Air India Kanishka bombing convict Inderjit Reyat's release stuns victims' kin

Canada, Feb 04: Inderjit Singh Reyat, the only person convicted in the 1985 Air India bombings that killed 331 people, was released from a Canadian prison on January 27. He was in jail for over two decades on charges of making bombs that were stuffed into two suitcases and planted on planes leaving Vancouver. One bomb tore apart Air India Flight 182 as it neared the coast of Ireland, killing all 329 people aboard. The second bomb exploded at Japan's Narita airport, killing two baggage handlers as they transferred cargo to another Air India plane. The blasts were part of a conspiracy blamed on the banned Babbar Khalsa terrorist group seeking revenge for Operation Bluestar - the army action to flush out militants from the Golden Temple in Amritsar in 1984. Several pro-Khalistani groups, including the International Sikh Youth Federation and Babbar Khalsa International, are based in Canada. They continue to pursue their so-called “Sikh Agenda” clandestinely. Meanwhile, the Khalistan movement is practically dead in India.