Operation Wood Rose

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Operation Woodrose was part two in a one-two punch in which "Operation Blue Star" was the first strike. In the attack on the Akal Takht and Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his supporters who had armed the Eternal Throne with weapons undreamed of in the days in which its builder, the first Sikh Guru to ever call for any arming of the Sikhs had asked for Miri and Piri - two swords.

Operation Blue Star rapidly expanded spilling over into the entire complex of the Harmandir Sahib and even many surrounding buildings. It is estimated that (the actual amount of the deaths will probably never be known) at least five thou­sand innocent Sikhs who had gathered at the Mandir for observa­tion of the anniversary of a day held sacred by all Sikhs; the day that the fifth Sikh Guru, Guru Arjan, after many days of torture, had dissapeared into the river that surrounded his place of torture) were massa­cred by th eforce sof the Indian Army.

The amazing thing about the deaths of the innocents, that day and the next, is that the pilgrims had been allowed to enter the area of the Gurdwara at all. The planners of the operation were well aware that one of the most decorated Generals in the Indian Army's history had joined the Sikh occupiers of the Akal Takht and was surely advising the now Sant on his defenses and tactics.

And then there was the history of every attack on Amritsar and its sacred Temple being carried out on days sacred to the Sikhs when large crowds, and large death tolls were assured, Jillianwalla Bagh for one.

Now even as the attack was underway and for many months after the Army launched Operation Woodrose. The main purpose of this Operation was to detain all Amritdhari Sikhs, especially young boys, from the villages of Punjab. Labeled a mopping up operation the Army indiscrimi­nately picked up young Sikh boys, who were keeping their Kesh with a flowing beard rather than one neatly pinned up. Even older Singhs with long beards, or a Gatra (a small dagger) one of the five symbols prescribed Guru Gobind Sing, worn so it could be seen.