Air India Flight 182 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Kanishka Bombing) Air India

Flight 182 Boeing 747-237B Emperor Kanishka landing atLondon Heathrow Airport on 10 June 1985, a few days before the explosion Date Type Site Passengers Crew Fatalities Survivors Aircraft type Aircraft name Operator Tail number Flight origin Stopover Destination 23 June 1985 Bombing Atlantic Ocean South of Ireland 307 22 329 (all) 0 Boeing 747-237B Emperor Kanishka Air India VT-EFO Montral-Mirabel Airport, Montreal, Quebec, Canada London Heathrow Kingdom International

Airport, London,England, United

Palam International Airport, New Delhi, India

Air India Flight 182 was an Air India flight operating on the Montral-LondonDelhi route. On 23 June 1985, the aeroplaneoperating on the route a Boeing 747-237B (c/n 21473/330, reg VT-EFO) named after Emperor Kanishka was blown up by a bomb while in Irish airspace, at an altitude of 31,000 feet (9,400 m), and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. 329 people perished, including 280 Canadian citizens, mostly of Indian birth or descent, and 22 Indians. [1] The incident was the largestmass murder in modern Canadian history, and the deadliest act of air terrorism before 9/11. It was the first bombing of a 747 jumbo jet, preceding the better-known 1988 bombing of Americans aboard Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie Scotland which was also brought down by explosives placed in a radio inside a bag without its passenger boarding. The explosion and downing of the carrier occurred within an hour of the fatal Narita Airport Bombing which also originated from Canada without the passenger for the bag that exploded on the ground before being placed on another Air India flight. Evidence from the explosion pointed to a related attempt to blow up two airliners simultaneously by the alleged bomb maker who had purchased a stereo tuner and other parts for the device in Canada and to other possible associates in Canada who had their conversations wiretapped. Investigation and prosecution took almost 20 years and was the most expensive trial in Canadian history, costing nearlyCAD $130 million. The main suspects in the bombing were the members of the Sikh separatist Babbar Khalsa and other related groups. Though a handful of members would be arrested and tried, due to a lack of solid evidence and various legal and investigation errors, Inderjit Singh Reyat was the only person convicted of involvement in the bombing, after pleading guilty in 2003 to manslaughter. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison for building the bombs that exploded at Narita airport and aboard Flight 182. [2] The Governor General-in-Council in 2006 appointed former Supreme Court justice John Major to conduct a commission of inquiry and his report was completed and released on 17 June 2010. It was found that a "cascading series of errors" by theGovernment of Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service had allowed the terrorist attack to take place.[3] [edit]Pre-incident timeline Most official accounts place responsibility for the attack on Sikh extremism, though many groups believe their movements have been unfairly blamed. Tensions go back before the Partition of India in 1947 which resulted in much violence and hardship. The partition created the largely Muslim state of Pakistan and India. The state of Punjab was also divided. Later arose the Khalistan movement to create another Sikh homeland in the Punjab region of India, harking back to the 18th century Sikh Empire. Canada's Security Services of the RCMP had followed the Khalistan movement since 1974, but did not consider them to be a threat until 1981. Sikh immigration to Canada began before the early 1900s

