Canada failed to heed warnings before Kanishka bombing

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, September 19

Once earlier too, a lackadaisical Canadian response to Indian concerns over Khalistani activity led to the loss of over 300 lives in the bombing of AI flight 182 (Kanishka) among them ironically most were Canadian citizens (268) though the majority of them were of Indian-origin. It was in 1982 that then PM Indira Gandhi had sought the extradition of Talwinder Singh Parmar but Justin Trudeau’s father Pierre, who was then the Prime Minister, rejected the request. A public apology by Justin Trudeau’s successor Stephen Harper brought home the fact that it was Ottawa’s negligence that led to the death of over 300 people.

Three years after the warning, then head of Babbar Khalsa International, Parmar allegedly masterminded the bombing of Kanishka.

The subsequent investigation by Canada dragged on for over 15 years and it was only in 2000 that the Canadian police arrested two Sikh terrorists based in Canada. Another suspect who was subsequently arrested was released on bail after just a day. The two arrested men — Ripudaman Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri — were remanded in judicial custody while Parmar and Inderjit Singh Reyat were declared as co-conspirators. Parmar was shot dead by the Punjab Police in 1992, while Reyat was sentenced to a 10-year jail stint for manufacturing the bombs.