India is leading the fight against terrorism and collaborates with other nations to address this global issue, according to India’s Consulate in Vancouver. This reminder comes as the world remembers the Kanishka bombing, one of the deadliest terror-related air disasters in civil aviation history.
On June 23, 1985, the Air India ‘Kanishka’ Flight 182 from Montreal to New Delhi exploded 45 minutes before its scheduled landing at London’s Heathrow Airport. All 329 people on board, most of them Canadians of Indian descent, died in the attack. Sikh militants, retaliating against former prime minister Indira Gandhi’s ‘Operation Bluestar’ in 1984, were blamed for the bombing.
To mark the anniversary, the Consulate General of India has planned a memorial service.
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. (3/3) @HCI_Ottawa pic.twitter.com/oQrr7ggomA
— India in Vancouver (@cgivancouver) June 18, 2024
The memorial will take place at the Air India Memorial at Stanley Park’s Ceperley Playground area in Vancouver. The Consulate urged the Indian diaspora to attend the event to show solidarity against terrorism.
This memorial service comes amid strained relations between India and Canada over the issue of Khalistan activists. In September last year, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau alleged the ‘potential’ involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a designated Sikh separatist. India dismissed Trudeau’s allegations as ‘absurd and motivated.’
Canada’s Parliament marked the one-year anniversary of the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar by holding a moment of silence in the House of Commons on Tuesday
(Video Source – Canadian Parliament Official Website) pic.twitter.com/SGkovpiWXc
— IANS (@ians_india) June 19, 2024
Meanwhile, Canada’s Parliament observed the first anniversary of Nijjar’s death with a moment of silence in the House of Commons on Tuesday (18). Nijjar was shot dead outside a gurudwara in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18 last year. Canadian police have arrested four Indian nationals in connection with the murder.
