On Tuesday, 15th October, over 10 domestic and international flights were affected following hoax bomb threats on the anniversary of Talwinder Singh Parmar, the main accused in the Kanishka bombing. The hoax threats started pouring in on 14th October and continued on the 15th. The Ministry of Civil Aviation has called a high-level meeting on 16th October over the matter.
WION News quoted unnamed sources in the ministry suggesting that the Minister of Civil Aviation, Ram Mohan Naidu, held a meeting with the Bureau of Civil Aviation, CISF, and other senior officials regarding the bomb threats.
CISF sources confirmed that they received 10 bomb threats on social media within 24 hours. A senior police officer said, “We have identified and suspended several accounts that were posting threats on social media regarding bombs in airplanes. It has been reported that some threats originated from London and other countries.”
List of flights affected by bomb hoaxes
Most of the threats were issued on the social media platform X by an unverified account.
- Delhi-Chicago Air India Flight AI 127: Following the hoax threat, the flight was diverted to Iqaluit airport in Canada. According to Air India, the flight took off from Delhi at 3 AM and landed at Iqaluit airport as a precautionary measure.
- Dammam-Lucknow IndiGo flight 6E 98: Following the hoax threat, the flight made an emergency landing in Jaipur. An IndiGo spokesperson said in a statement, “We are cognisant of a situation involving flight 6E 98 from Dammam to Lucknow. The safety and security of our passengers and crew is our highest priority, and we are working closely with the relevant authorities and taking all necessary precautions as per the guidelines.”
- Jaipur-Ayodhya Air India Express flight IX 765: Following the hoax threat, the flight made an emergency landing in Ayodhya around 2 PM.
- Mumbai to New York Air India flight AI 119: The flight made an emergency landing in New Delhi following the hoax threat on Monday.
- Jaipur-Bengaluru Air India Express
- Akasa Air flight from Bagdogra to Bengaluru QP 1373
- Darbhanga-Mumbai SpiceJet flight
- Siliguri-Bengaluru Akasa Air flight
- Alliance Air Amritsar-Dehradun-Delhi flight 9I 650
- Air India Express flight from Madurai to Singapore IX 684
An airport officer was quoted by the media as saying, “In the last 24 hours, we have received several bomb threats in various sectors. We are responding to all the calls and have also informed the concerned police officers regarding the threats in order to identify the individuals behind them.”
A senior officer in airport security was also quoted by the media, stating that every threat is treated seriously and cannot be ignored as it concerns the safety of passengers. He said, “After receiving a threat, we inform airlines and the relevant security officer at the airport to follow the necessary procedures.”
Connection between hoax calls and Khalistani terrorist Talwinder Singh Parmar
Most of the hoax calls were made on 15th October, the death anniversary of Khalistani terrorist Talwinder Singh Parmar, who was the mastermind behind the Kanishka bombing. Parmar was born on 26th February 1944 to a Sikh family in Panchhat, district Kapurthala, Punjab. In May 1970, he migrated to Canada and became a naturalised citizen of the country. Talwinder Singh Parmar was the founder of the Khalistani terrorist organisation Babbar Khalsa International, along with Sukhdev Singh Babbar. The organisation was founded in 1978.
Assassination of Lala Jagat Narain
Talwinder Singh Parmar claimed responsibility for the assassination of Lala Jagat Narain, the founder of Hind Samachar and a former Punjab MLA and MP, who was killed on 9th September 1981. Jagat Narain was well-known for his criticism of Khalistani terrorist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and the Khalistani movement.
On the day of his assassination, Lala Jagat Narain was travelling in his grey Fiat from Patiala towards Jallandhar. An unmarked Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycle tailed him but went unnoticed by both driver Som Nath and Narain who was sitting in the back seat. Four kilometres outside Ludhiana, the motorcycle came alongside the car and the pillion riders fired shots at the vehicle. The driver slammed the brakes and attempted to turn the vehicle but a bus blocked the path. The pillion riders jumped off the bike. One of them had a 0.45 calibre revolver and the other had a 0.32 calibre weapon. They both fired point-blank at Narain and the driver. Som Nath sustained a bullet injury but survived.
Lala Jagat Narain, however, was not lucky enough. He was shot thrice by the attacker. He fell on the seat immediately and soon after died. Narain’s death was among the first prominent murders that sparked uproar among Hindus across Punjab.
Assassins were not lucky enough themselves. Their bike broke down after the attack. One of the attackers identified as Nachhatar Singh, a self-proclaimed Naxalite, was arrested by the bystanders while the other two Dalbir Singh and Swaran Singh were listed as accused. Dalbir Singh was involved in the murder of Baba Gurbachan Singh murder case. Swaran Singh was relative of Bhindranwale. Notably, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was also listed as one of the ‘conspirators’ in the murder case.
Following the assassination, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was accused of being involved in the murder. He offered to surrender, but only after delivering a speech at a Gurdwara in Amritsar on 20th September 1981. Shortly after his arrest, two motorcycle-borne members of Babbar Khalsa opened fire with a machine gun in a busy market in Jalandhar. Four people were killed and 12 were injured.
Arrest in Germany and extradition request of Talwinder Singh Parmar turned down by Canada
In 1983, Parmar was arrested and tried in Germany for the murder of two Punjab police officers in 1981. However, he was acquitted by German authorities. Soon after his release, he returned to Canada. India submitted a formal request to extradite him, but Canada turned it down. At that time, current Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s father, Pierre Trudeau, was the Prime Minister of Canada.
In his book ‘Blood For Blood’, Canadian journalist Terry Milewski wrote about his incident. He said, “Canada can’t be compared to Pakistan as a springboard for Khalistani militants in the past forty years, but it has offered them the great advantage of a congenial legal and political environment. The meek Canadian response to the Khalistani challenge was a frequent target of Indian politicians as far back as 1982 when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi complained about it to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.”
“Not much came of it. Quite the reverse, in fact. Pierre Trudeau’s government refused the 1982 Indian request to extradite Talwinder Parmar to India for murder on the quaint grounds that India was insufficiently deferential to the Queen. That is not a joke. Canadian diplomats had to tell their Indian counterparts that the extradition protocols between Commonwealth countries would not apply because India only recognized Her Majesty as Head of the Commonwealth and not as Head of State. Case closed!” he added.
Kanishka bombing
On 23rd June 1985, the then deadliest aviation oriented terrorist attack occurred in the world. It would remain the deadliest of its kind until the 9/11 attacks in 2001. It was the bombing of Air India Flight 182 Kanishka by Khalistani terrorists which led to the death of 329 people, that is, everyone aboard the flight. The plane was blown in midair off the coast of Ireland. Out of 329 casualities, 268 were Canadian citizens.
Pierre Trudeau is vastly blamed for the Kanishka bombing, as it was only after the Trudeau-led government saved Parmar he started preparing for the bombing. In 1984, Parmar told his fellow Khalistanis that “Indian planes will fall from the sky”. In the same year, Ajaib Singh Bagri, a close associate of Parmar, pledged to kill 50,000 Hindus. He said at the founding convention of the World Sikh Organization, “Until we kill 50,000 Hindus, we will not rest!” It was reported by Milewski, who extensively covered the Khalistani movement in Canada and abroad.
Despite of his role in Kanishka bombing killing mainly Canadians, he is a “celebrated personality” among Canadian pro-Khalistani Sikhs.
