Operation Sundown

{{Short description|Unexecuted Indian intelligence operation}} {{Use Indian English|date=June 2018}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2018}} {{Indira Gandhi series}} '''Operation Sundown''' was codename of a covert plan of India's external intelligence agency Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW), in which the Special Group, which is an ultra-secretive armed unit of the R&AW, was to abduct Sikh leader Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale from Guru Nanak Niwas in the Golden Temple complex, Amritsar.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india/north/story/indira-gandhi-commando-raid-operation-bluestar-indian-army-golden-temple-jarnail-singh-bhindranwale-raw-officials-179265-2014-02-01|title=Indira Gandhi considered secret commando raid before Operation Bluestar|last=Unnithan|first=Sandeep|date=|website=|publisher=India Today|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313151801/http://m.indiatoday.in/story/indira-gandhi-commando-raid-operation-bluestar-indian-army-golden-temple-jarnail-singh-bhindranwale-raw-officials/1/341065.html|archive-date=13 March 2016|access-date=2 February 2014}}</ref>

== The operation == The rehearsals for the operation were carried out in the base. But, the operation was never started due to the then Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi’s rejection.<ref name="gill2017punjab">{{cite book |last1=Gill |first1=K.P.S. and Khosla, S |title=Punjab: The Enemies Within : Travails of a Wounded Land Riddled with Toxins |date=2017 |publisher=Bookwise (India) Pvt. Limited |isbn=9788187330660 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n3zHAQAACAAJ}}</ref>

Other options such as negotiations were opted for instead. The negotiations failed and the law and order situation in Punjab continued to deteriorate. In April 1983, A.S. Atwal the Deputy Inspector General in Punjab Police was murdered by a follower of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale at the steps of Golden temple.<ref name="gill2017punjab"/> In June 1984 Operation Blue Star was approved and carried out by the Indian Army to remove Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his armed followers from the buildings of the Harmandir Sahib Complex in Amritsar, Punjab.<ref name="TH_Mi6">{{cite news|title=RAW chief consulted MI6 in build-up to Operation Bluestar|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/raw-chief-consulted-mi6-in-buildup-to-operation-bluestar/article5579516.ece|work=The Hindu|date=16 January 2014|accessdate=31 January 2014|location=Chennai, India|first=Praveen|last=Swami}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Singh|first=Parmjeet|title=Operation Sundown – Plan to abduct Sant Bhindranwale from Guru Nanak Niwas in Dec. 1983 – More chapters of black history of India coming into light|date=February 2014|url=http://www.sikhsiyasat.net/2014/02/01/operation-sundown-plan-to-abduct-sant-bhindranwale-from-guru-nanak-niwas-in-dec-1983-more-chapters-of-black-history-of-india-coming-into-light/|publisher=Sikh Siyasat News|accessdate=2 February 2014|archive-date=2 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202182314/http://www.sikhsiyasat.net/2014/02/01/operation-sundown-plan-to-abduct-sant-bhindranwale-from-guru-nanak-niwas-in-dec-1983-more-chapters-of-black-history-of-india-coming-into-light/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Operation Sundown was revealed almost after three decades in January 2014 by India Today Magazine through investigation of UK's declassified Top Secret documents.

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:1983 in India Category:2014 in India Category:Sikh terrorism in India Category:History of Amritsar Category:Insurgency in Punjab Category:1984 in India Category:Indira Gandhi administration Category:Operations involving special forces of India Category:Religious terrorism in Asia Category:Counterterrorism in India