where they suffered discrimination in British Columbia. [4] During the 1970s, many of who would become the leaders and members of the Babbar Khalsa such as Talwinder Singh Parmar, Ajaib Singh Bagri, Ripudaman Singh Malik and Inderjit Singh Reyat had settled in Canada. By the 1980s, the area around Vancouver had become the largest center of Sikh population outside India. [5] The Babbar Khalsa in its modern day form was created as a result of the violent clash between rival Nirankari and Akhand Kirtani Jatha sects on Vaisakhi April 13, 1978, where thirteen Sikhs were killed. The founders of this panthic group vowed to avenge the death of Sikhs. On 24 April 1980, Gurbachan Singh, the "Baba" (head) of the Nirankaris, was killed; responsibility for this killing was claimed by Babbar Khalsa. Talwinder Singh Parmar led the militant wing of AKJ which became Babbar Khalsa to "punish" the Nirankaris who had been cleared on wrongdoing.[6] On November 19, 1981 Talwinder Singh Parmar was among militants who escaped from a shoot out in which 2 Indian police were gunned down outside the house of Amarjit Singh Nihang in Ludhiana district. This gained Babbar Khalsa and its chief notoriety.[7] In 1982, India issued a warrant for Parmar's arrest for six charges of murder, stemming from the killing of police officers.[8] India notified Canada that Parmar was a wanted terrorist in 1981, and asked for his extradition in 1982, which Canada denied in July 1982. [9] After an INTERPOL alert, Parmar was arrested while attempting to enter Germany. Germany chose to handle the case locally rather than hand him over to India. Parmar went on a hunger strike to win his right to turban and vegetarian meals in the Dsseldorf jail. After India received information that Parmar had made assassination threats against Indira Gandhi, they found that Germany had decided that the evidence was weak, and he had been expelled and released to Canada on June 1984 after nearly a year in jail.[10] On June 36 of 1984, the Khalistan movement was sparked into action as Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi ordered Operation Blue Star, the violent storming of the most sacred of all Sikh shrines, the Golden Temple [11] The separatists, led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale (who was killed) had allegedly amassed weapons in the Sikh temple Some independent estimates ran as high as 1500 civilian deaths, which led to an uproar amongst Sikhs worldwide. On October 31, 1984, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi wasassassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards who were honoured[by whom?] in 2008 as "martyrs of the Sikh nation" for avenging the military attack on the Golden Temple. After rumours that "Sikhs were distributing sweets" to celebrate the killing, thousands of Sikhs would be killed in retaliatory violence of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots by an enraged majority Hindu population.[12] That summer shortly after Blue Star, Parmar had visited auto mechanic and electrician Inderjit Singh Reyat who lived on Duncan, a small logging community north of Victoria on Vancouver Island to ask Reyat to construct a bomb, though Reyat would later claim he had no idea what such as device could be used for. Reyat was known to have been asking various people in the small community about dynamite so that he could blast tree stumps on his property. [13] Reyat had also discussed explosives to a co-worker while expressing anger at Indian Government and Indira Gandhi in particular.[14] That summer and fall, Ajaib Singh Bagri accompanied Parmar as his right hand in the armed struggle against the Indian government. They travelled across Canada to rally Sikhs to the cause of avenging the bloody attack on the Golden Temple. The meeting would be used as fundraisers for the Babbar Khalsa. A former head priest in Hamilton testified that Bagri stated "the Indian Government is our enemy, the same way the Hindu society is our enemy Bagri told the congregation Get your weapons ready so we can take revenge against the Indian Government. Bagri called for action as We are slaves in Punjab. Our brothers and sisters are being killed and so we have to stand up for ourselves. Nobodys going to help us. So to make our own state we need an army, we need ammunition, we need rifles to fight with the Indian Government to make our own state, Khalistan[15] Bagri worked as a forklift driver at a sawmill near the town of Kamloops, but was also known as a powerful preacher in the Indo-Canadian community.[16] [edit]Bagri Speech On July 28, 1984 the founding convention of the World Sikh Organization was held at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The WSO's Constitution was committed to diplomacy and non-violence, declaring it would strive for an independent Sikh homeland by peaceful means. Though Parmar was blocked at the border because he had already been put on a 24 hr watch, Bagri made an inspiring hour-long speech declaring "until we kill 50,000 Hindus, we will not rest" before an enraged crowd of 4,000 people that would become infamous at his later trial.[17] Bagri defended hijackers who had forced the hated Indian government into negotiations with the Sikh leadership, and was critical of Gandhian non-violence. "We are to die in the battlefield, fighting, by sacrificing ourselves. To die such a death, which is the mission of the Khalsa, which is our religion".[18]Militant Islamic Kashmir and Afghan rebels also were also invited to the rally.[19] An Afghan Mujahadeen agreed "we well bring together all movements against India because India allies itself with the Third World and the Soviet Union." A professional translator would testify that Bagri's speech in Punjabi had been distorted by failing to understand "its context within Sikh history and literature", rejecting that Bagri had urged Sikhs to take revenge against all Hindus. However, he allowed that Bagri was trying to "inflame passions and arouse national pride"[20] [edit]Fall 1984 Bombing Plot In the fall of 1984, at least two informers reported to authorities of first abortive plot to bomb Air India 182 which flew out of Montreal at that time. In August 1984, known criminal Gerry Boudreault claimed Talwinder Parmar showed him with a suitcase stuffed with $200,000 to plant a bomb, but but decided "I had done

