Sikh Extremism Enters Mainstream Canadian Politics

These shaheeds, or martyrs, are said by their supporters to be heroes of the armed struggle by Sikh extremists to carve out an independent nation called Khalistan in the Indian state of Punjab. It was Khalistan separatists who blew up Air India Flight 182 on June 23, 1985. The bombing killed 329 passengers and crew, most of them Canadians. A second bomb killed two baggage handlers who were moving luggage to another Air India flight at Narita Airport in Tokyo. Bomb-maker Inderjit Singh Reyat of Duncan, B.C., was convicted in both bombings. But the bomb plot leader, Talwinder Singh Parmar, fled the country in 1988 and was killed by the Indian police in 1992. Martyr picture of Talwinder Singh Parmar, framed with gold tinsel, is displayed on a float at the Surrey Vaisakhi Parade, on April 7, 2007. (CBC) Talwinder Parmar was the founder of the Babbar Khalsa, which is officially listed as a terrorist organization in the European Union, Canada, India, and the United States. Canadian courts have established that that Parmar was the mastermind of the Air India bombing. That makes him the worst mass murderer in Canadian history. Even so, Parmar was portrayed as a shaheed on two of the parade floats in Surrey this year. Two leading Sikh politicians refused to attend the Surrey parade, saying it amounted to a glorification of terrorism. But many other politicians did attend — Conservative, Liberal and NDP. None of them condemned the Parmar pictures. This silence shocked the Indian government and moderate Sikhs across Canada. They raised questions such as: How does a separatist movement from halfway around the world still flourish in Canada, after taking hundreds of Canadian lives? How can a mass murderer be honoured as a hero, without political leaders making any complaint? http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/sikh-politics-canada/

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