The Indian Consulate in Vancouver reminded people of the cowardly terrorist bombing of Air India flight 182 (Kanishka) by Sikh extremists on June 23, 1985, in which 329 people were killed, even as the Canadian parliament observed a minute’s silence over the killing of Khalistani extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar a year ago.
The Indian Consulate General’s post on X came even as pro-Khalistani Sikhs marked the anniversary of the killing of Nijjar in British Columbia by holding a mock murder trial for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday outside the Indian consulate in Vancouver.
“On a block of Howe Street cordoned off by police, the mock trial included a jury made up of actors and a judge in a curly white wig, who invited the "prosecutor" to present evidence of Modi's involvement in the killing in Surrey, B.C., last year,” the cbc reported.
An effigy of PM Modi, dressed in prison stripes, was paraded down the street in a makeshift cage before the mock trial began on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, in a post, the Indian consulate in Vancouver said:
“India stands at the forefront of countering the menace of terrorism and works closely with all nations to tackle this global threat. (1/3
“23 June 2024 marks the 39th Anniversary of the cowardly terrorist bombing of Air India flight 182 (Kanishka), in which 329 innocent victims, including 86 children, lost their lives in one of the most heinous terror-related air disasters in the history of civil aviation. (2/3)
“A Memorial Service is scheduled at 1830 hrs on June 23, 2024 at the Air India Memorial at Stanley Park's Ceperley Playground area. @cgivancouver encourages members of the Indian Diaspora to join the event in a show of solidarity against terrorism.”
The post came even as the Canadian parliament observed a one-minute silence in memory of Nijjar, a prominent Khalistani separatist, who was gunned down outside a gurudwara in Surrey, British Columbia, a year ago.
Ties between India and Canada have nosedived following Canada’s active backing of Khalistani elements.
The Canadian PM Justin Trudeau had sparked a controversy in September last year when he told the Canadian parliament that security agencies had been actively pursuing “credible allegations of a potential link" between agents of the Government of India and the killing of Nijjar.
India has rejected the claims and called the allegations as "absurd and motivated."
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that Canada has been welcoming a number of gangland people with organised crime links from Punjab and ignoring Indian warnings against giving them visa, and therefore killings like that of separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar is an issue that Ottawa has to worry about.
He said that these separatist elements “have tried to create space for themselves in the politics of these countries”.
“…our biggest problem right now is in Canada. Because in Canada, actually, the party in power in Canada, other parties in Canada, have given these kinds of extremism, separatism and advocates of violence a certain legitimacy, in the name of free speech.”
Four Indian nationals have been arrested by Ottawa and charged with murder in the case of the killing of Nijjar
