Ex-Sikh terrorist gets photo with PM’s wife
VANCOUVER• A B.C. man convicted in a 1986 terrorist shooting posed with a Canadian cabinet minister and Sophie Grégoire Trudeau during the prime minister’s trip to India.
Jaspal Atwal, a one- time member of the now- banned International Sikh Youth Federation, had also been invited to a dinner with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the Canadian High Commission in Delhi on Thursday. Atwal told Postmedia that he does not plan to attend as he is in Mumbai on business.
Atwal said in text messages Wednesday he was in India for Media Waves, a Surrey online radio station. He referred Postmedia to the radio station, which did not return phone calls.
Atwal also suggested it was unfair to raise his criminal conviction for shooting a visiting Punjabi cabinet minister on Vancouver Island in 1986 given how long ago the crime occurred.
At the time of the 1986 shooting, Atwal was a Sikh separatist active in the proKhalistan International Sikh Youth Federation. He and three others were convicted in 1987 of trying to kill Malkiat Singh Sidhu near Gold River. The Punjab cabinet minister was visiting B.C. for his nephew’s wedding.
Sidhu was struck twice and survived, but was later assassinated in India. The trial judge called the attack “an act of terrorism” and sentenced Atwal and the others to 20 years. Atwal later admitted to the parole board that he was the shooter.
Some Indian officials, including Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, have been critical of the Canadian government for being soft on Khalistani supporters in Canada. Singh met Wednesday with Trudeau and Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan.
After the meeting, Trudeau expressed Canada’s support for a united India and Singh posted he “was happy to receive categorical assurance from (Trudeau) that his country does not support any separatist movement.”
Nobody from the Canadian government responded to requests for information Wednesday about how someone with Atwal’s criminal history could be cleared to attend official events in India.
Former Liberal cabinet minister and B.C. premier Ujjal Dosanjh said the government should have done its due diligence in looking into Atwal’s history.
Atwal was charged, but later acquitted, of the February 1985 attack by Sikh separatists that left Dosanjh severely injured.