International - India & World   

Kanishka bombing: probe to resume today

It will concentrate on background issues

TORONTO: The inquiry into the 1985 bombing of an Air India plane that killed over 300 people is set to resume on Monday, even though officials have not resolved a long-running dispute over secret evidence.

Inquiry spokesman Michael Tansey said the public hearings would reopen on March 5 with testimony from present and former security and police officers, as well as academic experts.

The inquiry will, for now, concentrate on background issues related to the creation of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service in the early 1980s, and the general perception of terrorist threats at that time.

That means that the commission has decided to rearrange its witness list and sidestep a public confrontation with the government amid ongoing negotiations on the issue of sensitive documents that have been heavily censored on national-security grounds.

John C. Major, the former Supreme Court judge who heads the inquiry, threatened two weeks ago to shut down proceedings if the officials didn't relent in their secrecy policy.

Mr. Major and his counsel have seen the material in question and have power to deal with it in private. — PTI

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

China, Sri Lanka ink deal to develop Hambantota
China's Parliament session from today
E-mails at the heart of banned BBC story
The mother of all dummies
Wrong signals, China cautions America
16 civilians die in U.S. troop fire
Travel by sea also aggravates global warming
Rebel vows to fight on
Kanishka bombing: probe to resume today
Hurley-Nayar give guests a royal Bollywood treat

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu