OTTAWA: The memory of Air India flight 182 crash is being revived by concession the part of Reform MP Val Meredith.
She is asking Canada’s Minister of National Revenue to “explain to the citizens of both Canada and India why the Canadian taxpayer is subsidizing militant activities in India?’ Meredith is questioning the charitable status granted three years ago by Revenue Canada to the Kamp loops based Babbar Khalsa Society, which according to her, is the prime suspect for the Air India flight crash m 1985. Meredith told recently that “This militant organization had been dedicated to the violent separation of the Indian state of Punjab for over 10 years.” According to the Reform MP, “The now deceased founder of this ‘organization is suspected of masterminding the militant bombing of Air India Night 182 in June 1985, which Resulted in the death of 329 individuals.”
The Reform MP from British Columbia also informed Canadian Par Hamentarians that “the Babbar Khalsa Society in Kamloops continues to provide financial support to Babbar Khalsa International,” which according to Meredith is “one of the few militant groups still committing acts of militancy in the Punjab.”
In response, the Minister of National Revenue, David Anderson, stated that there are approximately 72,000 charitable organizations registered in Canada, He told Parliament that the Reform MP “is wrong to single out a particular organization of which there may be one or two individual members about whom I know nothing and attempt to blacken the entire charitable status of all organizations dealing with immigrants.
The National Revenue Minister also conceded that “there may well be ‘organizations that have activities overseas that are difficult for Revenue. Canada to supervise and check.” Anderson asked the Reform MP to provide information on overseas acclivities of the organization “so that investigations can be carried out rather than simply making allegations of the type she has made.”
In an interview in Ottawa, Meredith stated that her information on Babbar Khalsa is derived from various confidential sources, including information from Indian diplomats based in Canada and newspaper stories.
Asked why she seemed confident that Babbar Khalsa is the prime suspect in the bombing of Aur India, Meredith responded that she has care: fully read Reyat Case transcripts, received confidential information and does not believe that any foreign government was involved.
Meredith cited the 199192 Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRO) report which stated that “Based ‘on the material we examined, the information collected by CSIS does not support the theory of complicity of a foreign government in the crash of Air India flight 182.”
The same SIRC Report on Air India crash expresses concern that “Delays caused by incomplete or inadequate policies, however, did occur… We noted that the CSIS policies in relation to the collection, retention and crasure of surveillance audiotapes wore seriously deficient as well as boing generally inaccessible to investigators and that the informal procedures developed to compensate for these problems were also inadequate.”
According to Meredith, the RCMP is not prepared to close the file as the families of the victims are still asking for satisfactory answers,
The 1989 publication ‘Soft Target” by Zuhair Kashmiri and Brian Mc Andrew, claims that in the 1980s the Indian government conducted a covert intelligence operation in Canada, According to the authors. in the analysis “of the events leading to and following the Air India bombing, the book shows who was pulling the strings and who was made the fool.”
Article extracted from this publication >> June 23, 1995
