Talk of the Town

The Air India Bombing, How the Bombers Got Away with Murder

Wed. Sep. 14, 7:30 - 9 pm

With: Kim Bolan, journalist and author of Loss of Faith

Air India Flight 182 went down in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Ireland in June 1985. The crash was the result of a bomb exploding in the luggage compartment. All 329 people on board died, making it the largest mass murder in Canadian history and the one of the most deadly terrorist attacks before those of September 11 th 2001. Less than an hour earlier a bomb in a bag intended for Air India 301 went off at the Narita International airport killing two baggage handlers and injuring four others.

In the twenty years since those tragic events there have been criminal investigations, several trials, and extensive media coverage, but no one has been found to be responsible for bombing. Kim Bolan is an award-winning journalist who has followed the case from the day of the crash until the acquittal of two suspects in March 2005. Here is her publisher's description of her new book Loss of Faith .

"Riveting and shocking, Loss of Faith is essential reading for all Canadians.

On June 23, 1985, Canada found itself on the international terrorism map when two bombs built in B.C. detonated within an hour of each other on opposite sides of the world, killing 329 men, women, and children.

Canadian Sikh separatists, upset at the Indian government for attacking their religion's holiest shrine, the Golden Temple, were immediately suspected by the RCMP of perpetrating the worst act of aviation terrorism before Sept. 11, 2001. But while police agencies scrambled to infiltrate a close-knit immigrant community and collect evidence against the suspects, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service was destroying taped telephone calls between the same people the RCMP was investigating.

For years those at the centre of the terrorist plot tried to protect their dark secret. Two Sikh newspaper publishers who overheard an alleged confession by one of the bombers were assassinated. Other potential witnesses were threatened and intimidated. Journalists who wrote about the suspects were targeted by death threats and harassment. The suspects founded charities and participated in political parties, attending fundraising dinners for premiers and prime ministers. And the families of the victims fought to be recognized for their unimaginable loss as the result of an act of terrorism plotted in Canada. When charges were finally laid against three Sikh separatists, the families believed justice was almost theirs. But their faith was shaken when one suspect pleaded guilty to manslaughter and got a five-year sentence for more than three hundred deaths.

The Air-India trial judge spoke in his ruling of the "the senseless horror" of the bombings. He called the plot "a diabolical act of terrorism" with "roots in fanaticism at its basest and most inhumane level." He then acquitted Sikh leaders Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri on all charges, leaving the victims' families reeling and the biggest case in Canadian history officially unsolved.

Kim Bolan is an award-winning investigative reporter who has covered the Air-India bombing case since the day Flight 182 went down off the coast of Ireland. Her work on the Air-India story has taken her to Punjab five times over the last twenty years where she met with militant Sikh separatist leaders and victims of the violence. She also followed Air-India mastermind Talwinder Singh Parmar to Pakistan before his 1992 slaying and chased down other suspects in England and across Canada. But she faced the most danger at home in Vancouver where the stories she uncovered about the Air-India case led to a series of death threats against her."

Please join Hal Wake and Kim Bolan for a discussion of Loss of Faith at UBC Robson Square . Attendance is free of charge, but please pre-register at info.talkofthetown@ubc.ca or phone 604-822-5675.

Biography

Kim Bolan has been a reporter at The Vancouver Sun since 1984, covering minority, women's, education, and social services issues. She is also a regular contributor to CBC-Radio. She has won and been shortlisted for over fifteen major national and international journalism awards, including the Courage in Journalism Award in 1999 for her continuing coverage of the Air-India story while under death threats. Bolan lives in Vancouver with her two sons.

Links & Readings

Links

Air India Flight 182

Wikipedia, the free on-line encyclopedia has an entry on the Air India bombing that includes a timeline, a history of the legal proceedings and links to other sites.

Air India Backgrounder

The Globe and Mail newspaper has collected a number of stories on the bombing and the aftermath.

On Trial

The Law Courts Education Society of B.C. focuses on the legal proceedings in the Air India trial, including the reasons for acquittal in March of 2005.

Death of Flight 182

Canadian journalist Salim Jiwa maintains a site that includes chapters from his book on the disaster.

Readings

Soft Target, How the Indian Intelligence Service Penetrated Canada, Zuhair Kashmeri, Lorimer, 2005

Unholy Terror: The Sikhs and International Terrorism, Ian Mulgrew, Key Porter, 1988

The Sorrow and the Terror, The Haunting Legacy of the Air India Tragedy , Clark Blaise & Bharati Mukherjee, Viking, 1987