Breathtaking Display of Incompetence
What can you possibly think when it becomes clear through a public enquiry that the very institutes set up by your country to ensure safety and security of the population is so fundamentally flawed through sheer incompetence they might just as well not exist at all. Other than by the knowledge of their presence, present a facade of safety, comforting the populace in the thought of state security present and accounted for.Canada has suffered one colossal and horrific terrorist attack. It occurred in mid-air, in a passenger plane being blown to smithereens, with a total loss of life of all passengers aboard. These were all Canadian citizens, most of them of Indian extraction, flying back to India for a visit aboard an Air India jet. In the original plan, two planes were to have exploded; one of the planes ended up at Narita Airport in Tokyo, and two baggage handlers were killed when the explosive meant to blow up in flight did so, after landing.
During unrest in India between the government of Indira Gandhi and the Sikh population, Mrs. Gandhi, then India's prime minister, had given instructions for her troops to invade the Golden Temple at Amritsar, the holiest symbol in the Sikh religion. Although Sikhs later did get their revenge when one of her own bodyguards, a Sikh, assassinated her, radical Sikhs in Canada sought their own revenge - to send a message from Sikhs in Canada, to the government in India.
Moderate Sikhs in Canada were in constant opposition to the activities of the radicals, mostly located on the West Coast of Canada, and did their best to warn authorities of impending problems. For their troubles, moderate Sikhs who spoke out, who published newspapers condemning the activities of the radicals in bringing conflict to Canadian soil from India, were harassed, beaten, and occasionally murdered.
Ujjal Dossanjh, the former premier of British Columbia, former Liberal Cabinet Minister, now a Liberal MP, was one of those moderate Sikhs whose outspoken condemnation of the vicious rabble-rousing of the radicals earned him a severe beating and death threats. The threat of terrorism from within Canada was a reality before the potential of terrorist acts from other sources, most notably Islamists, ever came to official government notice, and eventually the public eye.
The thinking of those in the radical Sikh community was that since Air India is state controlled a murderous political statement could be made by planning to bomb their planes, thus informing Prime Minister Gandhi of the contempt in which she was held by the Sikh community. That the planes would be filled with passengers seemed not to bother the plotters at all, although they did take precautions to ascertain that no Sikhs were likely to be on board.
We learn now, through a public hearing, that in 1984 it was revealed to a petty criminal within the Sikh community that a bomb plot was being hatched. This man, Harmail Singh Grewal, wanted no part in the plot, but he was approached because of his underworld connections. In turn he contacted an old criminal acquaintance by the name of Gerry Boudreault, introduced him to the Sikh militants who felt that through him, they could acquire guns and explosives.
The militants were prepared to pay $200,000 to obtain bombs for their plot to bring down Air India planes. Mr. Boudreault continued to meet with the militants to amass as much information as he could, with the intention of passing it on to police. After each of these
meetings, the authorities were apprised. For his part, Mr. Grewal took the initiative of informing a Vancouver police officer of the plot in an attempt to prevent the tragedy.
That police officer, Rick Crook, now with the RCMP, prepared a report and delivered it on to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the RCMP. As a municipal police officer, this plot was well beyond the scope of his position. Eight months later Air India Flight 182 exploded. The Government of Canada and Canadians in general have agonized for over twenty years over that dreadful loss of life.
During the Air India trial of Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, both of whom were instigators of the plot and both of whom were responsible for the deaths of over three hundred innocent people on board Air India Flight 182, Mr. Boudreault who was in possession of damning evidence, who had been involved in meetings with both men and others involved in the conspiracy, was never asked to testify.
That trial ended in acquittals of both men. Despite evidence presented at the trial by other witnesses, none of whom were found to be sufficiently credible to convict the terrorists. Both acquitted men continue to live in freedom in Canada, celebrated members of their radical group of Sikhs within Canada.
The enormity of the incompetence of the Canadian safety and security agencies in Canada is beyond belief. The failure of the Canadian justice system to see justice done in this case is yet another tragedy.
Labels: Justice
posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, May 01, 2007
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