Atwal ‘ devastated’ by uproar over India invite
He approached Liberal MP to attend event
Sitting in his lawyer’s office in Vancouver Thursday, Jaspal Atwal renounced his Sikh extremist past and instead tried to cast himself as a reformed man who is trying to address the needs of the Indo- Canadian community by hobnobbing with politicians of all stripes.
Never, he insisted, did he expect that his recent appearance at a reception in Mumbai, India, where he was photographed next to Justin Trudeau’s wife, would cause such an uproar.
“I was completely shocked and devastated,” he said reading from a prepared statement.
“I am sorry for any embarrassment this matter has caused.”
After that photograph with Sophie Gregoire Trudeau was widely circulated, Atwal, who was convicted in the 1980s of attempting to assassinate a visiting Punjab cabinet minister in B.C., was promptly disinvited to a dinner at the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi featuring the prime minister — one episode in a gaffe- filled trip that raised questions about why Atwal’s name wasn’t flagged sooner.
Trudeau later told reporters that Atwal “never should have received an invitation” to attend the reception. And Randeep Sarai, Liberal MP for Surrey Centre, also acknowledged that he should’ve “exercised better judgment” when he initially passed along Atwal’s name for consideration to be on the guest list.
At one point, the scandal took a conspiratorial turn when a senior federal government source floated a theory to reporters that Indian government officials might’ve attempted to sabotage the trip by orchestrating Atwal’s appearance — claims that the Indian government flatly denied.
Asked about that theory on Thursday, Atwal’s lawyer, Rishi Gill, said his client was never approached by Indian officials to act as an agent and that the only interaction Atwal has had with Indian diplomats is to arrange interviews with them for a Surrey, B. C.- based internet radio station.
“If anybody has a specific accusation that they can point to, I’d like to hear it,” Gill said.
Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said in a Facebook post Thursday that the theory that Atwal was a plant has been thoroughly refuted and that “Justin Trudeau is failing to be honest with Canadians about the Atwal affair.”
Atwal, 62, who did not make any remarks beyond his prepared statement, told reporters that before he left for India earlier this winter, he reached out to Sarai “to see whether there was any possibility of attending the reception for the prime minister. ... I was eventually provided an invitation by the Canadian Ambassador.”
“( Atwal) reached out to Mr. Sarai very casually and said, ‘If there’s a possibility of me going I would like to go.’ That was the end of it,” Gill added. “It was no more controversial than that.”
Gill said his client was never approached by Canadian security officials for any sort of vetting prior to his arrival to the event.
Court records show that Atwal received a 20- year prison sentence in 1987 after a jury found him and three others guilty of the attempted murder of Malkiat Singh Sidhu, a Punjab cabinet minister. Sidhu and his wife were in B.C. to attend a relative’s wedding.
On May 25, 1986, Atwal and his cohorts had cut in front of a vehicle that Sidhu was travelling in and fired several shots. Sidhu was struck by two bullets.
“They tracked and ( stalked) Mr. Sidhu as a hunter would ( stalk) his quarry,” the judge said at their sentencing. “It was a cowardly and heinous attack on a man they did not personally know, not for personal gain, but as a result of some belief or impression that by so doing they were advancing a political cause deemed important to these four individuals.”
Atwal said Thursday, “like many other Sikhs, ( he) became caught up in a movement supporting an i ndependent Sikh nation.”
“While nothing can excuse my conduct, I can only say that during that time in the early 1980s, I reacted to the Indian Army storming the Golden Temple in Amritsar in a way that has caused much pain to many individuals.”
Atwal said he had “nothing but regret and remorse” for what the judge deemed to be an “act of terror.”
“I again renounce any form of terrorism. I do not advocate in any sense for an independent Sikh nation. I, like the vast majority of Sikhs who once advocated for this cause, have reconciled with the nation of India.”
Gill released a copy of Atwal’s 1993 parole report, which stated that he had shown “exemplary” behaviour and that Atwal acknowledged what he had done was “totally unacceptable” and constituted an act of “political terrorism.”
Gill also released copies of his client’s passport pages, which show that India had granted Atwal three travel visas in 2017 — lasting one month, three months and one year.
“The one country that was directly affected by the ( assassination attempt) that occurred was India. … India has let him back in the country to visit,” Gill said.
Gill characterized Atwal’s relationship with Trudeau as friendly and Atwal said he has interacted and been photographed with politicians from the NDP, Liberals and Conservatives as part of his efforts to connect those politicians with the Indo- Canadian community. Gill released images of three House of Commons passes Atwal received in 2013 and 2014.
Gill said his client recognizes how his appearance in India had caused “discomfort” but dismissed any suggestion that Atwal should hold back from engaging public officials.
“He’d like to stay involved with his community in politics as best he can.”