Punjabi group withholding information on Air India blasts, RCMP say

Vancouver: A Punjabi group who said it has identified those who participated in the Vancouver-based plot in 1985 to bomb Air India flights has not shared its information with the RCMP, a spokesman for the Mounties says.
RCMP officers were in India last month to interview several people and pursue leads in the continuing investigation into the unprecedented disaster, the deadliest terrorist bombings in aviation history except for the Sept. 11, 2001, attack.
But the Mounties did not meet with members of the Punjab Human Rights Commission who had prepared a new report on the Air India disaster.
The PHRC says they have spoken to some people who took responsibility for the disaster and said the crash was a victory for Sikhs in India, leading to an accord with the Indian government in July, 1985, one month after the explosions. A partial list of names of participants in the plot released by the group included some who have not been previously linked to the bombings.
The PHRC members refused to talk with the RCMP as long as officers from India's Central Bureau of Investigation were in the room, RCMP Sergeant Tim Shields said in an e-mail to The Globe and Mail
RCMP investigators had sought permission from the government of India to meet with PHRC members, following the protocol that restricts the activities of a government police agency in a foreign country, Sgt. Shields said.
The Indian government permitted the Canadians to speak with the PHRC so long as Indian investigators were present for the interviews. PHRC members refused to meet under those terms, Sgt. Shields said.
The RCMP cannot operate unilaterally in a foreign country, Mr. Shields said. "The RCMP are in essence agents of a foreign government when working in India. The RCMP does not have legislated police authority or police powers when working in a foreign country," he said.
"When the RCMP is granted entry to India, it is done so with limited diplomatic status and the RCMP are bound to adhere to the preconditions in how they operate when in India. The RCMP would have violated international law and conventions by agreeing to meet the [PHRC members] without representatives of [India's] Central Bureau of Investigations being present."
In a letter to victims' families sent last week, PHRC chairman Ajit Singh Bains stated the group was aware of more than 12 people who were involved in the plot and more than 50 with knowledge of the blasts.
08/12/08 Robert Matas/Globe and Mail, Canada

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Categories: Air India - International Dec 2008, Foreign Dec 2008, NACIL Dec 2008, Safety Dec 2008