Fresh probe into Kanishka bombing begins today

A judicial commission set up to probe afresh the 1985 bombing of Air-India airliner Kanishka, killing 331 people, would commence its proceedings tomorrow, nearly two years after a Canadian court acquitted two Sikh separatists of all charges in the case.

A judicial commission set up to probe afresh the 1985 bombing of Air-India airliner Kanishka, killing 331 people, would commence its proceedings tomorrow, nearly two years after a Canadian court acquitted two Sikh separatists of all charges in the case.

Nearly 80 relatives of the victims are expected to be present tomorrow in Ottawa on the occasion. Retired Supreme Court Justice John Major, who heads the enquiry, would make a brief statement outlining the terms of reference of the probe before meeting the relatives.

Major has already held informal meetings across the country with the families, many of them Indians, who had been campaigning for a public enquiry into the worst-ever mass murder in Canada.

The judicial inquiry was announced by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on May 1 after consulting the families in the wake of the acquittal of two accused—Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri—in march last year of all charges related to the bombings after a 19-month trial.

In an interview this past weekend, Justice Major said the inquiry will have done its job if it makes the victims’ families—many of them immigrants from India—feel like real Canadians.