some bad things in my time, done my time in jail, but putting a bomb on a plane not me. I went to the police." In September, Harmail Singh Grewal of Vancouver told CSIS and the RCMP of the same plot to bomb the flight out of Montreal to bargain down his sentence on theft and fraud. Both reports were dismissed as unreliable.[21] On March 5, 1985, Canada's CSIS domestic intelligence agency got a court order to place Parmar under surveillance for one year, just 3 months before the bombing. Although the Babbar Khalsa was not yet officially banned, the affidavit stated it "is a Sikh terrorist group now established in Canada", "has claimed responsibility for more than forty assasinations of moderate Sikhs and other persons in the Punjab" and "penned its nameto threatening letters to ... high officials in India". It noted that in Calgary, Alberta on July 15, 1984, Parmar urged the Coach Temple congregation to "unite, fight and kill" to avenage the attack on the Golden Temple.[22][23] [edit]Explosives and Clocks In April 1985, a Canadian familiar with blasting was asked by Reyat much dynamite would blow up a tree stump. Another friend who listened in recalled recalled that Reyat was very agitated about "getting even for the sacrilege at (Golden Temple at) Amritsar, he was almost talking like Hitler." Reyat was not shy about telling everyone he knew around Duncan about the need for revenge, or asking about explosives. Reyat sought cases of dynamite and did not care if he had to pay three times the normal price, and eventually confided it was not about stumps, but "trouble in the old country", that he needed "explosives to help my countrymen." One friend declined to get him the dynamite, but did lend him a 400 page manual on mining with explosives.[24] On May 8, 1985, Reyat went to the Radio Shack in Duncan and bought a Micronta digital automobile clock.[25] Designed for a 12 volt automobile electrical system, it could also be powered by a 12V lantern battery. The 24 hour alarm activated a buzzer, but he returned a week later for an electrical relay after asking how to get the buzzer signal to power another device. Wiretappers recorded nine telephone calls between Mr. Parmars residence in Vancouver and Mr. Reyat from either his residence or workplace on Vancouver Island that month, which also added Reyat to the persons being monitored for terrorist activities.[26] The Canadian government would later accuse Reyat of lying in 2003 when at first he said he did not know what three clocks he'd bought could be used for. He later said Parmar needed an explosive device to blow up a bridge or something large in India, and that he needed timers for an explosive device. In that case, the relay could be used to trigger the detonator circuit for a blasting cap which provides the initial shock needed to detonate larger explosives like dynamite.[13][14] Reyat later visited the TV repair shop with a partially disassembled car clock wired to a lantern battery. He needed help so that the buzzer stayed on rather than intermittent beeps so that it would turn on a light in his camper to wake him up. The repairman knew his friend did not own a camper, and it would even strike Justice J. Raymond Paris at Reyat's 1991 trial as an odd use for a timer. [27] [edit]Bomb Tests By mid-May, Reyat had gone into the woods to test a device with 12v battery, cardboard cylinder, gun powder, some dynamite, but the device failed to work.[28] Later, Reyat acquired between six and eight sticks of dynamite "to blow up unidentified stumps if need be in the future" from a Duncan well-driller after visiting his house to fix a truck, as well as a few blasting caps days later. On May 31, 1985, Reyat brought his timer attached to a "ghetto blaster" portable into his shop so that his fellow employee at Duncan Auto Marine Electric could help him fix it for a friend, but he returned the radio after it did not work properly. On June 4, Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) agents CSIS agent Larry Lowe and Lynn Macadams followed Parmar and a man identified only as "Mr. X" travel from Parmars house to the Horseshoe Bay Ferry Terminal, ride the Nanaimo-bound ferry, and visit Reyat at his home and shop at Auto Marine Electric. The three drove to a deserted bush area where Reyat was observed taking out an object into the woods. Staying out of sight, the agents, who did not bring a camera only heard an explosion which sounded like a gunshot. But later tests showed it could also be an explosion, and later searched turned up remants of aluminum blasting caps. J.S. Warren, director-general of counter-terrorism at CSIS on July 16, 1986 would later ask why they did not ask the police to stop and question the suspects, or search the vehicle which might have deterred the bombing plot.[29] The next day on June 5, Reyat purchased a large Sanyo component tuner, model FMT 611K at Woolworths, and left his name and telephone number on the charge slip which was later found in a search of his home. Reyat also bought smokeless gunpowder from the sporting goods store, signing "I. Reyat" on the explosives log. Study of bomb debris from Tokyo would eventually show the bomb was contained in a Sanyo tuner with a serial number matching a model sold only in British Columbia, used a Micronta clock as a timer which powered a relay with an Eveready 12-volt battery to trigger blasting caps which would set off a highexplosives consistent with sticks of dynamite, all matching items purchased by Reyat, which would lead to his eventual conviction. [26] As late as 2010, Reyat admitted to only buying and assembling some parts, but denied he ever made a bomb, knowing what the bomb was to be used for, who was behind any plot, or that he ever asked or knew the name of the man who he said stayed in his house for week completing construction of the explosive device after his device failed.[30] On June 9, 1985, a police informer in Hamilton reported that Parmar and Bagri had visited the Malton Sikh Temple, warning the faithful that "it would be unsafe" to fly Air India.[31]Vancouver police also monitored militants 11 days before the bombing. A leader of the International Sikh Youth Federation compained that no

