Sikh community proud of attack: Ex-gunman
Surrey businessman’s mother contradicted son’s claims in 2010 civil case
Convicted B.C. gunman Jaspal Atwal claimed in 2010 that the Sikh community was proud of his 1986 assassination attempt on a visiting Punjabi cabinet minister and paid his legal bills as a result.
Atwal, who posed with the Canadian prime minister’s wife in India last week, made the comments during testimony in a civil case he filed contesting the will of his late father Gurdev. At the time, Atwal was refuting claims by his sister-in-law Sukhraj and mother Pritam that he was disinherited in part because he never repaid his father a $65,000 loan to cover the legal fees in his attempted murder case.
“Jaspal testified that his legal bills were paid for by the Sikh community which was proud of his attempt to kill the Indian cabinet minister following the attack on the Golden Temple in 1984,” B.C. Supreme Court Justice Mary Humphries noted in her judgment against Atwal.
His mother Pritam, who testified against her eldest son, said the community reaction to the shooting of Malkiat Singh Sidhu was just the opposite.
“It was suggested to Pritam in cross-examination that Jaspal was a hero in the Sikh community for his attempted assassination of the Indian cabinet minister. On the contrary, she said they were cursed in the community. The community told them they would not pay for Jaspal’s defence,” Humphries said.
Controversy erupted last week when Postmedia and the CBC revealed that Atwal had been invited to a dinner with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in New Delhi after attending another Canadian government event in Mumbai earlier in the week.
At the Mumbai event, he was photographed with Trudeau’s wife Sophie Gregoire and Infrastructure Minister Amarjit Sohi.
Trudeau did not attend question period Monday, but Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale was grilled about the Atwal affair. He did not answer specific opposition questions beyond saying: “I cannot discuss security details on the floor of the house” and that security agencies had done a good job.
Atwal and three others were members of the now-banned International Sikh Youth Federation when they tried to kill Sidhu near Gold River. He was visiting B.C. for his nephew’s wedding. The four would-be killers were sentenced to 20 years in prison for what the judge described as “an act of terrorism.”
Atwal, meanwhile, was not returning calls or texts Monday after telling Canadian Press over the weekend that he was reformed and had rejected his Sikh separatist views.
But in his 2010 testimony, he didn’t express remorse and testified that his father had been proud of his son’s crime — something the judge rejected.
“As for the factors of poor character, misconduct, neglect, and estrangement, I accept the evidence that Jaspal has shamed and embarrassed the family through his conviction for attempted murder, and by being involved in lawsuits against the family that caused his family, including his father, much distress,” Humphries said.
“Regardless of whether Jaspal says his father was proud of his attempt to assassinate the Indian cabinet minister, which I think unlikely, this court should not countenance such a position, having reference to the contemporary sense of legal and moral norms.”
She noted that Atwal was not welcome in his parents home after he sued his parents over some property upon his release from prison.
“The assassination attempt affected Gurdev only indirectly — through the effect on the family’s reputation and through the need to give Jaspal money for legal fees. However, as both Pritam and Sukhraj testified, it was the litigation with Jaspal that caused the rift between him and the family, including Gurdev,” Humphries said.
“I accept the evidence of Pritam and Sukhraj that Jaspal saw little of them for many years, and the daily care and comfort of Pritam and Gurdev was overseen by Sukhraj.”
Atwal’s father died in 1999, but the civil case took years to get to trial.
In his 2010 testimony, Jaspal said that he immigrated to Canada in the early 1970s and brought his parents over soon after, while he was working at a sawmill in Fort St. James.
He now lives in Surrey and claimed to Postmedia last week to work for a Punjabi radio station. But the station owner later denied he was employed there.