Dipankar De Sarkar, Hindustan Times
London, October 01, 2012
Lt Gen Kuldip Singh Brar, who commanded Operation Bluestar to flush out Khalistani militants from the Golden Temple 28 years ago, was stabbed and wounded by suspected Khalistani extremists in central London on Sunday night.
Brar, 78, and his wife were walking to their hotel after dinner in the busy neighbourhood of Marble Arch when three men attacked him. After pushing his wife away, they stabbed him in the neck and face. Alerted by his wife’s screams, a passerby called the police and ambulance and the retired army officer was rushed to the hospital, where he was kept overnight before being discharged on Monday morning.
“Police were called at approximately 10.40pm to Old Quebec Street to attend to a man who had been assaulted. Officers and ambulance discovered a man in his 70s suffering from injuries caused by a knife,” a spokesman for London’s Metropolitan Police said. British police do not give out names until charges are pressed.
Brar was hospitalised in “a serious condition” but his injuries were “not believed to be life threatening”. No arrests have been made so far, but police have opened a case of attempted murder.
The Indian High Commission, which sees the attack as an assassination attempt, will press the British authorities to take swift action.
Brar, who is high on the extremists’ hit list, was without any security as he is on a private visit. Despite his age, he is believed to have fought back, kicking his assailants, who were bearded, according to his wife.
The assassination attempt was the first major attack on an Indian public servant on European soil since the murder of diplomat Ravindra Mhatre by Kashmiris in 1984 and will lead to renewed calls urging Western governments to crack down on anti-Indian militants.
London, October 01, 2012
Lt Gen Kuldip Singh Brar, who commanded Operation Bluestar to flush out Khalistani militants from the Golden Temple 28 years ago, was stabbed and wounded by suspected Khalistani extremists in central London on Sunday night.
Brar, 78, and his wife were walking to their hotel after dinner in the busy neighbourhood of Marble Arch when three men attacked him. After pushing his wife away, they stabbed him in the neck and face. Alerted by his wife’s screams, a passerby called the police and ambulance and the retired army officer was rushed to the hospital, where he was kept overnight before being discharged on Monday morning.
“Police were called at approximately 10.40pm to Old Quebec Street to attend to a man who had been assaulted. Officers and ambulance discovered a man in his 70s suffering from injuries caused by a knife,” a spokesman for London’s Metropolitan Police said. British police do not give out names until charges are pressed.
Brar was hospitalised in “a serious condition” but his injuries were “not believed to be life threatening”. No arrests have been made so far, but police have opened a case of attempted murder.
The Indian High Commission, which sees the attack as an assassination attempt, will press the British authorities to take swift action.
Brar, who is high on the extremists’ hit list, was without any security as he is on a private visit. Despite his age, he is believed to have fought back, kicking his assailants, who were bearded, according to his wife.
The assassination attempt was the first major attack on an Indian public servant on European soil since the murder of diplomat Ravindra Mhatre by Kashmiris in 1984 and will lead to renewed calls urging Western governments to crack down on anti-Indian militants.
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