Indian consuls or ambassadors had yet been killed, but the response was: "You will see. something will be done in two weeks"[32] TWA Flight 847 was hijacked June 14 by Shiite Muslim extremists, starting a 17 day ordeal ending in Beirut when a crewmember was killed and dumped on the tarmac. [edit]Tickets The Boeing 747-237B Emperor Kanishka, delivered to Air India on 26 June 1978, flew from Toronto to Montral as AI181 and from Montral to Bombay, via London and Delhi, asAI182. Moments after a wiretapped phonecall with Parmar on June 20, 1985, at 0100 GMT, a man calling himself Mr. Singh made reservations for two flights on 22 June: one for "Jaswant Singh" to fly from Vancouver to Toronto on Canadian Pacific (CP) Air Lines Flight 086 and one for "Mohinderbel Singh" to fly from Vancouver to Tokyo on CP Air Lines Flight 003 and connect onward on Air India (AI) Flight 301 to Bangkok. At 0220 GMT on the same day, another call was made, changing the reservation in the name of "Jaswant Singh" from CP 086 to CP 060, also flying from Vancouver to Toronto. The caller further requested to be wait-listed on AI 181 from Toronto to Montreal and AI 182 from Montreal to Bombay. The next day at 1910 GMT, a man wearing a turban paid for the two tickets with $3,005 in cash at a CP ticket office in Vancouver. The names on the reservations were changed: "Jaswant Singh" became "M. Singh" and "Mohinderbel Singh" became "L. Singh". The reservation and purchase of these tickets together would be used as evidence to link the two flights to one plot, despite some claims that the two explosion were only a coincidence. One telephone number left as a contact was Vancouver's Ross Street Sikh temple. The other number became one of the first leads tracked by investigators, and was traced to Hardial Singh Johal who was janitor at a high school in Vancouver.[33][34] Johal was an avid follower of Talwinder Singh Parmar, and thus closely eyed in the investigation following the Air India bombing. He was alleged to have stored the suitcase explosives in the basement of a Vancouver school, and to have purchased the tickets for the flights on which the bombs were placed, and was seen at the airport the day of the bombing. The initial phone conversation, as translated, included the following exchange; Parmar: Did he write the letter? Johal: No he didn't. Parmar: Do that work first.[35] It is believed that "writing the story" referred to purchasing the tickets for the flight, and after the tickets were purchased, Johal phoned Parmar back and asked if he could "come over and read the story he asked for", to which Parmar agreed. [35] Reyat went to work June 21, and phone records show he called Johal at 7:17PM. A witness whose name was protected testified that Bagri asked to borrow her car the night before the bombing to take some suitcases to the airport, though he himself would not be flying with them.[36] [edit]Day of the Bombings On 22 June 1985, at 1330 GMT, a man calling himself "Manjit Singh" called to confirm his reservations on AI Flight 181/182. He was told he was still wait-listed, and was offered alternative arrangements, which he declined. At 15:50 GMT (about 8:00 AM) M. Singh checked in to a busy line of 30 people for the CP flight from Vancouver to Toronto which was scheduled to leave at 9:18AM. He asked agent Jeannie Adams to check his dark brown, hard-sided Samsonite suitcase, and have it transferred to Air India Flight 181 and then to Flight 182 to India. But the agent initially refused his request to inter-line the baggage, since his seat from Toronto to Montral and Montral to Bombay was unconfirmed. He insisted, but was again rebuffed, telling him "Your ticket doesn't read that you're confirmed" and "we're not supposed to check your baggage through." Then the man said "Wait, I'll get my brother for you." As he started to walk away, she relented and agreed to accept the bag, but told him he would have to check in again with Air India in Toronto. After the crash, Adams would realize this deception got the bag on its way to Air India 182. The anxious man was never identified.[37][38] At 16:16 GMT (9:18AM),Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 60 to Toronto Pearson International Airport departed without Mr. Singh. That morning, Reyat would later testify that he travelled from Duncan on Vancouver Island on the ferry to Vancouver to work on his brother's truck. Phone records show someone called from his residence in Duncan to Johal's number at 10:50 AM and 4:00 PM later that day. Reyat was seen in the company of another East Indian man at the AME store in Burnaby, near Parmar's house between 10:00 AM and 11:30 AM. He bought two 12 volt batteries similar to the one used in the explosive device tested in the woods, and they were to fit into a special metal bracket he had brought with him.[39] Constable Clark-Marlowe later believed there was "ample time for Inderjit Sing Reyat to obtain the batteries at the Auto Marine Electric limited store in Burnaby, incorporate the batteries in the assembly of an explosive device and then have the device transported in a suitcase to the Vancouver airport" Sometime before 2022(1:22 PM) L. Singh (also never identified) checked in for the 1:37 CP Air Flight 003 to Tokyo with one piece of luggage, which is to be transferred to Air India 301 to Bangkok. [40] Mandip Singh Grewal recounted how as a boy, he recognized Johal as the janitor at his school at the airport when he said goobye to his father at the airport.[41] [edit]Bombing At 20:22 GMT, Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 60 arrived in Toronto twelve minutes late. Some of the passengers and baggage, including the bag Mr Singh had checked in, were transferred to Air India Flight 182. At 00:15 GMT (now 23 June), Air India Flight 181 departed Toronto Pearson International Airport for Montral-Mirabel International Airport 1 hour and 40

minutes late. The aircraft was late because a "fifth pod", a spare engine, was installed below the left wing to be flown to India for repairs. The plane arrived in Montral-Mirabel International Airport at 01:00 GMT. At Montral, the Air India flight became Flight 182. Air India Flight 182 departed from Montral for London, en route to Delhi and Bombay. 329 people were on board; 307 passengers and 22 crew. Capt. Hanse Singh Narendraserved as the Commander,[42] and Capt. Satwinder Singh Bhinder served as the First Officer;[43] Dara Dumasia served as Flight Engineer.[44] Many of the passengers were traveling to visit families and friends.[45] At 07:14:01 GMT, the Boeing 747, "squawked 2005"[46] (a routine activation of its aviation transponder), disappeared, and the aircraft started to disintegrate in mid-air. No 'mayday' call was received by Shannon International Airport Air Traffic Control (ATC). ATC asked aircraft in the area to try to contact Air India, but to no avail. By 07:30:00 GMT hrs ATC declared an emergency and requested nearby cargo ships and the Irish Naval Service vessel L Aisling to look out for the aircraft. A Commemorative plaque, presented to the citizens of Bantry, Ireland by the Government of Canada for the residents' kindness and compassion to the families of the victims of Air India Flight 182. A bomb in a Sanyo tuner[47] in a suitcase in the forward cargo hold had exploded while the plane was in mid-flight at 31,000 feet at 513.6N 1249WCoordinates: 513.6N 1249W.[48] The bomb caused rapid decompression and consequent in-flight breakup. The wreckage settled in 6,700 feet (2,000 m) deep water off the south-west Irish coast 120 miles (190 km) offshore of County Cork. Fifty-five minutes after the loss of the aircraft, a suitcase checked in by one of the accused perpetrators exploded at Japans Narita Airport, killing two baggage handlers and injuring four other individuals nearby. The suitcase was on its way to another airliner at Narita. [edit]Recovery By 09:13:00hrs GMT, the cargo ship Laurentian Forest had discovered the wreckage of the aircraft and many bodies floating in the water. The bomb killed all 22 crew and 307 passengers. Post-accident medical reports graphically illustrated the outcomes of the passengers and crew. Of the 329 persons on board, 131 bodies were recovered; 198 were lost at sea. Eight bodies exhibited "flail pattern" injuries, indicating that they exited the aircraft before it had hit the water. This, in turn, was a sign that the airplane had broken up in midair. Twenty-six bodies showed signs of hypoxia (lack of oxygen). Twenty-five bodies, mostly victims who were seated near windows, showed signs of explosive decompression. Twenty-three bodies had signs of "injuries from a vertical force". Twenty-one passengers were found with little or no clothing.[49] One official quoted in the report stated, "All victims have been stated in the PM reports to have died of multiple injuries. Two of the dead, one infant and one child, are reported to have died of asphyxia. There is no doubt about the asphyxial death of the infant. In the case of the other child (Body No 93) there was some doubt because the findings could also be caused due to the child undergoing tumbling or spinning with the anchor point at the ankles. Three other victims undoubtedly died of drowning."[50] The vessel Guardline Locator from the UK, with sophisticated sonar equipment aboard, and the French cable-laying vessel the Lon Thvenin, with its robot submarine Scarab, were dispatched to locate the flight data recorder (FDR) and cockpit voice recorder (CVR) boxes. The boxes would be difficult to find and it was imperative the search be commenced quickly. By 4 July, the Guardline Locator equipment had detected signals on the sea bed and on 9 July the CVR was pin-pointed and raised to the surface by the Scarab. The next day the FDR was located and recovered. The broken up aircraft lay on the sea bed at a depth of 6700 feet. [51] [edit]Victims Nationality Canada United Kingdom India Soviet Union Brazil United States Spain Finland Argentina Total Passengers Crew Total 270 27 1 3 2 2 2 1 0 307 0 0 21 0 0 0 0 0 1 22 270 27 22 3 2 2 2 1 1 329

