THE SIKH TIMES
sikhtimes.com

Noteworthy News and Analysis from Around the World

In-Depth Coverage of Issues Concerning the Global Sikh Community Including Self-Determination, Democracy, Human Rights, Civil Liberties, Antiracism, Religion, and South Asian Geopolitics

Home | News Analysis Archive | Biographies | Book Reviews | Events | Photos | Links | About Us | Contact Us

Guilty Until Proven Innocent?

By PUNEET SINGH LAMBA
Letter to the editor.

National Post, Chelmsford, Massachusetts, Feb. 12, 2003



"Re: Sikh Separatism that Generated Air Disaster Now a Moribund Cause, Feb. 11 [By CHRIS WATTIE]."
---
"It is important to note that claims such as 'Sikh extremists blew up Air-India Flight 182 in 1985' [are] merely echoing popular conjecture."
---
"On Monday, Inderjit Singh Reyat pleaded guilty to manslaughter for supplying materials for the construction of a bomb not intended to kill anyone. Tragically, however, the bomb ended up on Air-India Flight 182."
---
"Most importantly, the largest and most expensive trial in Canadian history has so far been unable to identify the perpetrators of the more serious crimes - the actual construction and placement of the bomb on the ill-fated flight."
---
"In fact, the marathon case around the largest mass murder in Canadian history has been fraught with dubious inconsistencies. Quite incomprehensibly, for example, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service [C.S.I.S.] erased scores of surveillance tapes, thereby withholding potentially crucial evidence from the R.C.M.P."
---
"As tempting as it might be, it is premature to make blanket statements that pin the blame squarely on 'Sikh extremists' until this case is finally resolved."
---