Kanishka Bombing : How Canada ignores intelligent inputs & provides safe haven to Khalistani terrorists

Yesterday was the 37th anniversary of the bombing of Air India 'Kanishka' by Canada-based terrorists. Air India flight 182 was flying from Montreal to London and was blown up by Khalistani terrorists on June 23, 1985. Some of its remnants were strewn over the coast of Ireland’s Cork region, the rest sank into the North Sea. All 307 passengers and 22 crew members on board were killed.

 

  

 

It is being said that during the 70s, 80s & 90s, Western nations didn't merely look away at terrorism aimed at India but in cases, actually encouraged it. This state-sponsored terror costed us dearly then and costs us dearly even now.

The 70s - 90s were not very popular years for Govt of India in Western capitals. At best, they looked away when it came to matters that were detrimental to Indian interests, and at worst, they actively fomented trouble within Indian borders. Geopolitical interests of the US and UK were not aligned with Indian ones. Germination and nurturing of the Khalistani terrorism were but one manifestation of this ill will.

 

1. After the Khalistani terrorists hijacked an Indian aircraft on 24 Aug 1984 to Lahore, Pakistan found out that the hijacking was done with a toy pistol and to help them out, gave them a revolver. Then they asked the hijackers to take the plane to Dubai.

 

Over there, the hijackers demanded that they be handed over to US authorities instead of India. However, they were tricked by the Indian and UAE security agencies and brought to India. Upon investigation, it was found that the revolver was of German origin.

 

 

 

Germany confirmed that that particular piece was part of a consignment delivered to the Pakistan Army. This was promptly shared with the US.

 

Unsurprisingly, the US refused to believe this due to 'lack of evidence, despite eyewitness accounts by the hijacked passengers having seen the revolver handed over in Lahore!

 

Talwinder Singh Parmar had been on the run from Indian authorities since 1981 and had found refuge in Canada. In 1982, India issued a warrant for Parmar's arrest for six charges of murder stemming from the killing of men of Punjab Police in Ludhiana and notified Canada that he was a wanted terrorist. However, Canada refused to extradite him.

 

He was arrested in West Germany in 1983 as he traveled by train from Zurich, thanks to an Interpol look-out notice. CBI was informed by the Germans through Interpol who then asked for his custody for trial in cases against him in India. Germany asked for details and was informed that a CBI team would be flying to Bonn with the same.

 

However, even before the CBI team took off, the Indian Consul General in Vancouver messaged that Talwinder Singh had been released and had even addressed a religious congregation in a local Gurudwara wherein he'd threatened violence against India. Upon being asked why they released him, the Germans blamed India by falsely claiming that it was due to a delay on the Indian part.

 

Soon thereafter, BlueStar and the subsequent massacre of Sikhs in Delhi followed. The Khalistanis in Canada started plotting revenge. In late 1984, at least two different informers reported to authorities of the first abortive plot to bomb Air India Flight 182, which flew out of Montreal's Mirabel International Airport at that time.

 

In August 1984, the known criminal Gerry Boudreault claimed that Talwinder Parmar showed him a suitcase stuffed with $200,000, payment to plant a bomb. He refused to do so. Then in September, in an attempt to get his sentence for theft and fraud reduced, Harmail Singh Grewal of Vancouver told the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) of the plot to bomb the flight from Montreal. Even after intel reports, CSIS dismissed these two reports pointing to the SAME plot from two UNRELATED sources as UNRELIABLE.

 

Finally, in early 1985, the CSIS obtained a court order to place Parmar under surveillance for one year. During that time on June 4, 1985, when CSIS surveillance teams followed Parmar's maroon car as he drove to pick up his friend Inderjit Singh Reyat from his home in Duncan. From Reyat's home, 3 men, one of whom has never been identified, drove to a clearing in the woods around the town. CSIS agents Larry Lowe & Lynne Jarrett soon heard a loud blast that was caused by the bombs. However, the agents reported it like a shotgun blast.

 

On 9 June 1985, a police informer in Hamilton reported that Parmar and Bagri had visited the Malton Sikh Gurudwara, warning the faithful that "it would be unsafe" to fly Air India. Even after knowing the truth, CSIS chose to remain silent. Ultimately, the Kanishka Bombing incident took place near Ireland, taking 329 souls with it. It should be noted that from 329, 268 of the victims were Canadian citizens.

 

It should be noted that James Bartleman, then DG of the Intel & Security Bureau of the CSIS external affairs division told the Air India Commission that he had seen secret info that "indicated that Flight 182 would be targeted." Based on Indian agencies' inputs, on 01 Jun 1985 Air India's Mumbai office sent a telex message to the airline's offices worldwide warning of "the likelihood of sabotage attempts being undertaken by Sikh extremists by placing time/delay devices, etc., in the aircraft or registered baggage."

 

Air India's Montreal office passed on the information to the RCMP who were already aware of the inputs. The RCMP was already aware of possible plots to target Air India aircraft. Instead of informing input to CSIS, they chose to remain silent on this matter.

 

In his verdict, Justice Josephson cited "unacceptable negligence" by CSIS when hundreds of wiretaps of the suspects were destroyed. Of the 210 wiretaps that were recorded during the months before and after the bombing, 156 were ERASED.

 

Amazingly, these tapes continued to be erased even after the terrorists had become the primary suspects in the bombing!

 

Because the original wiretap records were erased, they were inadmissible as evidence in court. In a lame excuse, CSIS claimed the wiretap recordings contained no relevant information, but an RCMP memo stated that "There is a strong likelihood that had CSIS retained the tapes between March and August 1985, that a successful prosecution of at least some of principals in both bombings could have been undertaken."

 

Then there was the case of Tara Singh Hayer, the publisher of the Indo-Canadian Times & a member of the Order of British Columbia who gave an affidavit to the RCMP in 1995 that he was present during a conversation in which Bagri admitted his involvement in the bombings.

 

Hayer was, however, shot dead in 1998 in Surrey, consequent to which his affidavit was inadmissible as evidence in Court.

 

But in Canada itself, many refused to testify since the Canadian Govt couldn't provide sufficient guarantees of their safety. Of two witnesses, one cited memory loss in refusing to testify, and another was forced to enter the Witness Protection Program two years earlier than planned, due to the RCMP's 'inadvertent' disclosure of her identity.

Justice John Major noted in amazement as to how could the RCMP not share the telex from Air India with the CSIS.

On the contrary, RCMP provided 'erroneous information to former Ontario Premier Bob Rae during his 2005 investigation.

 

Yup. The RCMP didn't lie or hide facts. They merely provided 'ERRONEOUS' information! This was not the only part of the aviation security lapses by the Canadian law enforcement agencies, Justice Major stated. He referred to one summer employee, Brian Simpson, who 'boarded Flight 182 at International Airport in Toronto without detection on the afternoon of June 22, 1985, and this person 'had complete access to the aircraft from the cockpit to the equipment at the rear.'

 

The saddest part according to Major was that during testimonies the 'government counsel' tried 'to discredit this witness.' Simpson's evidence, he said, 'revealed numerous weaknesses in security.'

 

At the most charitable, it was an 'innocent oversight' that nurtured and continues to nurture anti-India terrorists over Canadian soil.

 

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