Decades after Air India, victims’ families to finally get some answers

It has taken nearly 25 years, but the families of the victims of the Air India bombing are about to finally get some answers as to what happened, and why.
A federal commission of inquiry into the Air India massacre will release its final report in June, just in time for the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attack that killed 329 people.
A federal tender for printing the report was issued Thursday, indicating that it will be printed by June 4. Commission spokesman Michael Tansey confirmed the report will come out in June and that a specific date will be announced soon.
For many families, the wait has been agonizing and the report is long overdue. The bombing occurred on June 23, 1985, as Air India flight 182 was over the Atlantic Ocean en route from Montreal to London and New Delhi. Two others died in a related bombing at Tokyo’s Narita Airport.
Those responsible for the bombing have never been found. Inderjit Singh Reyat was the only person convicted in the case, after he admitted to supplying bomb parts. Two others, Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, were acquitted in 2005 on murder charges related to the bombing.
Families of the victims spent 21 years trying to convince the federal government to hold an inquiry into the attack. That finally happened in 2006 and the commission, headed by former Supreme Court justice John Major, spent nearly two years hearing from more than 200 witnesses and reviewing 17,000 classified documents.
The public hearings wrapped up in February, 2008. But other issues surfaced last year when more documents turned up raising questions about Transport Canada’s security measures at the time and suggesting the Canadian Security Intelligence Service was hindered in its efforts by a bureaucratic “quagmire.”
22/04/10 Paul Waldie/Globe and Mail

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Categories: Air India - International Apr 2010, Foreign Apr 2010, NACIL Apr 2010, Safety Apr 2010