News Reports

This archive provides an important historical record of international media reporting of the events of 1984. No foreign or independent journalists were allowed into Punjab for over a month and those already in the State prior to Operation Blue Star were expelled. Most of the news accounts from Punjab were provided to journalists by the Indian government and hence provide for the most part a one-sided view of events. Very few independent news reports telling a different story from the government position were ever reported.

A classic example of strategic misinformation can be found in an article reporting that huge quantities of heroin and drugs had been recovered within the Golden Temple Complex and that they had been used by the militants to illegally fund their operations. This story was picked up internationally based on a June 14th Press Trust of India news report from government sources. One week later the initial report was officially retracted by the government and it was revealed that the drugs had been recovered from the India-Pakistan border and not from the Golden Temple Complex. This retraction was not picked up by most international news agencies and the damage done by the initial news story was never undone.

The anguish and rage felt by the international Sikh community is captured in many news reports about mass demonstrations and individual expressions of anger. Irrespective of their past feelings or political affiliations prior to Operation Blue Star, the vast majority were now united in calling for the creation of 'Khalistan', an independent Sikh country as they no longer wished to be part of India. Only a small minority supported the Indian government. One such example being an article about a 10 year old Canadian Sikh girl's letter to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi professing support for her government and discounting Sikh grievances that was effectively used by the Indian Prime Minister for propaganda purposes.

A protest march in Amritsar by a group of elderly Sikh women nearly a month and a half after Operation Blue Star to try to force the Indian government to leave the temple complex provides a rare example of individual courage in the face of express and implied intimidation by authorities.

A hint of the decade long darkness that was to descend on Punjab as the Indian army and police began a new phase of arbitrary arrests, torture and killing can be seen taking shape in the months following Operation Blue Star.

One of the earliest official government of India's accounting of events is an important part of the exhibit. This rare document presents a detailing of events and opinions according to the Indian government and was released on June 15th, one month before the release of their White Paper.