Mounties might go home empty-handed

The Punjab Human Rights Organisation (PHRO), whose investigations had unraveled various facts regarding attack by the Punjab militants, has refused to meet the investigating team, which is at present staying in Delhi.

The RCMP was in Chandigarh last week to question Jagtar Singh Hawara and Paramjit Singh Bheora, Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) terrorists on death row for killing former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh.

The team, called the Air India Task Force (AITF), is headed by Sergeant Bart Blackford and was to question about 15 more persons. “We will not meet the investigators, as they have attached certain conditions, which include that during the meeting the CBI will sit along. We want direct dialogues with the RCMP,” said PHRO chairman Justice Ajit Singh Bains (retd). He said they have submitted their independent probe report to the Canadian government and now it was up to the RCMP to collect more evidence and witnesses.

Apart from Blackford, Mike Haney, Dan Sandhar, Joanne Baines and Bill Kalkat are part of the AITF team. The Canadian government has spent millions of dollars on investigation, but besides Inderjit Singh Reyat, who had made a confession, no conviction has taken place in the 23-year-old case.

Two other accused, Ajaib Singh Bagri and Ripudaman Singh Malik, were freed by the Canadian Supreme Court for want of “credible witnesses”.

The RCMP had sought help from the Indian government and the CBI to trace the potential witnesses for an interview. “They have met some persons but managed to interview few. They are pressurising us to sit with the CBI, not knowing that the Indian’s top-most probe agency had earlier scuttled investigations,” said PHRO chief investigator Sarbjit Singh Verka. He added that their probe had found that former BKI militant Talwinder Singh Parmar, who was killed in a “fake” encounter by Punjab Police, was the mastermind of the Kanishka bombing. “But the RCMP is beating around the bush,” he alleged.

The RCMP wanted to interview Harminder Singh Gandhi, Naudh Singh Thind, Bhai Jiwan Singh, Mohan Singh Johal, Dr Kamaljit Singh, Sukhjinder Singh, Pratap Singh Gill, Satnam Singh and Bohar Singh, but could not meet all of them.

The RCMP documents reveal that though these persons may not be directly involved in the attack, but might have played hosts, lived with accused or overheard their conversations.

The PHRO had investigated that the ill-fated flight that was heading for Delhi and was blown off the Ireland coast while flying over the Pacific Ocean was part of a major terror plot, which was in the knowledge of Parmar, who was killed near Jalandhar in 1985. On the same day, Kanishka was hit and another bomb that was to be put in another aircraft had gone off at Narita airport, near Tokyo in Japan. According to the PHRO, Parmar’s confession report also said that he was aware of the bombing. “Had there been proper investigations by the Punjab Police, the case would have been solved with the arrest of Parmar,” said Verka.

He, along with legal head of PHRO RS Bains, had visited Canada earlier this year and recorded their statements, besides providing documents and information about one Lakhbir Singh, who is at present taking shelter in Pakistan.