New Delhi should have warned Justin Trudeau about the perils of playing to extremists

To understand the dynamic of the Indo-Canadian relationship, one has to remember events of June 23, 1985. That was the day that Khalistani sympathisers placed a bomb on board Air India flight 182 operated by the Boeing 747 named ‘Kanishka’, which was blown to smithereens at altitude off the Irish Atlantic coast and 329 people died, 268 of those were Canadian citizens, mainly of Indian-origin and many of them Sikhs. It was only luck, thanks to a flight delay that prevented a second bomb from going off onboard another flight, even though the explosion at Tokyo’s Narita airport killed a baggage handler. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police completely bungled up the probe and the perpetrators for the large part got off. While many young Indians do not remember this time, it was one of immense turmoil in this country as General Zia ul-Haq of Pakistan funneled money and weapons across the border. Terror attacks and murders were par for the course even in Chandigarh and New Delhi. All this in the aftermath of the devastating Operation Blue Star and Indira Gandhi’s assassination. It is a time period that traumatised this nation and drove a deep wedge within the Sikh community and should be a warning to politicians who fraternise with extremist terrorist elements today.

Into this comes Justin Trudeau, Canada’s popular Prime Minister, who is extremely media savvy and says all the right things. Canada, which was a major destination for many in the Sikh community from the 1970’s onwards, is where the moribund Khalistani movement has been kept alive by extremists, many of whom are trying to funnel money and resources to restart terrorism. While the Sikh community comprises only two per cent of Canada’s population, it has an outsize influence in many electoral constituencies, particularly around major population centres in Ontario. And because minority voters, particularly disadvantaged minority voters vote in a block, every political front in Canada has started pandering to them even though the Sikh community in Canada eulogises the bombers of the Kanishka and the assassins of Indira Gandhi and that list includes Justin Trudeau whose vacillating statements on the issue have led to a diplomatic impasse. It is not just the Government but even members of Delhi’s elite who refused to attend a reception for Trudeau and it is noteworthy that the Government of India is not hosting a formal reception at Hyderabad House. However, it might have been better to engage with Trudeau and explain to him the dangers of such political pandering and maybe, just maybe, Captain Amrinder Singh might just do that. And instead of photobombing pictures of millennials, Trudeau might finally do justice those who died onboard Kanishka, even though that is unlikely.

Courtesy: Pioneer: Wednesday, 21 February 2018