Khalistan government in exile?

At the time of writing, two Air India flights had to make emergency landings after receiving bomb threats. Of late, emails have been coming out from the US of threats of bomb blasts in Air India flights. Many geopolitical observers propose that these disturbances are closely related to the killing of two Khalistani supporters/militants in Canada recently. It is alleged that their killings were masterminded by Indian intelligence, orders of which were coming directly from the Modi Government and executed by Indian gangs.

For the uninitiated, there is a significant Sikh diaspora in Canada. After the traumatic tearing up of the State of Punjab during Partition in 1947, Indian Punjab became one of the most prosperous States, becoming one of the biggest contributors to the Indian coffers.

Then came Bhindrawale of the Akali Dal Party, who stored arms in the Golden Temple. Operation Blue Star happened then. The 'desecration' of the temple by the Indian Army snowballed into the assassination of Indian PM Ieeriendra Gandhi and the Sikh extremists demanding an independent state for Sikhs, Khalistan. Many of the extremists who went on an armed offensive escaped to Canada when the long arms of Indian Law caught up with them. They clandestinely continued their subversive activities from Canadian shores, adapting nicely to their newfound landscape of liberty, personal freedom and the strength of the Canadian dollar.

Around the same time, Pakistan began exporting its terrorist activities. A weak Indian Punjab would make easy prey for Pakistan to walk over and spread their dominance, or so they thought. They provided easy access to drugs and moral support for separatism.

Over the years, the radical Sikhs in Canada have started playing a pivotal role in Canadian politics. As Justin Treadeau's party lost support, Jasmeet and his National Democratic Party, which has an enormous Sikh following, were to hold Justin's Liberal Party by the jugular. It just may be vote bank politics.

Trouble has been slowly brewing over the years between India and Canada. On the Indian side, Canada was accused of taking sides on Indian domestic issues, like the Farmers' Protest. India looks at the Khalistani movement as a separatist group that Canada seems to protect, accusing it of harbouring terrorists, just like Pakistan. Canada feels it is just doing what a sovereign country would do: protecting its own citizens. So, as it is, both parties are beginning to call back their respective embassies and refuse the issuance of visas.

Interestingly, the threat to blow up Air India flights did happen once before and led to the biggest aviation mishap before the Twin Towers 9/11 disaster. In 1985, on 23rd June, an Air India plane flight #182, christened Kanishka after a great king of the Kushan Dynasty of ancient India, exploded mid-air off the coast of Ireland as it was flying from Toronto to London en route to New Delhi, killing instantaneously 307 passengers and 23 crew members. There were 268 Canadian citizens, mostly of Indian origin, going home for summer vacation, and 24 were Indians. This plane blast was the biggest Canadian aviation disaster. Murphy's Law was in full force here. A Royal Commission, which was convened, determined that a series of errors happened. The government of Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Canadian Security and Intelligence Services (CSIS) all failed to protect their citizens. Even though the authorities were scrutinising the terrorist group Khalsa Babar and police informants had forewarned them of a planned Air India bomb blast, all that for embroiled in bureaucracy. 

Even though there was heightened alert about the possible bombing on an Air India flight, Toronto's baggage X-ray facilities malfunctioned, and the staff bungled up with manual scrutiny for bombs.

In fact, on the faithful day, two unattended baggage with bomb devices were registered to travel (without their passengers who did not board the vessel for obvious reasons) from Vancouver to Toronto on Canadian Pacific Airlines. From Toronto, one baggage was supposed to leave for Narita and finally to India via Air India plane. Because of confusion in correcting for daylight saving measurement, the bomb exploded prematurely in Narita, killing two baggage handlers. The other bomb exploded before reaching London Heathrow, perhaps the intended target because the flight was delayed by an hour. 

There is an eerie coincidence between the 1985 threat of Air India bombing and the loss of sovereignty over what the radicals perceive as the greater Punjab. If, in 1984, the Golden Temple was allegedly trampled, then would they view Haryana's loss to the BJP in the state elections as a further dent to their ambition to realise the dream of Khalistan?

In 1981, Indira Gandhi requested Pierre Trudeau for the extradition of some Khalistani terrorists wanted for crimes in India, which was turned down. Now, in 2024, history seems to be repeating itself. Many Khalistani gangsters are wanted in India, and they find safe haven in Canada.

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Affirmative action will always fail.

Madras Café (Hindi, 2013)
Director: Shoojit Sircar

It all started with the British and the Christian missionaries. The colonial masters decided to modernise their colonies. The British evangelists took charge of the South of Ceylon while the Americans built schools in the northern half. The American preachers, who were assigned a predominantly Tamil population, emphasised Science and Mathematics teaching. The schism started there. The people from the North were more well prepared to meet the challenges of the new world. After independence, the ruling majority from the South imposed affirmative actions to balance the scale.

