Last week an article appeared in the magazine Tehelka, written by Vikram Jit Singh, referring to a secret recording of the interrogation of Shaheed Bhai Talwinder Singh Parmar between 9 -14 October 1992. The recording was supposedly made by retired Punjab Police DSP Harmail Singh Chandi, who has for some strange reason decided 15 years later to now make known the contents of his secret recordings that senior police officers had asked to be destroyed.
It has been reported that Sarbjit Singh Verka and Rajvinder Singh Bains of the Punjab Human Rights Organisation (PHRO) flew to Canada along with Harmail in June in an attempt to produce their findings before the John Major Commission of Inquiry that is investigating the June 1985 blast. However, the Globe and Mail, a national newspaper in Canada, has reported that a spokesman for the families of the victims of the attack said that they knew nothing about any statement by Talwinder Singh Parmar.
Chandi claims Talwinder Singh told him under interrogation and before he was killed in an ‘encounter’ on 15 October 1992 that he was acting on behalf of Lakhbir Singh Brar who had supposedly arranged for the booking of the tickets from Vancouver to Tokyo. However, why should Bhai Lakhbir Singh’s name emerge now, 22 years later, when it has not been linked to the Air India disaster previously? Were the Canadian police and intelligence waiting for an Indian police officer to reveal who booked tickets on the Tokyo flight as they could not work this out for themselves? Have over 22 years of police investigations that cost well over 100 million dollars not yet been able to establish who booked tickets for one of the flights?
Perhaps the timing and allegations that Bhai Lakhbir Singh is an Indian agent by PHRO, based on a so-called revelation by an Indian police officer responsible for torturing and killing the likes of Shaheed Bhai Talwinder Singh has more to do with Panjab politics. Badal is desperately attempting to discredit those that oppose him, including the family of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and deflect attention away from those raising concerns about Badal’s support for the Sirsa Dera chief. Why is the PHRO, supposedly a human rights organisation, convinced by ‘evidence’ produced from a police interrogation just before Talwinder Singh was killed in police custody?
Readers should be aware it is the same PHRO ‘investigating’ team that earlier this year supposedly obtained recordings of calls tapped by the Indian intelligence agencies – something that is obviously easy to do if you have contacts with Badal. PHRO used these to try to implicate Bhai Jasbir Singh, another of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale’s nephews, for trying to get Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Badal killed just before the state elections. It is no coincidence that Bhai Daljit Singh Bittu of the Khalsa Action Committee (KAC) was recently arrested on the orders of Badal and now Bhai Jasbir Singh another key figure in the KAC is being targeted again, by this smear campaign on his family.
In an email exchange Kim Bolan, the notorious journalist for the Vancouver Sun, has said Talwinder Singh ‘was brutally tortured so what he said does not count in a court of law – people say anything while they are being tortured.’ The PHRO should know that the police in India are infamous for forcing those they are torturing to make false confessions and are made to give names of Sikh activists so this information can be used against them as required at a later stage. The PHRO should therefore not be foolish enough to make wild accusations against the family of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale obtained from confessional statements after torture by the Indian police.
The important point is if Talwinder Singh, a Canadian national, was arrested, interrogated and tortured for five or six days and then killed in a staged encounter, the Punjab police and Indian Government must be bought to account. Harmail Singh Chandi says he first approached the Canadian police’s Air India Task Force in 2002 and information he provided came out during pre-trial arguments in the trial of Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri.
Bhagat Singh, Bhai Lakhbir Singh’s son speaking to Awaze Qaum from Toronto said: ‘The accusations made in Tehelka are ridiculous. My father only moved to Canada in April 1985 and he had nothing whatsoever to do with the Air India disaster that would have taken many months to plan. Indian police officers that admit to torturing and killing Sikhs in custody to obtain confessions should never be trusted.’
‘These media reports are merely designed to deflect attention away from getting to the bottom of who was really responsible for taking the lives of 329 innocent people 22 years ago. The only truth in the article is the travesty of justice that is preventing my father living a normal life with his family in Canada as he has a Red Corner Interpol notice for an FIR lodged on April 19, 1984, at the Moga police station. This accuses my father of several minor crimes, including trespass and causing damage in excess of Rs.50 to property. This was first revealed in the Frontline magazine in January 2002, which according to the Indian Government made my father one of the most wanted.’
Awaze Qaum approached the Sikh Federation (UK), the leading political Sikh organisation in the UK for its comments. A spokesman said: ‘To our knowledge Bhai Lakhbir Singh has never figured in the 22-year long investigation and this appears to be a complete fabrication. The so-called statement by Shaheed Bhai Talwinder Singh produced in the Tehelka magazine contains many inaccuracies. For example, to describe the Convenor of an international organisation as a ‘functionary’ or to say there is a ‘jungle’ in British Columbia appear to be the work of an Indian with a poor grasp of the English language.’
‘It has been reported that Chandi may have approached the judicial inquiry headed by John Major, but refused to testify once he arrived in Ottawa in June claiming his life was in threat. The truth is if he gave evidence and admitted to torturing a Canadian national he can and should be arrested, charged and sent to prison in Canada. Article 5.2 of the UN Convention against Torture requires the Canadian State to prosecute in cases where a person commits acts of torture if the alleged offender is present in Canada. In this case not only was the offence against a Canadian national, but Chandi has admitted torture and killing Talwinder Singh in custody. He is a known offender through his own admission. The Federation has urged leading Sikh organisations and lawyers in Canada to take this forward so Indian police officers like Chandi can see how Sikhs outside India will get justice.’
The last time Awaze Qaum approached Justice Ajit Singh Bains, the Chair of the PHRO, he denied it had made allegations against Bhai Jasbir Singh and claimed the statements issued on behalf of PHRO were untrue. The Globe and Mail has reported that Air India inquiry spokesman Michael Tansey commented ‘We're aware of this article [in Tehelka], and we will explore this and any other allegations when the hearings resume in the fall.’
The story in Tehelka merely reinforces the proposition first publicly suggested by authors Zuhair Kashmeri and Brian McAndrew, two Canadian journalists, in their book entitled "Soft Target". Namely, the Air India disaster was the work of the Indian Government to discredit the Sikhs. The Commission will determine for itself if this matter is important to the Inquiry.
If Sikhs believe the Indian Government was behind the Air India disaster and this was a conspiracy to discredit the Sikh independence movement they should guard against believing the Indian police. The PHRO are confusing matters by jumping to the wrong conclusions and in the process helping the Indian Government by deflecting attention away from their actions by trying to cause trouble in Sikh circles.
