Ottawa:
A distinguished Canadian MP of Indian origin has criticised a petition searching for a contemporary inquiry into the bombing of Air India Flight 182 of 1985 to find out the involvement of any “international intelligence”, alleging that it promotes “conspiracy theories” of Khalistani extremists.
The Montreal-New Delhi Air India ‘Kanishka’ Flight 182 exploded 45 minutes earlier than it was imagined to land at London’s Heathrow Airport on June 23, 1985, killing all 329 individuals on board, most of them Canadians of Indian descent.
The bombing was blamed on Sikh extremists in retaliation to ‘Operation Bluestar’ to flush out militants from the Golden Temple in 1984.
Addressing the Parliament on Thursday, Chandra Arya, a Member of Parliament from Nepean within the Home of Commons, famous that two Canadian public inquiries discovered Khalistani extremists answerable for the bombing of Air India flight.
Calling the bombing the “largest mass killing” in Canadian historical past, Mr Arya mentioned, “Even at present, the ideology answerable for this terrorist assault continues to be alive amongst (a) few individuals in Canada.”
“Two Canadian public inquiries discovered Khalistan extremists answerable for the bombing of the Air India flight. Now there’s a petition on (the) parliament portal asking for a brand new enquiry selling conspiracy theories promoted by Khalistan extremists,” he mentioned.
Quoting Bal Gupta, whose spouse was killed on this assault, Mr Arya mentioned,” It is deeply irritating. It opens up outdated wounds yet again. It is all rubbish. It is an try to realize publicity and assist for terrorist actions.”
The petition requires the Canadian authorities to order a contemporary inquiry into the Kanishka bombing to find out whether or not any “international intelligence was concerned” in it.
Final yr, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged a “potential” involvement of Indian brokers in Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s killing.
New Delhi rejected Mr Trudeau’s expenses as “absurd”.
India has been sustaining that the primary difficulty between the 2 international locations is that of Canada giving house to pro-Khalistan parts working from Canadian soil with impunity.
Nijjar, who was declared a terrorist by India, was shot useless exterior a gurdwara in British Columbia on June 18 final yr. The homicide is being probed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by EDNBOX employees and is printed from a syndicated feed.)