M A I N   N E W S

Brar doesn’t want to move out of Mumbai
Ajay Banerjee/TNS

New Delhi, October 4
Lt Gen KS Brar (retd) today made it clear that he was not in favour of being shifted out of Mumbai.

Talking to The Tribune on the phone from his residence in Mumbai where he is recovering from injuries suffered in Sunday’s attack in London, Lt Gen Brar said the plan to re-locate him was “not correct”. “Relocation is not the answer. Can anyone ensure that people who want to kill me will not know the new location?” he said.

Media reports had said government agencies were keen to shift him outside Mumbai and upgrade his security from ‘Z’ to ‘Z-plus’ category.

“At 78 years of age, I have a few years more to live. I want to spend those years in Mumbai where I have friends and family. Let the government tell me in case it does not want to provide me security,” he said. “My house is one of the most secure locations and there is no threat to me within the Mumbai complex,” he said.

Lt Gen KS Brar (retd), who lives in the Colaba Naval Complex in South Mumbai, is under threat from pro-Khalistan groups for his role in leading the Army’s 9th Infantry Division into the Golden Temple in June 1984 as part of Operation Bluestar. His attackers were related to pro-Khalistan groups, he added.

He said he could have been killed had the attackers been carrying a gun. “Had the attackers been carrying a gun, things could have been different. But this could perhaps be a scheme of the attackers. A gunshot would have created noise and attracted attention of the people, while a knife attack was more silent,” he said.

Going into how it happened, he said: “It was over in less than a minute. Four men appeared out of nowhere. One of them caught hold of my wife while the others attacked me. As I was grappling with them, the man holding back my wife pulled out a knife and slit my throat.”

The attackers, according to Lt Gen Brar, fled as bystanders had become aware of the attack.