The already strained relationship between India and Canada witnessed a new low when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his administration accused New Delhi of encouraging criminal activity targeted at Canadians. They asserted to have found “direct links” between violent crimes, including homicides, and Indian diplomats stationed in the country. However, no evidence was offered to back up the accusations. Notably, the Western nation accused the Modi administration of killing Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar based on “credible allegations” last year which triggered an intense downfall of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
In a stark demonstration of their desperation to blame India to conceal its support for Khalistani elements, Ottowo accused 31-year-old gangster Lawrence Bishnoi of the terror strike on Air India Flight AI-182 infamously known as Kanishka bombing which led to the loss of 329 lives. Notably, the horrific attack occurred on 23rd June 1985, around 39 years ago. Amid the mockery of such a sensitive matter that rocked the globe, particularly India, and exposed the hideous face of Khalistani terrorism, the name of a Canadian Security Intelligence Service’s (CSIC) mole emerged behind the gruesome incident.
According to media reports, the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service might have had a mole in the conspiracy to destroy Air India, per the documents made public by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in 2003. The documents were released after a publication ban was lifted. An RCMP officer submitted in an affidavit that the explosives and plane tickets were with a Sikh separatist who was suspected of being a CSIS mole in the Air-India plot, just before two bombs were checked onto aircraft at the Vancouver airport.
He was identified as Surjan Singh Gill who claimed to be the consul-general of Khalistan, a fictitious country which only exists in the mind of pro-separatists and has no basis in the real world.
Documents reveal shocking details
Constable Gary Clark-Marlow stated in an affidavit sworn to get court approval for wiretaps that on 21st June 1985, CSIS intercepted a phone call between Surjan Singh Gill and Talwinder Singh Parmar founder, leader of the terrorist group Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) who was the brains behind the plot. “Mr Parmar asked Mr Gill whether he had delivered those papers. Mr. Gill replied: Yes. Mr Parmar then told him to deliver the clothes to the same place. “I believe that the ‘papers’ refers to the airline tickets and ‘clothes’ refers to the suitcase for the bombs,” he pointed out.
A member of the Air India task force, Constable Clark-Marlow, mentioned that the two terrorists communicated in code. They had dozens of telephone conversations monitored by CSIS starting in late March 1985. The majority of the conversations that were tape-recorded were deleted, but the spy agency was able to assemble an overview of Gill’s activities from numerous reports and the notes taken by the officers.
After giving Parmar a manila envelope, Gill spoke with him for roughly thirty minutes. Later, on 21st June 1985, police discovered a note in which the latter announced his resignation from a Sikh separatist organization headed by Parmar. “It is my belief that Gill’s purpose in this visit was to deliver his resignation,” the constable wrote and added that Gill was observed conversing with Parmar later that day, despite having resigned. He shared that on the evening of 23rd June 1985, after the bombs had detonated, Gill went over to Parmar’s house.
The documents further stated that CSIS removed the mole at the last minute to save him from getting implicated. The records are transcripts of an RCMP interview with Kamloops millworker Ajaib Singh Bagri following his arrest in October 2000. After outlining the evidence against him, the officers revealed that one of the conspirators was a spy for the Canadian espionage service.
According to the transcripts, Inspector Lorne Schwartz noted that Gill became involved from the beginning and that “certain people” told him to stay active and find out what was happening. Then, according to Sergeant Jim Hunter, his CSIS handlers ordered him to retreat.
“They told him to get out of there. That things are happening and you can’t be seen as part of that,” he highlighted. It happened a few days prior to the bombing. On 4th June 1985, in the afternoon, Gill, Parmar and an anonymous person went to Vancouver Island, reportedly to test explosives, according to CSIS agent Larry Lowe. He followed them to the Vancouver ferry port. At 11:35 pm, on the same day, CSIS surveillance personnel observed Gill picking up Parmar at the ferry terminal. Surveillance footage from CSIS also showed that Gill appeared at Parmar’s residence at 8:15 am on 21st June 1985. They had discussed providing paper and clothes over the phone earlier that day.
In an interview, RCMP Staff Sergeant Grant Learned mentioned that he was unable to address inquiries concerning the sworn affidavit, which was made sometime after April 1996 and unveiled that the police documents from the Air-India trial that were made public only told a portion of the facts. “There are still hundreds of thousands of pages and tapes and interviews that the media do not have access to. Everyone has questions about bits and pieces of information. I expect the same questions will be raised during the trial,” he expressed.
During the questioning of an Air India defendant, Staff Sergeant Don Adam, another police officer, indicated that Gill was a CSIS operative who had been told to leave before the terror assault. However, Wayne Easter, the solicitor general, refuted claims that CSIS was aware of the bombing beforehand.
The prosecution had asserted that bombs found in checked luggage at the Vancouver airport were the reason behind the explosions. Two of the explosives were sent to Toronto, where they were transferred to another Air India flight before detonating off the coast of Ireland. The other device was transported to Tokyo, where it exploded at the Narita airport before it could be moved to an Air India flight.
Surjan Singh Gill moves to London
Gill eventually relocated to London in 2000 from Canada soon after Vancouver businessmen Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri. The pair was also accused of killing two individuals who perished in an explosion at Tokyo’s Narita airport. Eight counts were brought against them, including conspiracy, attempted murder, and first-degree murder.
Notably, Gill was never charged. The previously disclosed RCMP papers disclosed that Gill was one of six primary suspects in the Air-India case that the agency had named before he departed Canada. The attempts to locate him were unsuccessful.
A person who claimed to be Gill’s brother then reported that he was in England. “He’s still in England. He’s here, but he’s in Coventry today,” he stated while answering Gill’s phone. The man laughed out loud when told that Gill was believed to be a spy for the intelligence service of Canada and added, “It’s still going on.” Gill resided in his brother’s house in a London suburb close to Heathrow Airport and Southall, the Punjabi community’s hub in London. When a visitor initially arrived at Gurnam’s modest semi-detached house, which was located across a train line, no one was home. Mohamed Aleem, a neighbour, confirmed that he did stay there, however, alleged that he had since moved out.
Neither the RCMP nor CSIS reacted to the development, however, the Crown acknowledged in court that CSIS’s destruction of hundreds of wiretaps related to the Air India probe constituted “unacceptable negligence.”
The futile end of a flawed investigation
Khalistani terrorists including Inderjit Singh Revat who was also associated with Babbar Khalsa International and considered the mastermind of the attack along with Talwinder Singh Parmar, Manjit Singh, Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri were named as accused in the case. The trial, which lasted more than 20 years and cost close to $130 million, was the longest and most costly in Canadian history, however, it bore no results.
After relocating to Pakistan in 1988, Parmar carried on his covert terror operations in Punjab across the border until his demise in 1992. Both Canada and West Germany had refused to extradite Parmar to India, with the latter jailing him for a year before freeing him. Notably, Pierre Trudeau, Justin Trudeau’s father was the prime minister of Canada at the time. Now, the latter is following his late father’s lead and shielding anti-India and pro-separatist elements at the expense of Canada’s diplomatic relationship with the world’s biggest democracy, India.
Reyat was given a five-year prison term after entering a guilty plea to manslaughter in 2003. Malik and Bagri were cleared of all charges in 2005, with all evidence destroyed and witnesses silenced or killed.
