IN an apparent bid to limit civil damages, Canada had concealed a key report from the Indian government on the 1985 Kanishka bombing, which suggested that the plot was “planned and orchestrated” entirely in the country, official documents showed.

The documents, produced by the Federal Department of Justice for the Kanishka bombing inquiry, suggests that the former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney’s office, in 1985 and 1986, tried to conceal a report from the Indian government about the fact that the bombing was plotted entirely in Canada to avoid civil damages. The report included conclusion of Candian Mounted Police (RCMP) in the Kanishka case, which suggested that the bombing was planned and orchestrated entirely in Canada. The Aviation Safety Board’s (ASB) report prepared for India’s Kirpal Commission, which was investigating the bombing, also reflected the conclusion of the probe.

But the ministerial briefing notes, The notes called the ASB report “potentially damaging” and suggested that it should therefore not be given to the Indian government.

The notes released on Friday showed that Brian Mulroney’s senior adviser Fred Doucet, thought that report didn’t show Canada in the “best light.” All 329 people on board Air India Flight 182 died when the plane crashed near Ireland on June 23, 1985. At that time one of the memos reads: the safety board may have perceived “itself as being in a position of possible conflict,” because its interests in aviation safety and determining the cause of the accident were “possibly at odds” with the government’s interest in portraying Canada in the best light possible.

After the new revelations, lawyers for the victims’ families have accused the Mulroney government of covering up information.

In a submission titled ‘Cover-up to diminish compensation,’ the Victims’ Families Association said the document showed that the Prime Minister’s Office was involved in keeping a key Canadian Aviation Safety Board report out of the hands of an inquiry in India conducted by Justice B.N. Kirpal.

BACK

How progressive is the NDP?

Gurpreet Singh

THE New Democrats are often considered as a progressive alternative to the Liberals and the Conservatives in Canadian politics. That’s the reason why die hard leftists with a limited choice in the political spectrum of British Columbia would vote for the NDP in the May 12 assembly election.

However, as the election date nears, leftists within the South Asian community and the mainstream must look into the range of issues that need to be seriously addressed by the NDP. Human rights and freedoms is one of the areas in which the NDP needs to prove its strength, despite its claims of being socially progressive.

NDP leader Carole James has already come under sharp attack for her position on Zionism. The anti-war groups have criticized her for labeling anti-Zionism as “anti-Semitism.” One interpretation of her statement is that she has essentially accused human rights groups who oppose Zionism of being racists.

The offended anti-war groups are asking her to apologize and have warned her not to take the support of the working class and their lobby for granted.

Similar feelings persist among progressive political activists within the South Asian community over the NDP’s position on several controversial matters. Since the NDP has a big following in the Indo-Canadian community, the party takes the support of progressive Indo Canadians for granted.

This is the reason why the NDP candidates, or the incumbent MLAs seeking reelection, don’t hesitate in going for support to Sikh separatists seeking an independent Khalistan, an imaginary theocratic homeland in India. This is because the Sikh separatist groups, who have their own temples with big congregations, can deliver votes.

But what about the progressives and the moderate Sikhs who don’t support an independent, theocratic state of Khalistan and all it implies for India?

Interestingly, two Punjabi NDP MLAs who had attended a function in memory of Darshan Singh Canadian, a communist leader who was assassinated by the pro-Khalistan extremists in India, have repeatedly attended events organized by the pro-Khalistan management of the Dashmesh Durbar Sikh temple in Surrey.

I remember how concerned Carole James was when the Federal NDP had decided to join hands with the Bloc Quebecois’ to form an alternative government in Ottawa. She had termed BQ as separatists during a South Asian media conference. So are the separatists of an other country not
a problem?

The NDP must consider the concerns of the wider South Asian community in its bid for votes at the ballot box.

BACK

 
Liberals win in British Columbia elections

FORMER West Vancouver police chief turned Liberal Kash Heed is among is among six Liberals elected in 11 Vancouver ridings. Five New Democrats won the rest.

Heed defeated New Democrat Gabriel Yiu by more than 800 votes in the riding of Vancouver-Fraserview. The riding had been held by Attorney-General Wally Oppal, who left to run in Delta, where he resides.

