Oct. 1: Lt Gen. K.S. Brar, who led the Operation Bluestar siege of the Golden Temple in 1984, was injured in a knife attack apparently aimed at slashing his throat near Hyde Park in London last night.

The 78-year-old retired officer spent the night at hospital but is recuperating at a relative’s house under police protection on Monday, sources said.

Brar, whose cover was blown when he visited the Golden Temple before Operation Bluestar in civvies but was recognised by a former officer who had joined the militants, is in London on a private visit with his wife.

Brar, whose security is rated as Z category since he figures on the hitlist of multiple militant outfits, was stabbed by three bearded men outside a hotel in London, the sources said. They added that the assailants went for Brar’s throat but he was injured in the neck.

If the attack is eventually linked to remnants of any pro-Khalistan group, it will be another instance of the militants lying in wait to exact revenge. Gen. A.S. Vaidya, who designed and supervised Operation Bluestar, was shot dead in August 1986, two years after the storming of the Golden Temple. Vaidya settled down in Pune after retirement.

The biggest and immediate fallout of Bluestar was the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi a few months after the operation.

According to the sources, the attack on Brar took place at 8.30pm local time (1am IST) on Old Quebec Street near Hyde Park when he was out with his wife. Brar was attended by the London Ambulance Service (LAS).

Scotland Yard told PTI that investigations were continuing but no arrests had been made so far. A Yard spokesman said: “Officers and LAS attended the scene and discovered a man, aged in his 70s, suffering from an injury believed caused by a knife. The man has been taken to hospital where he remains in a serious condition — his injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.”

The sources said external affairs minister S.M. Krishna, who is in New York, called up Indian high commissioner J. Bhagwati to enquire about the condition of Brar.

Brar played a central role in Operation Bluestar, launched to flush out Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and other armed extremists who were demanding Khalistan.

Brar, a decorated soldier, was among the first to enter Dhaka to force the Pakistani Army to surrender in the 1971 war.

As commander of the Meerut division of the Indian Army, Brar was a major general when he was assigned the Bluestar mission.

Another major general, Shabeg Singh, had quit the army and joined the Khalistan movement. When Brar, a Sikh who does not wear a turban, visited the Golden Temple in plainclothes ahead of the operation, Shabeg Singh had recognised him.

Military analysts had then said Shabeg Singh probably guessed an operation was imminent and scaled up the defences inside the Golden Temple, large parts of which suffered heavy damage during the attack and counter-assault. Both Bhindranwale and Shabeg Singh were killed in the operation.