Canadian MP recalls Air India Kanishka bombing, says 'Dark forces energised again…’

Indian-origin Canadian Member of Parliament Chandra Arya on Thursday recalled the 1985 Air India bombing, saying that the ideology responsible for the terrorist attack is still alive among a few people in Canada.

Speaking in the Canadian Parliament,  Arya said the celebration of former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination by “Khalistani supporters” demonstrates that “dark forces have been energised again”.

At least 329 people lost their lives in the 1985 Air India bombing.

He also highlighted the concerns of Hindu Canadians regarding recent incidents. In his remarks, he said, “Mr Speaker, June 23rd is the National Day of Remembrance for Victims of Terrorism. 39 years back, on this day, Air India Flight 182 was blown up mid-day by a bomb planted by Canadian Khalistani extremists. It killed all 329 passengers and crew members and is the largest mass killing in Canadian history.”

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“Unfortunately, many Canadians are not aware that even today. The ideology responsible for this terrorist attack is still alive among few people in Canada. The recent celebration of the assassination of Hindu Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by Khalistan supporters, glorifying violence and hate, shows that the dark forces have been energised again and point to dreadful times ahead. Hindu Canadians are rightfully concerned. I stand in solidarity with the families of the victims of Air India bombing,” he added.

His remarks came ahead of the 39th anniversary of the bombing of the Air India 182 flight. On June 23, 1985, Air India 182 Kanishka flight, flying on the Montreal-London-Delhi route, exploded mid-air over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Ireland, due to a “cowardly act of terror, carried out by Canada-based Khalistani terrorists,” Indian High Commission in Ottawa had said in a press release in 2023.

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The Consulate General of India, Toronto on Wednesday (local time) announced a memorial service for the victims of the 1985 tragedy on June 23 at South Lawns, Queen’s Park.

India has always been at the forefront of the fight against terrorism and opposed the justification and glorification of terrorism, India’s Consulate General in Toronto said, as it reminded the world of the Kanishka bombing and termed it “one of the most heinous acts of terror in civil aviation.

India-Canada ties were strained after their Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged in September last year that Indian agents were involved in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. India had dismissed the allegations as “absurd and motivated.” Nijjar, who was designated a terrorist by the National Investigation Agency in 2020, was shot and killed outside a Gurdwara in Surrey in June last year.

With inputs from ANI.