PM pays homage to Kanishka bombing victims

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday visited the Air India Memorial in Toronto to pay respects to the 329 victims of the 1985 Kanishka bombing and assured their families that the "entire Indian nation shares your sense of loss and grief".

Dr Singh, who concluded his two-day tour to Canada to attend the G-20 Summit, met the families of the victims, hours after he underlined the need for 'full justice' to those affected by the tragedy, which was Canada's worst terrorist attack.

The prime minister told the families of the victims that the "entire Indian nation shares your sense of loss and grief".

He also met some members of the victims' families, including Dr Bap Gupta, Lata Pada, Deepak Khandelwal and others.

"He was so moved. He was with his wife and took time to talk to each one of us to comfort us," said Pada.

"He was so caring and so compassionate that we could see how moved he was. We told him how much their presence meant to all of us," she said.

Dr Bal Gupta, who lost his wife in the Air India tragedy, said the prime minister told them that "the best tribute we can pay to the dear ones whom we lost is by discouraging terrorism. Apart from sympathizing with the families, Dr Singh kept on repeating that he supported the efforts to minimise the presence of the supporters of terrorism in our society.'

This is the first time that an Indian prime minister has met the family members of the Air India crash victims. 

"Dr Singh has on many occasions pointed out the emergence of terrorism, particularly in Canada, and stressed that it should be controlled," said Gupta.

Khandelwal said, "I was pleased that the Indian prime minister and his wife took time to visit the memorial today in Toronto. I was also happy with Dr Singh's comments about his commitment to stand against terrorism globally."

Conservative Member of Parliament Deepak Obhrai, who's also parliamentary secretary to the minister for foreign affairs, accompanied Dr Singh during the visit. "I was with him as an official representative of the Canadian government and I also went to the airport to see him off," he said.

Speaking about Dr Singh's visit to the monument, Obhrai said, "It was a very touching and moving event." 

Obhrai added, "Former prime minister Brian Mulroney, when he called then Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi to convey condolences following the bombing of the flight, treated this as a non-Canadian tragedy. This set the official tone on this issue, which resulted in an unprofessional investigation and one that Indo-Canadians felt was based on a racist attitude".

"While Prime Minister Harper has just apologized, Mulroney should also apologize to the victims' families," Obhrai suggested.    

One family member suggested to Dr Singh that the Indian government should also build a memorial for the Air India victims as a number of them were from India.

Dr Singh said he will definitely consider the proposal.

Image: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur at the Air India memorial in Toronto | Photograph: Mike Cassese/Reuters