Like father, like son? How the Trudeaus have had a history of being hostile towards India | explained

India and Canada are once again embroiled in a diplomatic spat over the killing of Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June 2023. As of today, both countries have expelled six diplomats each, while the India has withdrawn its high commissioner to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma after the Justin Trudeau government named him and other diplomats as “persons of interest” in the Nijjar murder investigation.

Earlier, in a statement announcing the withdrawal of the Indian High Commissioner to Canada, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed that in an environment of extremism and violence, the Trudeau government’s actions put the safety of diplomats at risk.

Last year, Trudeau had alleged that Indian government agents were involved in Nijjar’s death. The Khalistani leader has been designated as a terrorist by the Indian government. He was shot dead in June outside a Gurdwara in Surrey, Canada.

“Prime Minister Trudeau’s hostility to India has long been in evidence. In 2018, his visit to India, which was aimed at currying favor with a vote bank, brought back his unease .His cabinet has included people who have openly associated themselves with an extremist and separatist agenda regarding India. ready to come in this regard,” says a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The statement also said the Trudeau government has been consistently pandering to the separatist anti-India agenda for narrow political gains. However, this is not the first time that the Canadian government has refused to curb Khalistani activities.

Justin Trudeau appears to be merely following in the footsteps of his father Pierre Trudeau, who refused to extradite the accused behind the horrific 1985 Kanishka bombings.

All about Kanishka Bombardment

Air India Flight 182, flying from Montreal to London with its final destination in Delhi, exploded on June 23, 1985, after Khalistani terrorists planted a bomb on it. The wide-body jumbo jet, named after the Emperor Kanishka, was equipped with a bomb inside a suitcase.

The bomb exploded in Irish airspace at an altitude of 31,000 feet, killing all 329 people on board, most of whom were Canadians of Indian origin. There were no warnings or emergency calls issued by Air India Flight 182 as it exploded 45 minutes after takeoff from Montreal, Canada.

It was the worst air disaster associated with Canada and one of the first terrorist attacks by Khalistani groups in Canada.

How the Khalistanis got involved

According to reports published during this time, the bomb was located in a suitcase on the plane. A person named Manjit Singh moved a suitcase onto Air India Flight 182, but did not board the flight when it took off.

After the bombing, the Khalistanis claimed responsibility for the attack. Talwinder Singh Parmar was later named as the mastermind of the 1985 Air India bombing.

“In New York, in the hours after the disaster, three separate groups called newspaper offices to ‘take credit’ for the accident. The three were the so-called Dashmesh Regiment, the Federation of Sikh Students of the ‘India and the Kashmir Liberation Army’, according to a report by India today.

The inquiry blamed the Canadian government

The “Emperor Kanishka” bombing was the worst act of terror in Canada and the worst air disaster. Then Foreign Minister SM Krishna, while briefing Parliament, said that Canadian government agencies were in possession of significant information which, taken together, would have led a competent analyst to conclude that Flight 182 was at high risk of being bombed by Sikh terrorists.

The government also said Canadian government agencies failed to appreciate the nature and seriousness of the threat posed by Sikh extremism. In addition, surveillance by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) was ineffective.

Canadian intelligence agency had information that could have prevented Kanishka attack, report says The Washington Post revealed However, Canada’s Security Intelligence Service withdrew an agent who had infiltrated the militant group days before the attack.

Another investigative report, published in 2010, also noted that there was a dispute between the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the spy agency CSIS, which weakened the country’s security mechanism. He also blamed the Canadian government for failing to prevent the tragedy.

“There was a lack of cooperation and communication within the RCMP and between the RCMP, Transport Canada and the airlines in relation to airport security,” the foreign minister added.

Trudeau’s father refused to cooperate

The mastermind, Talwinder Singh Parmar, had come to Canada in 1984 after being released from prison for killing two Punjab police officers. After the attack, the Canadian government was uncooperative, as Justin’s father refused to extradite him to India under the false pretense that India, although a member of the Commonwealth, did not recognize the sovereignty of the Queen who was the sovereign of Canada.

Parmar was the founder, leader and Jathedar of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), better known as Babbar Khalsa, a Sikh militant group involved in the Khalistan movement.