In came Solomon Bandaranaike, a Singhalese with an illustrious family background which even included a knighted father and a British godfather. Solomon, an Anglophile, an Oxford graduate, was more white than Snow White. He could not speak the local lingo and did not practice Buddhism. He served in the Ceylon legal administration after his return from the UK in the mid-1920s. Ceylon became independent Sri Lanka in 1947. In the early 1950s, he entered politics at a time when Singhalese consciousness was escalating. The push for the Singhalese language was at its heights.

Solomon started donning Buddhist robes and fought for the Singhalese course. He won the 1956 elections with a landslide and became Prime Minister. Now, as the head of the country, he tried to mend bridges with the Tamil minorities. Unfortunately, his supporters looked at it as a turncoat, and the Buddhist monks got him assassinated. The affirmative action, which was set up to improve the Singhalese representation in the Sri Lankan society, only created brain drain and loathing of the Tamils against the ruling majority. As a result, hundreds of thousands of Tamil professionals from the Jaffna district seek greener pastures elsewhere.

Those Jaffnese Tamil left behind had to fight for a place in the sun. Soon came militant resistance groups in the 70s and 80s to defend their homeland in the form of LTTE.

This movie, 'Madras Café', starts a few years before Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated during his election rally in Tamil Nadu. Indian intelligence had warned the entourage about attempts on the leader's life, but protocols were breached by both the local administration and the politicians. Perhaps, there was collaboration at the State levels, as alleged by certain quarters. The Tamil Tigers perfected the art of suicide bombing and RDX plastic bombs, which escape metal detectors during routine inspections.

At the outset, the filmmakers insist that the story is a work of fiction based on intense research. However, it is as clear as day that it clearly describes the intricacies surrounding the upheaval in Sri Lanka, the political ploy of the Sri Lankan leaders, the Tamil moles, and the double-crossings by Indian intel officers. Moreover, it narrates a close to reality the events behind the scene as espionage, power wrangling, and negotiations.

The Indian Government wants a peaceful distribution of power in Sri Lanka. They want to weaken the Tamil Tigers by instigating leaders within LTTE to fight each other. Tamil Nadu government and its people are sympathetic to the Jaffna Tamils because of their common language. Hence, there are attempts of sabotage at Delhi's efforts. On top of all that, there are foreign powers who benefit from the region's continued instability.

Thirty years have gone, and the seven convicted of planning Rajiv's assassination are pleading clemency to be released after time served. Their appeal is supported by the current CM of Tamil Nadu, Mr MK Stalin.

It is a bitter lesson for nations who opt for affirmative action to modulate social engineering. In the final, the intended target group will be too laid back. The already advantaged group will fly away, and the nation will be a basket case, ruled by despot and sycophants over a broken society.

This clip is from another movie.

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The unknown attack on US soil

A Japanese balloon bomb (Fu-Go) 

photographed in New York, 

July 2, 1945. Associated Press

I always thought that American soil was infiltrated only once by the Japanese, in 1941 at Pearl Harbour. And the second, of course was 9/11. No, wrong. That was indeed another successful bombardment of USA, not in the fringes of the country but at its belly! It fact it was kept hush hush for many years.

After the 1942 humiliation of the Japanese by the US bombers led by Colonel Doolittle who flew past the royal palace, the Japanese wanted to get even with the Yankees. They wanted to get even with their foes.
In spring of 1945, a pastor went on a picnic with his pregnant wife and 5 lads. While emptying the luggage, before he could alert his family an explosion killed all 6. They had been fascinated by a balloon contraption. Many similar devices were seen all over Oregon.
Panic set in the local community. They were fearing for the worse. Like 9/11. they thought enemy had infiltrated the American soil. The US army managed to keep it under wraps with the agreement of the press.

From other balloon contraptions which failed to explode, investigators found that they were balloon were made of silk carrying sandbags and explosives. The only clue that revealed the identity of the bomb was the sand. Forensic examination of the type of sand, its content, mineral composition, absence and presence of lifeforms, insects, bugs and molluscs zeroed the sand to have originated from a particular beach in Honshu Island, Japan!
Children from a particular village in Japan were assigned to make these balloons, all in about 9,000 to 10,000 of them between 1942 and 1945. The Japanese engineers identified a particular altitude level in the sky that had a stream of wind that could take all these hostile 'lanterns' across the Pacific Ocean. To accommodate the drop in altitude during the night because of contraction of hydrogen air in the balloon, sandbags were automatically dropped from them to lighten them!

The blanket rule to silence the press on the discovery of the thousands of these Fu-Go balloon bombs averted panic in USA. The Japanese Army thought that their endeavour was a futile attempt and did not proceed further with their plans. The knowledge of its success could have spurred them to proceed with further deathlier attacks using biological agents or more sinister substances. Its hush also could have hastened the eventual end of the war.