Canadian MP blasts petition seeking fresh inquiry into 1985 Kanishka bombing
Ottawa, Sep 27: A prominent Canadian MP of Indian origin has criticised a petition seeking a fresh inquiry into the bombing of Air India Flight 182 of 1985 to determine the involvement of any "foreign intelligence", alleging that it promotes "conspiracy theories" of Khalistani extremists.
The Montreal-New Delhi Air India ‘Kanishka’ Flight 182 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 Canadians of Indian descent.
The bombing was blamed on Sikh extremist militants 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 in the House of Commons, noted that two Canadian public inquiries found Khalistan extremists responsible for the bombing of Air India flight.
Calling the bombing the "largest mass killing" in Canadian history, Arya said, "Even today, the ideology responsible for this terrorist attack is still alive among (a) few people in Canada."
"Two Canadian public inquiries found Khalistan extremists responsible for the bombing of the Air India flight. Now there is a petition on (the) parliament portal asking for a new enquiry promoting conspiracy theories promoted by Khalistan extremists," he said.
Quoting Bal Gupta, whose wife was killed in this attack, Arya said," It’s deeply frustrating. It opens up old wounds all over again. It’s all garbage. It’s an attempt to gain publicity and support for terrorist activities.”
The petition calls for the Canadian government to order a fresh inquiry into the Kanishka bombing to determine whether any "foreign intelligence was involved" in it.
Last year, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged a "potential" involvement of Indian agents in Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar's killing.
New Delhi rejected Trudeau's charges as "absurd".
India has been maintaining that the main issue between the two countries is that of Canada giving space to pro-Khalistan elements operating from Canadian soil with impunity.
Nijjar, who was declared a terrorist by India, was shot dead outside a gurdwara in British Columbia on June 18 last year. The murder is being probed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
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Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