Casualty list provided by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.[52] [edit]Suspects

The main suspects in the bombing were the members of a Sikh separatist group called the Babbar Khalsa (banned in Europe and the United States as a proscribed terrorist group) and other related groups who were at the time agitating for a separate Sikh state called Khalistan in Punjab, India.[53] Talwinder Singh Parmar, a Canadian citizen born in Punjab, living in British Columbia was a high ranking official in the Babbar Khalsa, and his phone was being tapped by theCanadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) for three months before the bombing.[54] He was killed by the Punjab police in 1992 while in custody. Inderjit Singh Reyat was living in Duncan on Vancouver Island and working as an auto mechanic and electrician. Investigation of the bomb in Tokyo led to discovery of his buying a Sanyo radio, clocks and other parts found in the blast. It was reported that he had asked for help in constructing devices with clocks and explosives. He was convicted of manslaughter in constructing the bomb. As part of a deal, he was to testify against others, but as he declined to implicate others, he would be the only suspect convicted in the case.[55] Ripudaman Singh Malik was a Vancouver businessman who helped fund a credit union and several Khalsa Schools. Recently he was found not guilty of any involvement in the bombings.[56] Ajaib Singh Bagri was a mill worker living in Kamloops. He said in a 1984 speech, after Hindu Mobs had murdered thousands of Sikhs in Delhi [57] that "Until we kill 50,000 Hindus, we will not rest."[58] He, along with Ripudaman Singh Malik was found not guilty in 2007.[59] Surjan Singh Gill was living in Vancouver as the selfproclaimed consul-general of Khalistan. Some RCMP testimony claimed he was a mole who left the plot just days before execution because he was told to pull out, but the Canadian government denies that report. He later fled Canada and is believed to be in hiding in London, England.[60] Hardial Singh Johal and Manmohan Singh were both followers of Parmar and active in the Gurdwaras where he preached. On 15 November 2002, Johal died of natural causes at 55. His phone number was left after ordering the airline tickets, he was seen at the airport the day the flights loaded, and had allegedly stored the suitcases with bombs in the basement of a Vancouver school but was never charged in the case.[61] Daljit Sandhu is later named by a Crown witness as the man who picked up the tickets for the bombing. During the trial the Crown played a video from January 1989, in which Sandhu congratulated the families of Indira Gandhi's assassins and stated that "she deserved that and she invited that and that's why she got it". Sandhu was cleared byJudge Ian Josephson in his 16 March judgment.[62] Lakhbir Singh Brar Rode, the leader of the Sikh separatist organization International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF). An alleged confession by Parmar names him as the mastermind,[63] but the details do not appear to tally with other available evidence.[64] On 6 November 1985 the RCMP raided the homes of the suspected Sikh separatists, Talwinder Singh Parmar, Inderjit Singh Reyat, Surjan Singh Gill, Hardial Singh Johal, and Manmohan Singh.[65] In September 2007, the Commission investigated reports, initially disclosed in the Indian investigative news magazine Tehelka[66] that a hitherto unnamed person, Lakhbir Singh Brar Rode, had masterminded the explosions. This report appears to be inconsistent with other evidence known to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).[64] [edit]Investigations In the subsequent worldwide investigations over six years, many threads of the plot were uncovered: The bombing was the joint project of at least two Sikh terrorist groups with extensive membership in Canada, USA, England and India. Their anger had been sparked by anattack on the Golden Temple, the holiest Sikh shrine in Amritsar in June 1984.[67] Two men, identified by their tickets as M. Singh and L. Singh, checked in their bag bombs at Vancouver International Airport a few hours apart on 22 June 1985. Both men failed to board their flights.[68] The bag checked in by M. Singh exploded aboard Air India Flight 182. The second bag, checked in by L. Singh, went on Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 003 from Vancouver to Tokyo. Its target was Air India Flight 301 due to leave soon with 177 passengers and crew bound for Bangkok-Don Mueang, but it exploded at the terminal in Narita Airport itself. Two Japanese baggage handlers were killed and four other people were injured. [69] The identities of these two men remain unknown.[citation needed] A key player known to police variously as the "Third Man" or the "Unknown Male" was seen by CSIS agents who were following Talwinder Singh Parmar on 4 June 1985. Described as a "youthful man", [67] he went with Parmar on a ferry ride from Vancouver to Duncan on Vancouver Island where he and Parmar participated in a test explosion of a device manufactured by Inderjit Singh Reyat. The third man has also been linked to travels done under tickets bought under the name "L. Singh" or "Lal Singh".[70] [edit]Air India Trial The trial of those accused of the bombing, Sikh separatists Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, became known as the "Air India Trial".[71] [edit]Charges and convictions

