Boreal

Terrorists and Politicians

Dr. Bal Gupta, who lost his wife of more than 20 years in the bombing of Air-India Flight 182 commented after hearing of the establishment of a commission to investigate the worst mass murder in Canadian history and the worst act of terrorism prior to September 11, 2001, on how it had taken more than 19 years to get an investigation into the tragedy and that it was “a sad commentary on the justice system."

He might have added that it was also a sad commentary on our elected representatives. Mr. Gupta had already warned politicians about being careful with whom they associated when seeking the ethnic vote for fear of giving support to terrorists.

Kim Bolan, author of Loss Faith, How the Air-India Bombers Got Away With Murder (McClelland & Stewart Ltd, 2005) explains one way that Sikh separatists duped politicians into supporting their cause.

It was a common tactic of the (Sikh) separatist to invite politicians to the temple under one guise and advertise in Punjabi as something else. They would then claim that the politicians were supportive of the Sikh cause. Two parallel worlds – one English and one Punjabi – would cross path but never connect.

Substitute Mosque for Temple, Arabic for Punjabi, fast forward 20 years and you have a similar convergence of circumstances, but on a wider and more dangerous scale then those which preceded the downing of Air-India Flight 182.

The faith-based vote has joined the ethnic vote as a constituency to be thoughtlessly pandered to by short-sighted politicians.

Religious and ethnic politics are creating a situation in Canada that has the potential of dividing the nation like never before and putting countless lives, both here and abroad, in jeopardy.

The politicians’ answer to this clear and present danger is to exploit this explosive situation for political and economic advantage.

Bernard Payeur, June 15, 2009