[updated:LAST EDITED ON 10-02-03 AT 09:20 PM (GMT)]From BBC News online.
A Sikh man has pleaded guilty to the bombing of an Air India jet in 1985, which killed all the passengers on board.
Inderjit Singh Reyat – who has British and Canadian citizenship – was charged by a Canadian court with 329 counts of manslaughter – one for each of the people who died in the blast.
Two other men also stand accused in connection with the bombing.
Flight 182 from Montreal to Delhi exploded over the Atlantic Ocean on 23 June 1985.
The passengers on board were mainly Canadians.
Huge investigation
Reyat’s plea has raised speculation that he may testify against the other suspects, Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, in their trial which is due to begin later this year.
Reyat has already served 10 years in prison in the United Kingdom for his part in an explosion at Tokyo’s Narita Airport which took place an hour before the Air India plane blew up.
It is suspected that both bomb attacks were in retaliation for the Indian Army’s storming of the Sikh holy shrine, the Golden Temple, in 1984.
Until 11 September 2001, the Air India bombing stood as history’s most deadly case of air sabotage.
The investigation into the attack is the largest the Canadian police force has ever undertaken.
The courtroom in Vancouver where the trial will take place has been specially fortified at a cost of several million dollars.
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By: Ghazi Eagle - 13th February 2003 at 17:02
RE: Guilty plea in Air India trial
kabirT,
>>>>Nah Ghazi Eagle i think we better put a plug on this thread…..i dont think this is the right place for it ….<<<<
Fine by me too. 😉 😉 😉
By: KabirT - 13th February 2003 at 07:05
RE: Guilty plea in Air India trial
Nah Ghazi Eagle i think we better put a plug on this thread…..i dont think this is the right place for it. 🙂
By: Ghazi Eagle - 13th February 2003 at 03:55
Justice in canada. No justice in India
[updated:LAST EDITED ON 13-02-03 AT 04:07 AM (GMT)]I am pleased that the terrorist has been brought to justice by the Canadian Law Enforcement Agencies, albeit the final sentence is not to everyone’s satisfaction.
However I find it grotesquely offensive that, as John mentioned above, 99% of the Hindu zealots (responsible for butchering tens of thousands of Sikh children, the elderly, women, and men in open streets of Indian cities) have never even been brought before a court.
Sikh terrorism stemmed directly from the attrocities committed by Hindu zealots against the minority sikh community.
Kabir, you are disrespecting the memory of countless souls by describing this genocide as a “communal riot”.
If hacking into pieces of tens of thousands of UNARMED innocent Sikh civilians by an organised mob of Hindu zealots (who were given lists of names and addresses of Sikh families by the police chiefs and who butchered Sikh families under the gazes of police officers) is a “communal riot” then may be you would like to redefine the Holocaust too.
PS: I do however strongly agree with you that we should not bring religion into it: lets just look at Indian justice, the Role of the Hindu zealots (not the Hindu religion) and the Sikh victims of the genocide (not the Sikh religion).
We should be discussing this in the General Forum, but since someone opened the thread here, this will do.
By: MapleLeaf_330 - 12th February 2003 at 18:30
RE: Guilty plea in Air India trial
There are two other men who are alleged to be involved, more with the carrying out of the bombing. I think that police may have some stronger evidence to use against the other two men, and perhaps, testimony from the guilty party.
Many Canadians were shocked by the sentencing.
By: KabirT - 12th February 2003 at 07:23
RE: Guilty plea in Air India trial
He has just confessed of supplying the materia for the bombs…it of course cant be one man. Plus he did such a thing and just 5 years in jail?
By: mongu - 11th February 2003 at 19:10
RE: Nothing justifies deliberate & wanton killing of civilians
What’s so good about it?
I find it hard to believe the guilty party comprised just one man!
By: KabirT - 11th February 2003 at 06:49
RE: Nothing justifies deliberate & wanton killing of civilians
>Sikhs are one of many oppressed and terrorized minorities in
>India. However nothing can justify terrorism; the wanton &
>deliberate killing of innocent civilians, whatever the
>grievance, is unforgiveable.
Thats such a biased comment….i would like to rephrase that they were. Also to point out its the bloody whole community just some people in it who drag the community word with them.
>All credit must go to the Canadian authorities for not
>giving up on this case and ensuring that justice is finally
>done.
very true.
>Sikhs will get their independent homeland (Khalistan)
>someday where they can live and practice their faith in
>freedom. But that freedom will have to come through peaceful
>means, not through terrorism.
This wont happen…..those days of Sikh terrorism were over after operation blue star and assasination of Mrs. Indira Gandhi.
>If the whole Indian sub-continent could win its freedom from
>the British through peaceful Civil Disobedience then I am
>sure there is still some hope for the long suffering Sikhs
>(tens of thousands of whose brethren were slaughtered by
>Hindu zealots in the streets of India in the aftermath of
>Mrs. Gandhi’s assassination with the Indian police standing
>by and, in many cases, aiding the genocide).
They won freedom through peaceful disobedience?? The Civil Disobedience movement started by Gandhi was a failure, he pulled out of it during the second round table confrence in 1931, when nothing was concluded he came back to india and stated it again. A incident took place at a place caled Chauri Chora where 21 polic people were killed and after this Gandhi withdrew the movement and was dorment in Indian pol. for sometime. Yes i agree attrocities were commited after the assasination of Mrs. Gandhi but you have to see the past activities for thens communal riots.
And please for heaven sake dont take up religious issues like this on this forum.
By: Sauron - 11th February 2003 at 06:09
RE: Nothing justifies deliberate & wanton killing of civilians
Just a note to those who might be interested in Canadian justice.
This ##### was given double credit for 5 of the years he was held in custody before he was proven guilty. As a result, he will serve only 5 more years instead of 10.
Apparently this makes perfect sense to the Canadian justice system, that time served before you are actually found guilty is more stressful than if you were actually found guilty straight away. Sort of a perverted bonus award.
To make matters worse, he will be given credit for the full 10 years in calculating the amount of time that he must serve before being eligible for parole (one third). He will be eligible in about a year is my understanding.
All this must be great comfort to the relatives of the 329 people murdered on the 747, not to mention the two poor guys in Japan who were also killed buy the other bomb. This will mean approx. 22 days per victim even if he doesn’t make parole. Off course most of them were not ‘real’ Canadians – they were just immigrants.
Makes me proud to be a Canadian.
Regards
Sauron
By: John Le Carre - 11th February 2003 at 02:49
Nothing justifies deliberate & wanton killing of civilians
[updated:LAST EDITED ON 11-02-03 AT 02:50 AM (GMT)]Sikhs are one of many oppressed and terrorized minorities in India. However nothing can justify terrorism; the wanton & deliberate killing of innocent civilians, whatever the grievance, is unforgiveable.
All credit must go to the Canadian authorities for not giving up on this case and ensuring that justice is finally done.
Sikhs will get their independent homeland (Khalistan) someday where they can live and practice their faith in freedom. But that freedom will have to come through peaceful means, not through terrorism.
If the whole Indian sub-continent could win its freedom from the British through peaceful Civil Disobedience then I am sure there is still some hope for the long suffering Sikhs (tens of thousands of whose brethren were slaughtered by Hindu zealots in the streets of India in the aftermath of Mrs. Gandhi’s assassination with the Indian police standing by and, in many cases, aiding the genocide).
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February 10, 2003 at 9:07 pm