Identify and explore critical aspects of the organization, purpose and tactics of the group responsible for the bombing of Air India Flight 182
The bombing of Air India Flight 182 on June 23, 1985, remains the deadliest terrorist attack to in the Canadian history. The flight that blew up over the Atlantic Ocean near Ireland lead to loss of 329 innocent lives among them 280 Canadians. In the same day, a separate luggage bomb targeting Air India flight blew at Tokyo’s Narita Airport killing two people. One of the key reasons for bombing the Air India Flight 182 was to revenge against the Indian government’s act of killing hundreds of innocent pilgrims while assassinating the Sikh Community separatist leader, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale who was opposing the then Indian prime minister, Indra Gandhi on the basis of the secession of Punjab(Bolan, 2017). The organization of the attack and the tactics used by the Sikh extremists to plant bombs into the two Air India flights successfully penetrated the security agents. Three days’ prior the bombing, two airline reservations were made on two Canadian Pacific Airline flights one for a plane from Vancouver to Narita Airport in Japan with a connecting flight from Narita airport to Bangkok, and the other for a flight from Vancouver to Toronto and connecting Air India flight 181/182. The terrorists ensured that they concealed identity for both the one who made the call for airline reservations and the one who drove to the airport with a bag containing homemade bombs that later came to explode Air India flight 182 (Rae, 2005).
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Define the motivations of the terrorist group and its members (if known) involved with the case
The main motivating factor for the Sikh extremists was political independence. The volatile state of politics in India in the 1960s and 1970s which led to the assassination of the leader of the Sikh based territory in Punjab and subsequent assassination of the then India prime minister were the major factors that invoked the Sikh community that had established itself in Canada (Singh, 2015). The main suspects linked with the attack including Talwinder Singh Parmar and Inderjit Singh Reyat were also motivated by several political incidents that took place in India from 1984 including the raid on the Golden Temple in Amritsar and subsequent assassination of the Sikh leader, assassination of the Indra Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards as well as the increased anti-Sikh pogroms in Delhi (Sing, 2015). According to Singh (2015), the plan and execution of the bombing were also aimed at justifying the need for Punjab to be an independent state (which could be called Khalistan)and response to religious violence that had escalated in India.
What was the purpose of the terrorist group and their inspirations? Also, what tactics did the terrorist group employ in this case?
The purpose of the terrorist group was to send fear to population and warning to end the religious war that had intensified in India. They used tactics such as assassination where her Sikh bodyguard assassinated the prime minister of India. Besides, they used two home-made dynamite-based bombs to explode the Air India flight 182. In his book on political terrorism, Wardlaw (1989) stated that through the use of various tactics by the terrorist groups, they succeed in inflicting fear and widespread panic that forces the government to concede to their demands. What inspired the planners and executors of the Air India flight 182 bombing was the Sikh’s desire to instill fear to people and government in India for the religious war that had become vast.
What was the connection between the perpetrator and any terrorist organizations?
The men whose names appeared on the tickets had did not appear for checking in the airport. Until now, the two men’s names are not known. However, Rae (2005) posits that the man who drove to the airport carrying with him a suitcase of home-made bombs identified himself as M. Singh. The connection of the perpetrator and any terrorist organization is not well known since the bag was just interlined to Air Indi a Flight 181/182 from Canadian Pacific 060 without the accompaniment of any passenger.
Evaluate the measures that Public Safety professionals used to prevent or mitigate this terrorist action.
The measures used by the public safety professionals to mitigate terrorism at the airport could have helped prevent this incidence if only the professionals were strict to their work. according to the rules that were already in place during the bombing of the Air India flight, passengers were supposed to be checked together with their luggage. Surprisingly, the Rae report (2005) found that there was no reconciliation check between the passengers and bags records before the Flight took off. However, it is reported that the security loophole presented itself where the Canadian regulations before the bombing date required a robust system to be put in place for identification that would be used to prevent cargo, goods, and baggage to be placed on board an aircraft without the consent of the airline operator. Besides, there were x-ray security systems that had been acquired by Air India the same year and operated by three Burns Security professionals. The system was designed to handle luggage and other large packages (Rae, 2005). There was also a PD4C Sniffer that whose effectiveness had been questioned the previous day before the bombing. The Sniffer used to screen baggage that was not screened by the x-ray system. It is not yet clear how the suitcase with the two bombs passed through such security measures unnoticed or whether the PD4C Sniffer is the one that checked the suitcase before it was interlined to the Air India flight 181/182.