Heed is touted by some to be the next solicitor-general and has been a long-time advocate of a regional police force, even though other senior Liberal cabinet ministers have said they support the RCMP continuing to operate in many municipalities. The riding has been held by the Liberals since Gordon Campbell was first elected premier in 2001.

In Vancouver-Fairview, Liberal Margaret MacDiarmid wrested control of the riding from NDP incumbent Jenn McGinn by about 1,000 votes. MacDiarmid, the former president of the B.C. Medical Association, took control of several former NDP strongholds in the riding, which surrounds Vancouver General Hospital.

The battle between McGinn, an accounts manager, and MacDiarmid was predicted to be tight, following on the heels of a byelection last fall in which the two women vied for the seat left vacant by former NDP MLA Gregor Robertson. McGinn won that race by some 800 votes, but voter turnout was just 22 per cent. Housing affordability — rising rents and evictions — was a key issue in the riding.

The Vancouver-Fairview riding was won in 2005 by Robertson, now Vancouver’s mayor, but was held in the past by Liberal Gary Collins and Socred Grace McCarthy.

In Vancouver-West End — one of two ridings created by the split of the former Vancouver-Burrard — NDP incumbent Spencer Herbert, 27, handily beat Liberal Laura McDiarmid to keep the seat he won in last fall’s byelection, when Liberal Lorne Mayencourt vacated the seat to run unsuccessfully in the federal election.

In the other new riding, where there were no incumbents, Vancouver-False Creek, Liberal Mary McNeil beat the NDP’s Jordan Partente by more than 2,500 votes. In Vancouver-Langara Liberal Moira Stilwell won over NDP candidate Helesia Luke by more than 4,000 votes. NDP Mable Elmore beat Liberal Syrus Lee for the seat in Vancouver-Kensington.

NDP incumbents Adrian Dix, Shane Simpson and Jenny Kwan kept their strongholds in Vancouver-Kingsway, Vancouver-Hastings and Vancouver-Mt. Pleasant.

In Vancouver-Quilchena, Liberal incumbent Colin Hansen also retained his seat, while Liberal leader Gordon Campbell handily beat NDP Mel Lehan in Vancouver-Pt. Grey.

BACK

 
Seven Indian candidates in British Columbia parliament

SEVEN Indian Canadians were elected to the 79-member assembly in Canada's British Columbia province Wednesday. The outgoing assembly had the same number of Indian-origin legislators and most of them retained their seats. Among those who were elected was Wally Oppal, provincial attorney-general and virtually number two in the cabinet.

A former British Columbia Supreme Court judge, Oppal plunged into politics in 2005 and got elected on the ruling Liberal Party ticket from the Vancouver-Fraserview constituency.

Oppal, who was born here in the 1940s, this time contested from his home constituency of Delta-South to beat fellow Indian Canadian Dileep Athaide of the New Democratic Party (NDP). Oppal is set to retain his top slot in the new cabinet under Premier Gordon Campbell. The constituency vacated by Oppal this time was captured by fellow Indian Canadian and super cop Kash (Kashmir) Heed on the ticket of the Liberal Party. Heed, who quit his high-profile job as the chief of West Vancouver Police to plunge into politics, is tipped to become the next solicitor general of British Columbia.

The third high-profile Indian Canadian to win was former transportation minister Harry Lali who romped home in the Fraser-Nicola constituency. Two other prominent Indian Canadians who retained their seats were Raj Chouhan of the opposition NDP and Dave Hayer of the ruling Liberal Party. Former Indian basketball player and NDP candidate Jagrup Brar also got elected for the third time from the new constituency of Surrey-Fleetwood, beating Jagmohan Singh of the Liberal Party.

Seventy-one-year-old John Nuraney of the ruling party also returned as an MLA from Burnaby Deer-Lake as did Harry Bains of the opposition NDP from the Surrey-Newton constituency.

Punjab-born Chouhan came to Vancouver in 1973 and became famous by organising farm workers. He is the founding president of the Canadian Farmworkers' Union. Dave Hayer is the son of the slain Punjabi editor Tara Singh Hayer, who founded the Indo-Canadian Times. Tara Singh was killed allegedly by Babbar Khalsa to stop him from testifying in the Air India Kanishka bombing that killed 329 people.

There were as many as 16 Indian-origin candidates in the fray for the 79-member assembly elections. While the ruling Liberal Party had fielded seven, the opposition NDP put up nine Indian Canadian candidates. Indian Canadians constitute more than five percent of the population of British Columbia of 4.4 million, and Punjabi is the third largest spoken language in the province.