On 10 May 1991, after lengthy proceedings to extradite Reyat from England, he was convicted of two counts of manslaughter and four explosives charges relating to the Narita Airport bombing. He was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.[72] Fifteen years after the bombing, on 27 October 2000, RCMP arrested Malik and Bagri. They were charged with 329 counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of the people on board Air India Flight 182, conspiracy to commit murder, the attempted murder of passengers and crew on the Canadian Pacific flight at Japan's New Tokyo International Airport (now Narita International Airport), and two counts of murder of the baggage handlers at New Tokyo International Airport.[73][74] On 6 June 2001, RCMP arrested Reyat on charges of murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy in the Air India bombing. On 10 February 2003, Reyat pleaded guilty to one count of manslaughter and a charge of aiding in the construction of a bomb. He was sentenced to five years in prison.[75] He was expected to provide testimony in the trial of Malik and Bagri, but prosecutors were vague.[citation needed] The trial proceeded between April 2003 and December 2004 in Courtroom 20,[76] more commonly known as "the Air India courtroom". At a cost of $7.2 million, the high-security courtroom was specially built for the trial in the Vancouver Law Courts.[77] On 16 March 2005, Justice Ian Josephson found Malik and Bagri not guilty on all counts, since the evidence was inadequate: I began by describing the horrific nature of these cruel acts of terrorism, acts which cry out for justice. Justice is not achieved, however, if persons are convicted on anything less than the requisite standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Despite what appear to have been the best and most earnest of efforts by the police and the Crown, the evidence has fallen markedly short of that standard.[78] In a letter to the Attorney General of British Columbia, Malik has demanded compensation from the Canadian government for wrongful prosecution in his arrest and trial. Malik owes the government $6.4 million and Bagri owes $9.7 million in legal fees.[79] In July 2007, the Indian investigative weekly, Tehelka, reported that fresh evidence had emerged from a confession by militant Talwinder Singh Parmar to the Punjab police days before his killing by Punjab Police on 15 October 1992.[66] According to this article, this evidence had been collected by the Punjab Human Rights Organisation (PHRO), aChandigarh-based group that had been conducting interviews of Parmar's associates for over seven years. Subsequently, a translation of the confession was presented to the Inquiry Commission on 24 September. The confession which had been billed as "seismic evidence", had elements that had already been investigated by RCMP, and some details were found to be false.[64] The confession had identified the mysterious Third Man or "Mr. X" as Lakhbir Singh Brar Rode, noted Sikh militant and nephew of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. Insp. Lorne Schwartz said that the RCMP had interviewed Lakhbir in Pakistan in 2001. At the time, he had pointed to several others as having a hand in the bombing. Also, it was unlikely that Lakhbir was Mr. X, Schwartz claimed, because Mr. X appeared considerably younger.[63] Also, the RCMP had known about the purported confession for several years. They believed, despite official denials, that Parmar had been captured alive, interrogated and only then killed. The new evidence was presented by officials of the PHRO, which had carried out a seven year investigation. The retired Punjab Police DSP Harmail Singh Chandi, who had personally been involved in the confession, did not testify. Chandi had travelled to Canada in June to present the evidence to the Inquiry Commission, but had not testified since he could not obtain a guarantee of anonymity. [63] The story was leaked in Tehelka after his return to India. The Commission of Inquiry into the Investigation of the Bombing of Air India Flight 182' expressed the view in their dossier that "Talwinder Singh Parmar was the leader of the Babbar Khalsa, a pro-Khalistan organization at the heart of radical extremism, and it is now believed that he was the leader of the conspiracy to bomb Air India flights"[80] [edit]Reyat's perjury trial In February 2006, Inderjit Singh Reyat was charged with perjury with regard to his testimony in the trial.[81] The indictment was filed in the Supreme Court of British Columbia and lists 27 instances where he allegedly misled the court during his testimony. Reyat had pleaded guilty to constructing the bomb but denied under oath that he knew anything about the conspiracy. In the verdict, Justice Ian Josephson said: "I find him to be an unmitigated liar under oath. Even the most sympathetic of listeners could only conclude, as do I, that his evidence was patently and pathetically fabricated in an attempt to minimize his involvement in his crime to an extreme degree, while refusing to reveal relevant information he clearly possesses."[82] On 3 July 2007, with perjury proceedings still pending, Reyat was denied parole by the National Parole Board who concluded he was a continued risk to the public. The decision meant Reyat had to serve his full five-year sentence, which ended 9 February 2008.[83] Reyat's perjury trial began in March 2010 in Vancouver, but was abruptly dismissed on March 8, 2010. The jury was dismissed after biased remarks about Reyat by a woman juror.[84] A new jury will be chosen from March 15. In September 2010, Inderjit Singh Reyat was said to have lied 19 times times under oath, jurors were told according to the Lethbridge Herald Newspaper [85][86] On 19 September 2010 Reyat was convicted of perjury. On 7 January 2011, Reyat was sentenced to nine years in prison.[87]

