Ajaib Singh Bagri, 51, a woodworker in Kamloops, British Columbia, and Ripudamin Singh Malik, 53, a wealthy businessman in Vancouver, were arrested October 27. Both are prominent Sikh religious leaders. Malik is also the head of the 16,000-member Khalsa Credit Union, founder of two Khalsa schools (Sikh religious schools) and president of two charitable societies.

A third man, Hardial Singh Johal, was arrested October 29, but later released without any explanation. He is the former president of the Ross Street Sikh temple in Vancouver. He was described in the Vancouver Sun as "a prominent and outspoken Sikh separatist leader." The charges against the two arrested men are murder, conspiracy to cause murder, and conspiracy to cause a bomb to be placed on an aircraft.

The Air India plane exploded off the coast of northern Ireland, leaving 329 people dead. Most were immigrants from India resident in Canada en route to visit their country of origin.

While not a shred of evidence has been produced against those arrested, the capitalist media has been working overtime to convince working people that they are guilty of "mass murder" and "the world’s biggest act of aviation terrorism." Bagri was also charged with a 1988 attack on Sikh newspaper publisher Tara Singh Hayer.

Articles on the two of the accused men in the Vancouver Sun and the National Post were headlined "Ajaib Singh Bari: A disciple of alleged mastermind of bombing" and "Ripudamin Singh Malik: A key player in Sikh separatism."

A headline in the Vancouver Province declared that the "two charged...are fervent in their beliefs." The article highlighted the fact that Bagri has devoted his time in recent months to building a new Sikh temple in Kamloops and that Malik holds prayer sessions in his home and contributes 15 percent of his income to Sikh institutions. Press reports also emphasize that Malik has financed "militant Sikh separatist" groups fighting against the Indian government.

Canadian officials said the arrests came after a 15-year police "investigation" by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS). According to the press the "evidence" that will be presented in court is based largely on wiretaps, police informers, and reports from India’s political police.

Over the years the Indian government has waged brutal attacks on Sikhs in the state of Punjab, relying on anti-Sikh chauvinism to perpetuate divisions among working people along religious and national lines. Hundreds have been killed, and thousands tortured by the Indian police and army in the name of combating political forces advocating a separate Sikh state in Punjab.

One of those murdered by Indian police in 1992 was Talwinder Singh Parmar, supposedly the chief suspect in the Air India bombing. Charges laid against him for possession of explosives were dropped for lack of evidence. Other charges had to be dropped because the police had obtained the "evidence" illegally.

Charges against five Sikhs in Montreal for allegedly plotting to blow up another Air India plane were overturned or dropped because of lack of evidence.

In 1987, CSIS confirmed that tapes of wiretaps of suspects in the Air India crash had been erased. The tapes had been sought by the RCMP, a political police agency that is sometimes at odds with CSIS.

In 1991, Inderjit Singh Reyat was sentenced to 10 years for manslaughter, on charges of fabricating the explosive device that killed two baggage handlers at Narita airport in Tokyo. Police claim that explosion was linked to the Air India explosion, which took place shortly afterward. Reyat’s lawyer, Kuldip Chaggar, charged in 1997 that his client was denied bail to pressure him to testify in the Air India bombing. He still has not been released from prison.

RCMP officials have said they are stepping up their spying on Sikh "suspects." As a result of their 15-year witch-hunt, thousands of Sikhs have been spied on, wiretapped, and interrogated by the police. Sikhs as a group have been tarred with the brush of "Sikh terrorism," similar to the way the government and big-business media have smeared Arabs and Muslims as "terrorists."

In 1998, in the context of this anti-Sikh campaign, Nirmal Singh Gill, a Sikh caretaker at a temple in Surrey, near Vancouver, was beaten to death by five members of a group of racist skinheads. In response, 1,000 people marched in Surrey to protest the anti-immigrant attack.

Working people who are Sikh have become increasingly integrated into the workforce in British Columbia. Thousands have been involved in strikes by woodworkers, meat packers, poultry workers, hotel employees, and Vancouver city workers.

Steve Penner is a meat packer at Britco Export Packers in Langley, British Columbia.
 
 
Related article:
‘Oppose witch-hunt against Sikhs’  
 
 
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