On the 6th day of the Parliament session, Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on July 1 recalled the 1985 bombing of the Air India Kanishka aircraft as “one of the darkest days in the fight against terrorism”.
Both the Houses observed a minute of silence to honour all the 329 lives lost, including 22 Indian citizens, when a bomb in the aircraft exploded mid-air.
“There has to be zero-tolerance on terrorism. It cannot be justified for any reason,” said Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
The Air India Kanishka bombing on June 23, 1985 is counted among the deadliest acts of terrorism in aviation history. All 329 people on board the flight were killed and the aircraft crashed near the west coast of Ireland. The aircraft had left from Montreal for London en route New Delhi. Most passengers were foreign nationals of Indian origin.
The bombing was said to have been executed by Sikh militants in retaliation for ‘Operation Bluestar’ undertaken by the Indian Army in 1984 to flush out militants from the Golden Temple.
In July 2022, Ripudaman Singh Malik, a suspect who was later acquitted of all charges in the 1985 Air India Kanishka bombing case, was shot dead in Canada. He died on the spot.
Malik was acquitted by a Canadian court in 2005.
Probe into 1985 Kanishka bombing is ‘active’: Canadian police
Earlier in June, the Canadian police said that investigations into the bombing of the Air India flight remains “active and ongoing”.
In a statement on June 21, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Assistant Commissioner David Teboul called the bombing the “greatest terror-related loss of life involving and affecting Canadians” in the country’s history as he offered “deepest sympathies, understanding and support to the families of the victims”.
“The Air India investigation is the longest and certainly one of the most complex domestic terrorism investigations that the RCMP has undertaken in our history,” Mr. Teboul said. “Our investigative efforts remain active and ongoing,” he said.
Noting that this year marks the 39th anniversary memorial of the bombing, he said: “At the memorials, previous and current employees from the investigation and our greater organisation, past and present, will ensure we remember those lost and those left to deal with the unthinkable.”
(With inputs from PTI)
