By: Bhupinder Singh Liddar

The recent abrupt resignation of Inderjit Singh Bal from the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) has raised more questions than it ‘answered. * For one, who passed on the tape transcript of the 1992 Punjabi radio program Gunjda Punjab to Reform MP Art Hanger? ‘The radio program tape in which Bal admitted to an earlier marriage, which facilitated him attaining landed immigrant status in Canada, was used by the Reform MP to discredit Bal’s credibility to stay on as member the Immigration and Refugee Board. The surprise revelations by MP Hanger about BAL’s past led to ‘some confusion at the Parliamentary Committee hearing with some MPs charging that such personal information ought to be of no relevance to an IRB member’s performance. In the ensuing confusion Liberal MP and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizenship, Mary Clancy came to the defence of BAL by successfully calling on the committee to vote that no such questions relating to one’s past personal record be raised at the committee reviewing candidates appointed to the Immigration and Refugee Board. However, this very decision which was to have helped. BAL ultimately hurt him. For it denied any further discussion of the matter and left BAL without an Opportunity to explain the allegations made against him and his personal record.

BAL had to resort to issuing a press release to set the record straight. In the press release Bal outlined events from the time he jumped ship in Montreal in 1976 to the ime he got married in 1977, returned to India the same year, was processed legally to immigrate to Canada. In his press release BAL states, “my marriage to my first wife was not a marriage of convenience, and indeed, lasted five years before we were divorced in 1982. 1 met and married my second wife only after my first marriage had ended.

BAL’s press release was a tad too late in setting the record straight because by now the whole matter had been blown-up in the media in what schemed to a well-orchestrated ‘manner. Questions also began to surface when it was learned that Joginder Singh Basi, the producer of the Punjabi program which had broadcast BAL’s interview in 1992 left for India on the very weekend of BAL’s resignation. Callers to Bassi’s associate were told that tapes of the radio program are not kept for more than a month. So who was in’ possession of this tape for almost two years waiting to trip BAL? Bilu Hansra, producer of the popular Punjabi program Ankhila Punjab openly accused the Indian Consulate in Toronto of mischief making in the Bal incident, Hansra contends that the Indian Consulate had kept tabs on Bal because of his support for Khalistan and having been one of the founders of the World Sikh Organization (WSO), which also calls for the creation of an independent Sikh state in the present territory of the Punjab.

Liberal MP Gurbax Singh Malhi, BAL’S opponent for the nomination in the last federal election, also came under some scrutiny but he expressed his sympathy and regret at what had transpired with BAL.

In the end, while many want to put behind an unfortunate event, some are still seeking answers Te the new questions raised.

Article extracted from this publication >>  November 18, 1994