Before June 23 rd 1985, concerns about the safety of Air India had been raised and several measures taken including improving the security measures to level four. Failure by personal safety professionals conducting check-up at the Canadian Pacific led to the passage of the bombs suitcase into the aircraft. It is reported that they failed to conduct a headcount of the passengers who had boarded the aircraft before the departure to confirm their number against the luggage. This created an avenue for the suitcase with bombs in it into the Canadian Pacific Flight 060 that would later be interlined into the Air India Flight 181/182 (Rae, 2005). Finally, it is important to note that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and RCMP were involved in the tracking of this terrorist act even before it was executed. In September 1984, the RCMP agents received intelligence reports that Air India was under terrorist threat and that the main tactic would be bombing. Despite the CSIS tracking Parmar’s movements and even following them to the point where they heard them testing the explosives (Bolin, 2017), they did not work vigilantly
Discuss how the principles described in the Building Resilience document (Prevent; Detect; Deny; Respond) could have been applied in this case to strengthen National Security. Were there any additional actions or measures that could have been used? What was the government response to this event and which government agencies were involved in the incident?
In 2013, Canada developed a counter-terrorism strategy that will help her build resilience against terrorist groups. The four pillars of this strategy are to prevent, detect, deny, and respond (Canada, 2013). The prevent element entails preventing individuals from engaging in terrorism. This could have been used to engage the Sikh community members from the time they settled in Canada with the aim of making them feel part of the Canadian society. Besides, having RCMP national community outreach to respond fast in threats of radicalization while ensuring that the government understands the concerns of the minority groups. This could have prevented the Sikh community from engaging in the June 23 rd 1985 terrorism event. Deny element in this strategy aims at denying terrorists an opportunity and means to attack in order to protect the Canadian citizens and their interests (Canada, 2013). Before the bombing of Air India Flight 182, CSIS and RCMP were informed from various quarters about the terrorist threats of Air India. According to CBC Digital reporter, Brian Sterwart (1987), information came from FBI, Indian government yet the telling signs went unheeded before the tragic event. If the government agencies and public safety professionals worked vigilantly and heeded these signals, they could have denied terrorists an opportunity to bomb the flight.
The other element of building the resilient strategy is detecting. This element is purposed to detect the actions of organizations or specific individuals who are considered a terrorist threat. It is important to know that prior to his settlement in Canada, Pramar had a history of engaging in violent and extremism event in India and even had spent one year in custody in Germany. However, despite several pleads by the Indian government to add Pramar over for prosecution, the Canadian government denied the requests but become interested in the activities of Pramar (Rae, 2005).Moreover, if the information about terrorism that CSIS had already received was shared, it could help police detect and prevent the bombing (CBC, 2010). Finally, the last element in this strategy is to respond. It aims at rapidly, proportionally and in an organized manner responding to terrorist activities and mitigate their impacts. In our case, if the government agencies in Canada were well organized and fast in their actions, they could respond to signals of Air India bombing threats. Working in conjunction with infrastructure owners such as the Air India Flight company could have helped them respond effectively to the flight bombing.
What impact did this event have on Canadian society? Did this event lead to enhanced National Security measures? What was the public reaction to the event?
Following the report by the former supreme court justice, John Major, the government of Canada ensured that the national security measures were enhanced to help the government mitigate the occurrences of similar events in future. Numbed with grief, the public was furious that this was allowed to happen nothing yet much was being done towards answering the question of who had failed in their duty (Rae, 2005). Major found loopholes in how the security agencies and government as a whole handled the intelligence they had pertaining to the bombing (CBC, 2010). Consequently, the government examined and improved ways through which intelligence agencies should share information for national purposes. Besides, the government introduced legislation to improve how cases are managed in court as a way of ensuring no similar cases that take such a lengthy process in future. Besides, measures to combat terrorism financing has been put in place where the government require financial institutions to help in detecting, deterring and preventing financial support to terrorist groups (Major, 2010).
References
Bolan, K. (2017, March 2017). Air India Flight 182 Bombing . Retrieved from The Canadian Encyclopedia: https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/air-india-flight-182-bombing
Canada. Public Safety Canada. (2013). Building Resilience Against Terrorism: Canada's Counter-terrorism Strategy . Public Safety Canada.
CBC News. (2010, June 17). Air India case marred by 'inexcusable' errors . Retrieved from CBC News: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/air-india-case-marred-by-inexcusable-errors-1.869072
Major, J. C. (2010). Air India Flight 182: Aviation security (Vol. 4). Commission of Inquiry into the Investigation of the Bombing of Air India Flight 182.
Rae, B. (2005). Lessons to be Learned: The report of the Honourable Bob Rae, Independent Advisor to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, on outstanding questions with respect to the bombing of Air India Flight 182 . Air India Review Secretariat.
Singh, M. (2015). The Bombing of Air India Flight 182: Demanding Justice, Public Inquiries, and Acts of Citizenship (Doctoral dissertation, Communication, Art & Technology: School of Communication).
Stewart, B. (1987, December 14). Missed Opportunities to prevent Air India bombing? Retrieved from CBC Digital Archives: https://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/missed-opportunities-to-prevent-air-india-bombing
Wardlaw, G. (1989). Political Terrorism: Theory, tactics and counter-measures . Cambridge University Press.
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