Terming the frequent acts glorifying terrorism in Canada as “deplorable”, India has said it was “unfortunate” that such actions are allowed to be “routine” on many occasions here when it should be condemned by all peace-loving countries and people.
In a statement on the 39th anniversary of the 1985 Kanishka bombing, in which 329 persons, most of them Canadians of Indian descent, on board an Air India flight lost their lives, the Indian High Commission said that terrorism knows “no borders, nationality, or race”.
The Montreal-New Delhi Air India ‘Kanishka’ Flight 182 exploded 45 minutes before it was to have landed at London’s Heathrow Airport on June 23, 1985, killing all 329 people on board, including 86 children.
The bombing was blamed on Canadian Sikh terrorists in retaliation to ‘Operation Bluestar’ to flush out separatists from the Golden Temple in 1984.
The Indian High Commission in Ottawa and the consulates of India in Toronto and Vancouver organised memorial services on Sunday and solemnly remembered the victims of the “dastardly act of terror” in 1985.
“While thirty-nine years have passed since the cowardly act, terrorism has unfortunately assumed proportions of an existential threat to international peace and security today,” the Indian high commission’s statement said.
“Any act of glorifying terrorism, including the bombing of Al-182 in 1985, is deplorable and should be condemned by all peace-loving countries and people,” it said.
“It is unfortunate that such actions are allowed to be routine on many occasions in Canada,” it added.
Last week, India strongly objected to the Canadian parliament observing a “one-minute silence” in memory of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was gunned down in British Columbia in June last year.
India also insisted on Friday that the Canadian authorities must take action against those advocating violence and carrying out an anti-India campaign in Canada.
India lodged a strong protest with Canada on Thursday over Khalistani extremists holding a so-called “citizens court” and burning an effigy of the Indian prime minister outside the Indian consulate in Vancouver.
Asserting that terrorism knows “no borders, nationality, or race” and it is a challenge that the international community needs to combat collectively, the Indian mission here said that over the years, India has led from the front to counter-terrorism with support from like-minded countries.
Terming the Kanishka bombing “the worst ever in Canadian aviation history to date”, the Indian mission said that the incident will remain an “unbearable loss” not only for the victims’ families but also for humanity as a whole.
“The perpetrators and the co-conspirators of this dastardly act remain free,” it said.
(By:PTI)
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