Posted on 03/16/2005 11:03:15 AM PST by SweetPilotofCanuckistan
Just came off the wire - not guilty for Malik.
Cowardice is thy name gentlemen- you know who you are.
All across the betrayed Dominion, Canadians are puking.
Yet another Liberal Government travesty of justice!
March 16, 2005
Talwinder Singh Parmar: Emigrates from Punjab on May 31, 1970. Becomes a Canadian citizen in 1976. Declares himself “India’s most-wanted rebel” and founds the Babbar Khalsa Society in B.C. to collect donations for an independent Sikh homeland. Arrested in November 1985 on suspicion of bombing the Air India flight; never charged. Flees Canada for Pakistan four years later. Killed by Indian police in 1992.
Ripudaman Singh Malik: Major donor to Babbar Khalsa Society. Becomes an RCMP suspect in 1985, dubbed “The Rupee Man.” Asked Parmar for loan of $100,000. Charged largely on basis of allegations by woman he fired from his Khalsa school after calling her a “slut.”
Ajaib Singh Bagri: Immigrates from Punjab to Canada in 1971 at age 22, settles in Kamloops, B.C. Fiery speaker, one of first members of Babbar Khalsa, a chief lieutenant to Parmar. Single conviction for theft. RCMP pay a New York man $300,000 US to say Bagri claimed responsibility for the bombing. Girlfriend refused to co-operate with Crown at his trial.
Hardial Singh Johal: Spends day in jail in India at age 14 for agitating for Sikh rights. Immigrates to Canada in 1972. Believed to be the brains of the Air India plot, present at Vancouver International Airport on morning the bags are checked in. Phone number turns up with CP Air ticket agents who take calls from a “Singh” wanting to book the fatal tickets. Never charged. Dies from a heart ailment shortly after charges laid in the bombing.
Inderjit Singh Reyat: Fanatical Sikh, director of the Sikh temple in Duncan, B.C. Fingered as the bomb-maker after Japanese experts identify nine components of explosive device that killed two baggage handlers at Narita. Arrested and charged in November 1985, convicted only of possession of dynamite. In July 1986, settles in England, where RCMP rearrest him in 1988 on charges of killing two baggage handlers. Extradited to Canada. In 1991, convicted of manslaughter after cutting a deal.
Surjan Singh Gill: Malaysian-born, original promoter of Khalistan cause in Vancouver. Sets up “consulate,” prints Khalistan currency and passports. Gill and Parmar visit Duncan in May 1984 as Reyat is busy acquiring bomb parts. On June 4, 1985, he escorted Parmar and an unidentified man to ferry terminal at Horseshoe Bay; the men are later met by Reyat, who gives them a bomb demonstration. Files a written resignation from Babbar Khalsa two days before the bombings. RCMP call him the “11th-hour man” but never charge him. Now lives in England.
Amarjit Singh Pawa: Ran Friendly Travels in Vancouver, supplies Parmar with tickets. Their conversations indicate he booked the fatal ticket. Questioned by the RCMP in 1985. Died from liver problems a few years later. RCMP’s hopes for death-bed confession failed to materialize.
To be fair these two guys seem to have by far the weakest case against them.
What a travesty.
Ruling by Judge. No jury.
Yeah - that's never made sense to me. Let's hope one of the 329 victims' families take matters into their own hands.
Most of the Indo-Canadian population here hates these guys.
Seems like a lot of the key players died soon after the bombing from various natural and unnatural causes.
The travesty seems to be the freaking bombmaker that only got manslaughter.....
Amen
No, he didn't. The witnesses who said he did were not believed. Now the focus must be on hodling the people who did kille these 329 innocnet human beings responsible and no longer on blaming a convenient minority for political purposes.
I couldn't agree with you more. I am glad that the trial was not held in India.
Press Trust of India
Posted online: Wednesday, June 11, 2003 at 1531 hours IST
Vancouver, June 11: Canada's spy agency wiped out tape recordings of intercepted phone calls of the suspected mastermind in the 1985 bombing of Air India's Kanishka flight, which killed 329 people on board, even while it was negotiating with police over giving them access to the tapes.
Advertisement
Only 54 of about 300 tapes remained intact by the time senior Royal Canadian Mountain Police (RCMP) staff found out that CSIS was erasing them, court documents show shedding light on the controversial role of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service both before and after the bombings.
Vancouver business man Ripudaman Singh Malik and Kamloops mill worker Ajaib Singh Bagri face murder charges in the death of 329 people killed in the mid-air explosion.
Court documents have also shown that a senior CSIS official admitted one year after the bombings that its agents might have deterred the main players from carrying out the plot, a media report quoted the documents as stating.
Also, CSIS intercepted a conversation about explosives two days before the incident but did not alert the RCMP.
The documents indicate relations between the two agencies were so bad at the time they may have undermined efforts to pursue criminal charges in the months after the disaster, Canadian daily The Globe and Mail reported.
The RCMP learned that CSIS had been intercepting phone calls of Talwinder Singh Parmar, a prime suspect, on July 5, 1985, nearly two weeks after the bombings. Parmar was killed in India in 1992.
However, the RCMP was not told that CSIS had been intercepting Parmar's calls since March 27, 1985, almost three months before the crash.
In a memo to headquarters dated July 23, 1985, a senior RCMP officer complained of "great difficulty" in securing information from CSIS.
Another RCMP officer wrote in a memo about CSIS disclosing information on RCMP's Air-India investigation to India, sparking a caustic response from a top CSIS official.
"The nature and tone of your message does little to encourage a continued spirit of cooperation. . . . I have to make it perfectly clear to you that unwarranted attacks, direct or implied, on the ability and integrity of this service strain the spirit of cooperation to unnatural limits," CSIS Deputy Director A.M. Barr wrote back.
On Sept. 6, 1985, CSIS agreed to allow an RCMP officer to see intercept notes from June 4, 1985, onwards but a few days later CSIS once again revoked RCMP access, the report said.
After another attempt to work out a suitable arrangement, an RCMP officer was seconded to CSIS to deal with the tapes. On Sept. 30, 1985, the officer was told informally that some tapes had been erased.
Senior RCMP officers were informed of the erasures for the first time on Oct. 15, 1985, more than three months after learning that the tapes were made, court was told.
Testimony concerning the erasure of tape recordings and the acidic relations between CSIS and the RCMP was heard during pre-trial submissions last year. A court order prohibiting publication of the testimony was lifted recently.
Defence lawyer Michael Code, in a 186-page submission to court at that time, summarized the testimony and internal documents in a bid to show unacceptable negligence on the part of CSIS.
Code estimated that 97 tape recordings of intercepts before the crash were erased while negotiations were going on in July, August and September, 1985.
Is the evidence that incontrovertible? Did the leader of this group go on TV to claim responsibility for the attack? Why didn't someone who had the clear evidence you are looking at during the trial? I wouldn't be surprised if this thing was orchestrated by the Indian govt to discredit the Khalistan movement. You should learn how to take a defeat.
"What an effin joke. The guy killed a plane load of people"
Maybe they did, but apparently the RCMP, CSIS and the Crown Prosecutor's office failed to make a convincing case for their guilt. We still have the presumption of innocence until proven guilty in this country. Not a very satisfying end to the lengthy and expensive process, but that's the way it is, nonetheless.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.