NEW WESTMINISTER, B.C., Canada: Four Sikh men were found guilty by a British Columbian Supreme Court jury of the attempted murder in Canada of Malkiat Singh Sidhu, a Cabinet Minister in India’s Punjab State. Jasbir Singh Atwal, 26, Jaspal Singh Atwal, 31, Sukhdial Singh Gill, 27, and Amarjit Singh Dhindsa, 25, who all lived in the Vancouver area, were remanded in custody for sentencing on March 27. The two Atwals are not related.
The jury deliberated for three hours before reaching a verdict.
It had been told that Sidhu’s car was attacked by gunmen on a remote gravel road on Vancouver Island last may during a private visit by the Minister to Canada.
Sidhu was hit in the right arm and chest after a black car forced his car off the road. Sidhu recovered from his wounds before returning to India. He did not appear during the three and half week trial.
Justice H.A. Callaghan, the presiding judge, noted that a copy of a Toronto newspaper containing stories on the political situation in Punjab and bearing Jaspal Singh Atwal’s fingerprints was found in a car identified as the one that forced the Minister’s car off the road.
Sikhs are see Ring to establish an independent nation in Punjab.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 6, 1987
