Canada’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is considering scaling back its investigation into the 1985 bombing of Air India Flight 182, commonly known as the Kanishka bombing, according to a letter written by a family member of the victims.
The Boeing 747 was bombed on June 23, 1985, while flying from Canada to India. The explosion killed all 329 people on board, making it the deadliest terrorist attack in Canadian history.
A meeting on the progress of the investigation was held in Canada on September 12. Sanjay Lazar, chairman of the Kanishka Foundation and a family member of victims, attended the meeting. Lazar lost his parents and infant sister in the bombing.
In a letter addressed to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Lazar said families were distressed after learning that authorities were considering reducing the size of the task force and potentially placing the investigation into an inactive status.
He urged the Canadian government to continue the investigation and called for renewed efforts to identify those responsible for the attack. He also sought stronger cooperation from Canadian law enforcement and intelligence agencies and suggested an enhanced reward for information that could help the investigation.
The letter was also marked to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the foreign ministers of India and Canada, the RCMP commissioner and other Canadian officials.
The Kanishka bombing has remained a long-running issue for families of the victims and governments in both India and Canada. The attack was linked to Khalistani extremists, and the investigation and prosecution that followed continued for years.
The latest development has renewed concerns among victims’ families about the future of the investigation. Lazar said in his letter that the families were particularly worried about the possibility of the case being placed in an inactive category.
He also referred to concerns over the broader issue of extremism in Canada and elsewhere, arguing that authorities should continue efforts to identify any individuals connected to the bombing.
The September 12 meeting focused on the progress of the investigation and the future of the task force. Any decision to reduce its size or change the status of the probe would affect a case that has remained unresolved in several aspects for more than four decades.
For the victims’ families, the latest development has brought renewed uncertainty over whether Canadian authorities will continue pursuing additional leads related to the 1985 attack.
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