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Lockerbie, Kanishka lawyers meet

Suleman Din

Authorities in British Columbia have initiated a process to directly indict the two key suspects in the 1985 Air India bombings instead of going through lengthy preliminary hearings.

The indication that the trial of millionaire Ripudaman Singh Malik, 54, and carpenter-preacher Ajaib Singh Bagri, 51, would start soon became evident as British Columbian prosecutors handling the bombing case acknowledged that they were meeting the legal team that recently convicted a Libyan terrorist in the 1988 Pan Am Lockerbie bombing.

The Canadian prosecutors hope to learn how to conduct their case from their Scottish counterpart.

"We've met with them overseas before," explained Geoffrey Gaul, spokesperson for the Criminal Justice branch of the Attorney General's ministry, "this is the first time that we'll be together in Canada."

Gaul explained that the Scottish prosecutors are now in North America, and BC authorities extended an invitation to them for a meeting.

Though he had told other publications that the purpose was "simply [to have] discussions amongst colleagues," he conceded that BC prosecutors would likely be taking notes from the Lockerbie prosecutors on how to conduct a lengthy and complex trial into a high-profile plane bombing.

"These prosecutors have successfully finished their conviction, and dealt with a number of issues that the prosecution here will have to contend with, so yes, we might learn from them," he said.

Malik and Bagri face murder and other charges related to the bombing in June 1985 of Air India Flight 182.

Bagri also faces attempted murder count in connection with the 1988 shooting of Punjabi newspaper publisher Tara Singh Hayer.

Hayer, a former Khalistani who turned against the separatists after the Air India explosion, was paralyzed in the 1988 attack. He was murdered 10 years later. Authorities are yet to arrest anyone for his murder.

All 329 aboard were killed when the Air India Flight 182 (Kanishka) plunged into the sea off the Irish coast. They are also implicated in a bomb that went off at the Narita Airport in Japan that killed two bag handlers a few hours before Kanishka blew up. Authorities say the bomb was assembled in Vancouver and meant for a Singapore-bound Air India plane.

Gaul said that there are some similarities between the Air India and Pan Am explosions that would reflect in legal issues; for instance, the international scope of both cases, and the multi-jurisdictional task of gathering witnesses and evidence.

Pan Am Flight 103 crashed to the ground in Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 259 aboard and 11 people on the ground.

Experts believe in both the Air India and Pan Am cases that terrorists placed bombs in suitcases and transferred them to the aircraft.

Prosecutors have also initiated the process to charge former electrician Inderjit Singh Reyat in the Air India case. But they cannot start the trial proceedings without the consent of the British government.

Reyat was extradited from England in the Narita case in 1989 and is at the end of his 10-year-sentence. Since the original extradition application did not specify charges related to Kanishka, London must agree to the framing of additional charges.

Gaul refrained from putting any timeframe for the completion of Malik and Bagri's trial, though.

"I've heard a number of estimates, but there are so many variables in scheduling a trial ... it just isn't possible to say at this point."

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