BACK

 
American war mongering and countless deaths in Iraq

AMERICAN president Barak Hussein Obama is said to be keen to withdraw from the war torn country called Iraq. In the last six years, America and its allies have brought ruin and destroyed the social political and cultural fabric of once a secular republic. It was all on false pretext. It now occupies that country and exploits its oil wealth. Even the pretends stand exposed by the Americans themselves. Be it weapons of mass destruction or active involvement with al Qaeda. The American had lead to over six lakh deaths of children, women and men. Over 15 lakh people have fled to neighbouring Syria and Jordan etc. Combatant deaths too are horrendous.

If violence in Iraq has declined from the catastrophic levels seen from 2005 to 2007, rebels’ attacks have continued to be a daily fact of life. In the past several months, the frequency of suicide bombings has risen to a level unseen in over a year. Just over 400 Iraqi civilians were killed in March, up from 346 in February, and 296 in January. On April 24, two suicide bombers killed at least 75 people outside a Shiite shrine in northern Baghdad. This past Wednesday, five car bombs and a roadside bomb exploded in Baghdad, killing at least 48 people. This is perhaps the only form revenge to the people who wish death of American imperialism.

The attacks are exacerbating sectarian tension, and, could prompt militiamen loyal to anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to take up arms to defend their neighborhoods, which many have been eager to do since he imposed a cease-fire in the fall of 2007.

American puppet, the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has blamed Sunni insurgents and members of the Baath Party for the recent attacks.

According to his withdrawal timeline announced in February, President Obama planned for U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraqi cities by June 30 of this year. The New York Times reported that, because of continuing violence, the U.S. and Iraq "will begin negotiating possible exceptions to the June 30 deadline for withdrawing American combat troops from Iraqi cities, focusing on the troubled northern city of Mosul, according to military officials. Some parts of Baghdad also will still have combat troops." Representatives of the Kurdistan Regional Government, who have complained about what they see as strong-arm tactics by the central government in Baghdad, have requested the U.S. "to retain up to 50,000 troops in the autonomous Kurdish area." Asked at Wednesday's press conference whether the steadily rising violence in Iraq would affect the withdrawal timetable he announced in February, President Obama responded that "part of the reason why I called for a gradual withdrawal as opposed to a precipitous one was precisely because more work needs to be done on the political side to further isolate whatever remnants of al Qaeda in Iraq still exist." An administration official later told McClatchy, however, that "we are not even talking about" changing the withdrawal plan. "The situation would have to get a lot worse for that to change."

Maliki has still not achieved any success in establishing himself as a strong leader and consolidating the central government's power. He can not do soas puppets can not do.
Recently, according to American Pogress, a thing tank in Washington Iraqi security forces announced the capture of "a leader of the Sunni insurgency who had been in league with members of Saddam Hussein's ousted Baath Party." This came on the heels of a number of clashes between government troops and members of the Sunni Awakening groups -- former insurgent elements who allied with U.S. forces against Al Qaeda and have received a large share of credit for the improved security in Iraq. Government forces have also been arresting many Awakening leaders on charges of continuing involvement in terrorism and crime. Members of the movement complain that they have not been given promised jobs, and are being abandoned by their U.S. allies to the mercy of Shia-controlled government that has little interest in genuine reconciliation. Noting that a political settlement has not followed the drop in violence, journalist Nir Rosen writes that "the tepid response to the arrest of...Awakening men suggests that a political reconciliation may not have been necessary. The burgeoning Iraqi state, embodied by Maliki himself, can simply continue to expand its power and crush any rivals."

Mr. Obama listed some of the key challenges that remain in Iraq, such as "making sure that how they divvy up oil revenues is ultimately settled; what the provincial powers are and boundaries; the relationship between the Kurds and the central government; the relationship between the Shia and the Kurds; are they incorporating effectively Sunnis, Sons of Iraq into the structure of the armed forces in a way that's equitable and just. Those are all issues that have not been settled the way they need to be settled." The president insisted that "we've provided sufficient time for them to get that work done," but that "we've got to keep the pressure up, not just on the military side, but on the diplomatic and development sides, as well."

The game goes on in a different manner. The content remains the same.

BACK