Finally, waking up from its 11-year-old deep slumber, the government has decided to restore security to Operation Blue Star hero Brigadier (Ret) Israr Rahim Khan. In a high-level meeting chaired by Home Secretary R K Singh, the Centre on Thursday decided to provide security to Brig Khan, the first officer to lead the Army unit to the Golden Temple during the operation in 1984.
Sources said the central agencies would immediately restore Brig Khan’s security, which was completely withdrawn in 2001.
Speaking to Express, Brig Khan expressed happiness over the good sense of the government, though 11 years late. He was also saddened over the shabby treatment meted out to real heroes of the country.
“My Z-plus security was first reduced to Y-category and in 2001, it was completely withdrawn. I wrote to the then Home Minister L K Advani to restore the security. Forget about the response, I didn’t even receive an acknowledgement from the Home Ministry. This is what you get after fighting for the nation and its integrity,” Brig Khan said.
The government move to restore Brig Khan’s security came after Lt Gen (Retd) K S Brar was attacked by suspected pro-Khalistani elements during his visit to London in September.
Recently, security and intelligence agencies had launched a security audit of those involved in Operation Blue Star to update the threat perception. Brig Khan said the government did not realise the threat to officers who fought with militants to preserve national integrity. Lt Gen Brar and seven other former Army officers who led the operation in 1984 to flush out Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his associates from the Golden Temple would continue to enjoy security cover extended by the Army. The high-level committee also reviewed the mechanism to provide security to the officers travelling abroad. The committee will also write to the state and other stakeholders to streamline the process so that there was no communication gap between the agencies dealing with the security.