[edit]Plot details The investigative weekly Tehelka reported on July 2007 that Talwinder Singh Parmar, who was not prosecuted for lack of evidence had made a confession to the Punjab police shortly before his death on October 15, 1992. He pointed to Lakhbir as the mastermind behind the Air India bombing. [88] The purported confession presented the following story: "Around May 1985, a functionary of the International Sikh Youth Federation came to me (Parmar) and introduced himself as Lakhbir Singh and asked me for help in conducting some violent activities to express the resentment of the Sikhs. I told him to come after a few days so that I could arrange for dynamite and battery etc. He told me that he would first like to see a trial of the blast...After about four days, Lakhbir Singh and another youth, Inderjit Singh Reyat, both came to me. We went into the jungle(of British Columbia). There we joined a dynamite stick with a battery and triggered off a blast. ... Then Lakhbir Singh, Inderjit Singh and their accomplice, Manjit Singh, made a plan to plant bombs in an Air India plane leaving from Toronto via London for Delhi and another flight that was to leave Tokyo for Bangkok. Lakhbir Singh booked a seat from Vancouver to Tokyo and then onwards to Bangkok, while Manjit Singh booked a seat from Vancouver to Toronto and then from Toronto to Delhi. Inderjit prepared the bags for the flights, which were loaded with dynamite fitted with a battery and transistor." from the confession by Talwinder Singh Parmar[66] Lakhbir Singh Brar Rode, who is the head of the banned terrorist organization, International Sikh Youth Federation, has an Interpol Red corner warrant A-23/11997 against him.[66] In 1998, he was arrested for carrying 20 kg of RDX explosive near Kathmandu, Nepal.[89] The PHRO has stated that at the time of Flight 182, Rode was an undercover Indian Agent and that Parmar was murdered in order to protect his identity and India's role in the bombing. [66] Many details of this story do not seem to be consistent with other evidence available with the investigating team.[64] [edit]Previous government knowledge The Canadian government had been warned by the Indian government about the possibility of terrorist bombs aboard Air India flights in Canada. And over two weeks before the crash CSIS reported to the RCMP that the potential threat to Air India as well as Indian missions in Canada, was high. [90] [edit]Destroyed evidence In his verdict Justice Josephson cited "unacceptable negligence"[91] 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. These tapes continued to be erased even after the terrorists had become the primary suspects in the bombing.[92] CSIS claims the wiretaps contained no relevant information but a memo from the RCMP states 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."[93] On 4 June 1985, CSIS agents Larry Lowe and Lynn McAdams trailed Talwinder Singh Parmar and Inderjit Singh Reyat to Vancouver Island. The agents reported to the RCMPthat they had heard a noise like a "loud gunshot" in the woods. Later that month Flight 182 was bombed. After the bombing the RCMP went to the site and found remains of an electrical blasting cap.[90] The suspects in the bombing were apparently aware that they were under surveillance, because they used pay phones and talked in code. Translator's notes of the wiretaps records this exchange between Talwinder Parmar and a follower named Hardial Singh Johal on the same day the tickets were purchased on 20 June 1985. Parmar: Did he write the story? Johal: No he didn't. Parmar: Do that work first.[94] After this call a man called the CP Air and booked the tickets and left Johal's number. Shortly afterwards, Johal called Parmar and asked him if he "can come over and read the story he asked for". Parmar said he would be there shortly. [citation
needed]

This conversation appears to be an order from Parmar to book the tickets used to bomb the planes.[95] Because the original wiretaps were erased by CSIS, they were inadmissible as evidence in court.[96] [edit]Murdered witnesses Tara Singh Hayer, the publisher of the Indo-Canadian Times and a member of the Order of British Columbia, had provided an affidavit to the RCMP in 1995 claiming that he was present during a conversation in which Bagri admitted his involvement in the bombings.[97] While at the London offices of fellow Sikh newspaper publisher Tarsem Singh Purewal, Hayer claims he overheard a meeting between Purewal and Bagri. In that meeting Hayer claims that Bagri stated that "if everything had gone as planned the plane would have blown up at Heathrow airport with no passengers on it. But because the plane was a half hour to three quarters of an hour late, it blew up over the ocean."[98] On 24 January of the same year, Purewal was killed near the offices of the Des Pardes newspaper in Southall, England, leaving Hayer as the only other witness.[99] On 18 November 1998, Hayer was shot dead while getting out of his car in the garage of his home in Surrey.[100] Hayer had previously survived an earlier attempt made on his life in 1988 but was paralyzed and thereafter used a

