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Canada may scale back 1985 Kanishka bombing probe; victims’ families object
The letter was addressed to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar, his Canadian counterpart Anita Anand and other Canadian officials
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Canadian law enforcement authorities were considering scaling back the probe into the 1985 bombing of Air India ‘Kanishka’ Flight 182 by pro-Khalistan terrorists in which 329 people were killed, the chairman of a group representing the families of the victims has said.
In a letter, the Kanishka Foundation chairman Sanjay Lazar, who lost his parents and sister in the attack, said the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) planned to reduce the task force citing lack of leads to proceed with the probe. According to reports, the families of the victims were briefed about the future of the probe during a meeting held by RCMP on September 12.
“To my utter shock and horror, I learnt that there is a move afoot to abandon the investigations, to reduce the size of the task force, and basically put the AI-182 Kanishka matter into ‘inactive’ status,” Lazar, who is based in Mumbai but travelled to Canada to attend the meeting, said in a letter. He added, “Many family members were distraught at hearing this and naturally the tempers flared and family members broke down.”
The letter was addressed to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar, his Canadian counterpart Anita Anand and other Canadian officials.
“Given the state of growing Khalistani and other extremism in Canada and the world, I respectfully reach out to your good self to ensure that the investigations continue...,”Lazar said in the letter.
The Montreal-New Delhi flight exploded 45 minutes before it was to have landed at London’s Heathrow Airport on June 23, 1985, killing all 329 people on board, most of them Canadian citizens.
