Blog | I Lost My Entire Family In Kanishka Bombing. 41 Years Later, Canada Wants The Case Closed

The horror of the Air India 182 Kanishka tragedy isn't easy to forget. Even today, 41 years after the world's worst aviation bombing, the families of the Air India 182 Kanishka victims have been shaken by suggestions from the RCMP in Canada that the investigation should be wound up.

On June 23, 1985, two bombs exploded. One at Narita airport killed two baggage handlers; the other, 54 minutes later, exploded over the Atlantic Ocean, 90 miles out to sea from Cork, Ireland, killing all 329 people on board, including 86 children under the age of 13.

Orphaned as a teenager and losing my entire family at 17, I began the struggle for justice and accountability. As families, we made the trek through tragedy to search for people in Cork, where I spent 25 days sifting through bodies and body parts in a makeshift morgue to identify our loved ones.

That trauma was revisited every anniversary as no leads were forthcoming. In June 1995, the Canadian government announced a reward of $1 million for information leading to the arrest of the conspirators, but the fear was so rife among Canadians that not a peep came in.

Delays And A Failed Trial

It took almost 18 years for charges to be filed in 2000, only for a multi-million-dollar trial to fail to convict the accused. Witness after witness had either been murdered (while in RCMP protection, no less) or intimidated beyond the pale, or had their children's lives threatened. They all developed selective amnesia in the dock.

The fact that most of the witnesses were identified only by letters - Ms A, D, E, etc. - itself indicates the level of secrecy and the extent to which the witness protection programme failed in the Air India 182 case and in dealing with the Khalistani extremists.

Discriminatory Treatment

The discriminatory attitude of the Canadian system towards the victims of the Air India bombing in 1985 was brutally exposed by Justice Major. Even in matters of compensation, Indians were ignored, and Canadians of Indian origin were offered much lower amounts than “westerners”.

In an interview with me this week, retired Justice John C Major expressed his pain over the way Canada had looked at this tragedy, in stark contrast to the way it treated other Canadians. Canada continued to treat it as an “Indian problem”, he said, and not a “Canadian tragedy”.

No Consensus Still

That attitude became clearer this week, when the families were called for a meeting with the RCMP in Toronto, during which the Canadian police force expressed an intention to wind down the Air India task force to zero investigative staff, with only administrative staff remaining to return the victims' personal effects. The RCMP said it felt there were no further leads to pursue in the investigation to bring the culprits to book.

This admission comes barely months after the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) made a public acknowledgement that Canada-based Khalistani extremists (CBKE) were responsible for the Air India Flight 182 bombing on its 41st anniversary on June 23, 2026.

So, while the left hand (CSIS) was admitting that Khalistani extremists bombed Air India Kanishka, the right hand (RCMP) said it had nothing further to look for. The RCMP even went so far as to suggest that if families could provide fresh leads, they might then be taken up.

In the interim, the RCMP had informed us that it was communicating with the Indian government for the release of the wreckage and personal effects of the victims, indicating that this government and the RCMP have thrown in the towel.

The Indian government will be acutely aware that the Kanishka bombing is a fiercely sensitive subject in India, and Indians the world over will not accept the summary closure of the hunt for the killers. We have written to Prime Minister Modi on his birthday, advising him that the families will never accept such a summary closure. The victims' families, the Canadian people, and the peace-loving people of the world will never let that happen.

How US-Israel Will Deal With Terrorism

That this RCMP meeting should happen in the shadow of the 25th anniversary of 9/11 is tragic, especially considering that the second of the 1988 Lockerbie criminal trials is about to begin in New York in autumn 2026.

The Canadian government, rather than give up the AI-182 case, needs to increase the reward and reissue it. Can anyone imagine the state of the world had the US thrown in the towel after 9/11 or Lockerbie and not hunted down Al-Qaeda and the Libyans? Or had Israel not hunted down Klaus Barbie or Franz Stangl and found the perpetrators of those crimes? Some of those hunts took more than 35 years.

The world has never forgotten or forgiven its barbaric killers and has hunted them down, including Klaus Barbie (38 years later), Franz Stangl (22 years later), Joseph James DeAngelo (42 years later), and Samuel Little (31 years later), among others. Justice must be pursued to the ends of the earth.

The AI-182 families suffered the tragedy of the mid-air bombing, followed by institutionalised discrimination in Canada, erased and destroyed evidence, murdered witnesses, and delays of 20 years before charges were even brought, resulting in the failure to convict two of the accused at a trial in Vancouver.

The suggestion by the RCMP that it has done enough has to appear fallacious and disdainful, and should be treated with the contempt it deserves, as it mocks and gaslights the bereaved families once again. It has been nothing but a litany of missteps, mistakes, and failed actions that have caused families grief over four decades.

That this comes at a time of the rise of Canada-based Khalistani terror-linked separatists in Canada and the rest of the Five Eyes countries shows that the RCMP has still not understood the impact of its actions on victims' families and society as a whole.

Where To Find Fresh Leads?

Lest we all forget, there was a long list of persons of interest against whom no interrogation or questioning had taken place. When asked about the list of those against whom no interrogation or questioning had taken place, they declined to comment on the “ongoing investigation”.

Many ask: “What is left to investigate in Air India 182?”

At least two, or maybe three, of the alleged conspirators are alive but silent. There is also Mr Bagri, Mr Reyat and Surjan Singh Gill, who can provide a lot of answers.

Why has there been no trial in the death of Tara Singh Hayer, when it is highly likely that the same group that carried out the aircraft bombing plot also killed Tara Singh Hayer to prevent him from testifying?

What are the RCMP and the Canadian government doing with the unspent/unclaimed reward? Why has that not been enhanced and reissued with a national appeal for information? Forty-one years is a long time for anyone to live with secrets,  and it could kick-start a creative effort to loosen suspects' tongues or at least encourage willing informants across the country to come forward.

Determined, Still

Twenty years ago, dissatisfied with the direction the criminal trial had taken, the undersigned, AICCA, the pilots, Indian families, and many Canadian families had sought individual and separate standing before the Justice John Major Commission and argued their issues separately.

That finally resulted in Justice Major's orders and an attempt to set right the discrimination faced by the families in matters of compensation, etc. It is thus surprising that neither the government nor the RCMP has even formally reached out to the other families who had legal and legitimate standing before the Crown inquiry.

We families were assured by former Prime Minister Stephen Harper that Canada would follow the case until its logical end, that even-handed treatment would be given to all, regardless of nationality, colour, or creed, and that solutions would be found.

Then Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper assured us that every step would be taken to ensure that the RCMP and CSIS found those responsible and saw the case through to its logical end, when he invited some of the victims' families, including my lawyers, Ms S Rana and other families, to his office in Ottawa.

Victims' Rights

I pray and hope that Canada and the RCMP do not belittle the horrific nature of the Air India tragedy, once again, by shutting it down prematurely.

We have appealed to the Prime Minister of India, the Prime Minister of Canada, the foreign ministers, the Attorney General of British Columbia, and the RCMP Commissioner to ensure that the investigation is revived in all earnestness and the killers are found.

(Sanjay Lazar's family was a victim of the Air India 182 tragedy. Today he is the Chairman of the Kanishka Foundation and GS of the AICCA. He is @Sjlazars on X)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author