all show glaring similarities with the role of the state in this case. I think that the release of the papers and the exposure of the role of the state and, in particular, the security services is much needed, because we need to shine a light on what those people do. That has been something that many campaigners have been trying to pursue for some time. The only thing that I'm going to add to that is that this autumn, I've been working alongside the GMB trade union, and we're going to host a justice conference in Liverpool in the autumn. That's going to bring together all of these campaigns, and I invite members of the Sikh community to attend that justice conference in Liverpool, where all of these common issues that these campaigners have been campaigning on about the release of papers, about evidence from the time and about bringing justice for those types of campaigns will be discussed at that conference. What the aim of it is is that all these campaigners will speak to one another and learn from one another, and we'll have legal representation at the highest level. I think that it's an open invitation to attend, because much of the things that are being campaigned about here will have a lot in common with a number of campaigners in this country who have very similar concerns to the people here. I'd like to congratulate Sandra White for bringing this important subject before the chamber today. It's not an issue that I have any great knowledge of, but I certainly have a great deal of respect for the Sikh community. Clearly, many Sikhs have lived in Leith over a period of many years and have contributed a great deal to Scottish society. I would always listen carefully to the views and concerns of Sikhs. If they are demanding that more should be found out about these terrible events, I would be prepared to back up their call. The theme of reconciliation that Liz Smith talked about is absolutely central. Obviously, we don't want that to fester and to promote tension between different communities and different religions. Reconciliation has to be at the heart of this debate, but the other side of the coin of reconciliation is truth. You can never have proper reconciliation until the truth of a situation has emerged. I would certainly support the Sikhs in my constituency and the Sikhs more generally in Scotland who want to get to the truth of that. That seems to be a completely reasonable demand that we should support. Clearly, it's not this Parliament that can act directly on that, so some of us will no doubt have discussions with our colleagues in the UK Parliament because they're in that Parliament. The decisions about that will be made, but I would undertake to discuss that with my colleague who represents my constituency in the UK Parliament. I'm sure that he will be mindful of the demands of Sikhs in his community and further afield. Let's have reconciliation, but let's have truth as well. Let's also always remember the enormous contribution that Sikhs have made and still make to the life of Scotland. Can I now invite Hamster Yusif to respond to the debate, minister, in around seven minutes or so? Thank you, Presiding Officer. My thanks to Sandra White, MSP, for bringing this very important motion to the Parliament today. I extend a warm welcome to the Indian Consul General and to all the members of the Sikh community who have joined us from across the country. I'd like to offer the Government's deepest condolences once again to those who were affected by the tragic events that took place in 1984, those who were killed, injured, maimed but also to this very day, those family members who still suffer without having proper closure. It's right, and it's fitting that in the 30th anniversary year of Operation Bluestar, the Scottish Parliament remembers all of those that I mentioned who have lost their lives but still continue to be affected. Operation Bluestar was ordered by the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, to remove Sikh separatists and surgeons from the Golden Temple in Ambritsar. They were accused of amassing weapons in the temple and, as Liz Smith said and many other members, we're not here to debate the politics of the right and the wrong of that operation or the politics that continues even to this day. But what we do know is the human tragedy that took place as a result of that operation and what followed thereafter. Official figures put the death toll at 575 but other reports suggest that many, many more hundreds and even thousands were killed including pilgrims caught up in the crossfire. I understand and many MSPs have expressed this, the still the deep pain that continues to be felt by the Sikh community as a result of that operation. This feeling was most recently echoed by the First Minister when he met representatives of the Glasgow Godwara on a recent visit. On 13 January 2014, as many have commented, following the release of two letters in the National Archives, concerns were raised quite rightly about the UK Government's involvement in Operation Bluestar and that SES officials had been dispatched to help India in the planning on the raid of the Golden Temple. No such suggestion had ever been made before or had been known. On 15 January 2014, the UK Prime Minister stated that an urgent inquiry into the matter, led by Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Hewyd, was under way. The inquiry was completed on 4 February, followed by a statement to the UK Parliament by the current foreign secretary that very same day. We welcome the speed with which the UK Government acted. Perhaps I can just read some of the summary conclusion of that report. Sir Jeremy Hewyd's report, the conclusion read that the nature of the UK's assistance was purely advisory, limited and provided to the Indian Government at an early stage, that it had limited impact on the tragic events that unfolded at the temple three months later. He said that there was no link between the provision of this advice and defence sales, and there is no record of the Government receiving advance notice of the operation. In terms of the Scottish Government's response to that report and to that conclusion, I then wrote a letter to the foreign secretary, William Haig, on 10 March of this year. I raised the real concerns of the Sikh community here in Scotland about the very narrow scope of the review. I got a letter from the President of Glasgow, Gwadwara, who felt that the report was far too narrow in its remit. It was an internal inquiry. I was actually asking for a public inquiry and an independent inquiry. I then wrote to the foreign secretary very much on that premise. We welcome the fact that the UK Government conducted the swift review, but we believe fundamentally that the Sikh community deserves the right to an independent inquiry that is transparent and is fair. They deserve the assurance that the UK Government was in no way linked to the tragic events that happened at the Golden Temple in Amritsar in 1984. We believe that that is fair and that is right. It has not happened yet, but we will continue to listen to those calls and pursue the Government for full transparency. As many have said here, the Sikh community is one that I have grown up in and amongst from a very young age. My father and my mother are both from the Punjab region in Pakistan, a very close affinity and relationship with that community. Here in Scotland, many members have spoken eloquently about the importance of the Sikh community and its local constituencies, but some of the values of Sikhism are certainly worth an exploration. As Linda Fabiani spoke about, when you explore the actual religion, you will notice that the values are ones of devotion to God, honest living, equality of all. One of my favourites is the idea of community service and actively caring for others. If any of you have a good whara in your constituency and the Deputy First Minister has the largest in the country and hers, you will see that every Sunday it is welcome and open for anybody to come and to get free food, which is a fantastic service for those who live locally, but even reaching out specifically to the homeless to try to get them in, those who do not get a meal. In this day and age, we have had many debates here about food banks and people having to choose between eating and eating. That is particularly relevant, so I commend the Sikh community very much for that. They are a part of the rich tapestry that we have here in Scotland. On a past lighter note, I was looking at the diaspora tapestry in Preston Pans recently, and they had a tapestry from the Punjab. It was of the Lord of Lesmahego, Laird Sardar Iqbal Singh, who is a colourful and flamboyant character indeed. Whether it is through small business, religion, devotion to God or politics, a great contribution that the Sikh community has made. That relationship with the state is a two-way thing that has to be built on trust. Therefore, we very much owe it and the UK Government certainly owes it to the Sikh community, which we talk so highly about making sure that they have that sense of closure that has been denied to them. In closing, one way that we can achieve a truly just and fair society is by fully understanding how the tragedies of the past were able to happen. As I say in my discussions with the Sikh community, they do not have a sense of closure about what happened at Amritsar 30 years ago without a full understanding of the facts. That includes the potential role of the then UK Government. I continue to express the Government's deepest condolences to those who have died and been affected since the tragic events in 1984. I give an absolute commitment to the Sikh community that we will continue, and I personally will continue to repeat their calls for an independent, fair, transparent inquiry to be conducted by the UK Government. That concludes Sandra White's debate on Operation Blue Star, and I now close this meeting of Parliament.