Thaindian News

Chandigarh, May 10 (IANS) Former Canadian Supreme Court judge John C. Major, who headed the commission that probed the 1985 bombing of the Air India aircraft Kanishka, Tuesday expressed dissatisfaction over the justice given to the victims’ families.

In the worst terrorist attack in Canadian history, an Air India flight 182 from Canada to Delhi was bombed near the Irish coast June 23, 1985, killing all 329 people on board, including 280 Canadians and 22 Indians.

“There would be never complete satisfaction for the victim’s families. It took 10 years for the initial compensation and they are still to take a decision on further compensation recommended by the commission (which inquired into the bombing),” Major told reporters here Tuesday.

“Compensation was also inadequate. There has been no justice for the victims of Kanishka. Justice has been hampered by the fact that it took more than 20 years to set up a commission,” he said.

Major said that successive governments were also supportive towards people holding an anti-India sentiment.

Major is on a special trip to India to meet the families of the Kanishka victims. He will also travel to Delhi and Mumbai.

The aircrraft was on a Montreal-London-Delhi-Bombay route when it was bombed at an altitude of 31,000 feet. The Boeing 747 airliner crashed into the Atlantic Ocean.

Major also said that certain Sikh terror groups were still active in Surrey Canada’s British Columbia.

“Sikh terrorists are active, particularly in the Surrey area. They have good support there. They can also target India,” he pointed out.