wheelchair.[100] As a consequence of his murder, the affidavit was inadmissible as evidence.[citation needed] [edit]CSIS connection During an interview with Bagri on 28 October 2000, RCMP agents describe Surjan Singh Gill as an agent for CSIS saying the reason that he resigned from the Babbar Khalsa was because his CSIS handlers told him to pull out. [101] After the subsequent failure of CSIS to stop the bombing of Flight 182, the head of CSIS was replaced by Reid Morden. In an interview for CBC Television's news program, The National, Morden claims that CSIS "dropped the ball" in its handling of the case. A Security Intelligence Review Committee cleared CSIS of any wrongdoing. However, that report remains secret to this day. The Canadian government continues to insist that there was no mole involved.[102] [edit]Public inquiry On 1 May 2006, the Crown-in-Council, on the advice of Prime Minister Stephen Harper,[103] announced the launch of a full public inquiry into the bombing, headed by retiredSupreme Court justice John Major, in order to find "answers to several key questions about the worst mass murder in Canadian history."[104] Initiated later in June, theCommission of Inquiry into the Investigation of the Bombing of Air India Flight 182 would examine how Canadian law restricted funding terrorist groups,[105] how well witness protection is provided in terrorist cases, if Canada needed to upgrade its aviation security, and if issues of cooperation between the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, theCanadian Security Intelligence Service, and other law enforcement agencies had been resolved. It would also provide a forum wherein families of the victims could testify on the impact of the bombing and would not repeat any criminal trials.[106] The inquiry's investigations were completed and released on 17 June 2010. Major found that a "cascading series of errors" by Crown ministries, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service allowed the terrorist attack to take place.[3][107] it resulted in attentention towards bombing in canada [edit]Legacy [edit]'A Canadian tragedy'

premiere on CBC Television in June.[115] Mayday, a TV show that investigates many aviation accidents and incidents, also documented the bombing on its episode "Explosive Evidence".[116] Many journalists have commented on the bombing throughout the decades since it occurred. Canadian journalists Brian McAndrew and Zuhair Kashmeri from the Globe and Mail wrote Soft Target. The journalists present details of various activities before the actual bombing and allege that CSIS and the Indian High Commission in Canada knew about the incident in advance. The authors also allege that Indian High Commission in Canada misled RCMP and CSIS for years and worked on spying and destabilizing Sikh community in Canada. In 1992, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police indicated that it possessed no evidence to support the allegations made in the book that the Government of India was involved in the Air India bombing.[117] Eight months after the bombing, Province newspaper reporter Salim Jiwa published "Death Of Air India Flight 182".[118] Loss of Faith: How the Air-India Bombers Got Away With Murder is published by Vancouver Sun reporter Kim Bolan in May 2005.[119] Jiwa and fellow reporter Don Hauka publish Margin of Terror: A reporter's twentyyear odyssey covering the tragedies of the Air India bombing in May 2007.[120] Books were also published. "The Management of Grief" by Bharati Mukherjee in the collection The Middleman and Other Stories, an Indian-Canadian woman who lost all her family in the bombing narrates her experiences. Mukherjee also coauthored, The Sorrow and the Terror: The Haunting Legacy of the Air India Tragedy (1987) with her husband,Clark Blaise.[121] Inspired by mainstream Canada's cultural denial of the Air India tragedy, Neil Bissoondath wrote The Soul of All Great Designs.[122]

Air India Flight 182 memorial in Toronto

Monument and playground in Stanley Park, Vancouver, commemorating victims of Flight 182, dedicated July 2007 Twenty years after the downing of Air India Flight 182, families gathered in Ahakista, Ireland, to grieve. Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, on the advice of Prime Minister Paul Martin declared the anniversary a national day of mourning. During the anniversary observances, Martin said that the bombing was a Canadian problem, not a foreign problem, saying: "Make no mistake: The flight may have been Air India's, it may have taken place off the coast of Ireland, but this is a Canadian tragedy."[108] In May 2007, Angus Reid Strategies released the results of public opinion polling of whether Canadians viewed the Air India bombing as a Canadian or Indian tragedy and who they blamed for it. Forty-eight per cent of respondents considered the bombing as a Canadian event, while twenty-two per cent thought of the terrorist attack as a mostly Indian affair. Thirty-four per cent of those asked felt both CSIS and airport security personnel deserved a great deal of the blame, in addition to twenty-seven per cent who believed the RCMP were largely to blame. Eighteen per cent mentioned Transport Canada.[109] Ken MacQueen and John Geddes of Macleans said that the Air India bombing was referred to as "Canada's 9/11." They said "In truth, it was never close to that. The date, June 23, 1985, is not seared into the nation's soul. The events of that day snuffed out hundreds of innocent lives and altered the destinies of thousands more, but it neither shook the foundations of government, nor transformed its policies. It was not, in the main, even officially acknowledged as an act of terrorism."[110] Memorials were erected in Canada and elsewhere to commemorate the victims. In 1986, monument was unveiled in Ahakista, West Cork, Ireland, on the 1st anniversary of the bombing.[111] Subsequently, a groundbreaking occurred on 11 August 2006 at a playground that would form part of a memorial in Stanley Park, in Vancouver, British Columbia.[112] Another memorial was unveiled on 22 June 2007 in Toronto, the city where most of the people killed had lived. The memorial features a sundial, the base of which consists of stones from all provinces and territories of Canada, as well as the countries of the other victims, and a wall, oriented toward Ireland and bearing the names of the dead. [113] After the release in 2010 of the public inquiry's findings, Stephen Harper announced in the media, on the 25th anniversary of the disaster, that he would "acknowledge the catastrophic failures of intelligence, policing and air security that led to the bombing, and the prosecutorial lapses that followed" and deliver an apology on behalf of the sitting Cabinet.[103] [edit]Recognition in media Documentaries about the bombing were made for Canadian television audiences. CBC Television announced the start of filming forFlight 182, a documentary about the tragedy, directed by Sturla Gunnarsson.[114] It was changed to Air India 182 before premiering at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto in April 2008. It was subsequently made a TV