Kanishka bombing anniversary: Must oppose those who want to commit terrorism, says journo

OTTAWA: On the 39th anniversary of the Air India Kanishka bombing, a tragic event perpetrated by Khalistani terrorists that resulted in the deaths of 329 innocent people, Canadian journalist Daniel Bordman emphasised the importance of supporting the victims and opposing those who want to commit terrorism. The tragedy took place on June 23, 1985.

Daniel Bordman spoke about the memorial event that took place in Queen’s Park in Canada for people who lost their lives during this tragic incident and said, “329 innocent people were murdered, 280 of whom were Canadian citizens. The Canadian establishment and institutions have failed these families multiple times”.

#WATCH | Canadian journalist Daniel Bordman says, “…Initially, a lot of people are afraid, now a lot of Sikhs are very brave and, you know, when you start criticizing Khalistan, you know, the first. You know, people who will, like, offer you a platform sometimes or come to help… pic.twitter.com/YjAzcrjN1X

— ANI (@ANI) June 24, 2024

The Canadian journalist emphasised the significance of attending and supporting the event and noted the participation of former political prisoners from Iran who had experienced terrorism and extremism themselves, underscoring the importance of standing with victims’ families.

“So I felt it was important to go out and support, help, and promote the event and bring different communities out there. There were tonnes of Jews there, and the grassroots Jewish community really did a great job there”, Bordman said.

“They were former political prisoners from the Islamic Republic of Iran who faced terrorism and extremism. They came out to show support. So it was a really important thing to stand with the victims’ families because the victims of terrorism are the victims of terrorism, but the terrorists are not the victims of terrorism,” he added.

In response to recent events surrounding the memorial service, the Canadian journalist has spoken out against actions by Khalistani supporters. He recounted how, following the announcement of a memorial, Khalistani groups scheduled their own event earlier to deliberately disrupt proceedings.

#WATCH | Canadian journalist Daniel Bordman says, ” India is doing better than before. One of the good things is that they have started cancelling OCI cards of Khalistanis…There needs to be some sort of deterrence, criminals need to go to jail, if you do bad things, bad things… pic.twitter.com/QpQk3RmFfy

— ANI (@ANI) June 24, 2024

“However, when it was announced that we were going to have a memorial at 12, the Khalistanis announced that they were going to have a memorial half an hour earlier at 11:30. And they were there to essentially disrupt and make a nuisance of things,” he said.

“When the Khalistanis came to disturb and interrupt that service, I felt it was important to stand up against them”, the journalist remarked, highlighting the need to support victims of terrorism while unequivocally opposing those who seek to perpetrate such acts. We have to support the victims of terrorism but also oppose those who want to commit terrorism. Standing up to evil is, is I think, an important part of what we do today,” Daniel Bordman added.

To a question about the presence of Khalistani protesters at the event, the Canadian journalist described witnessing their actions firsthand. “They came with their Khalistani flags and aimed to disrupt the memorial site”, he explained. Upon noticing their setup, the journalist immediately took action, approaching them to convey that their actions amounted to incitement and intimidation.

The journalist also mentioned recording the incident to document the disruption and inform law enforcement. “And you know, they came there with their Khalistani flags, and they wanted to come to the memorial site. So, as soon as I saw them setting up–there’s a video of me–I went there to confront them and let them know what they’re doing. I know what they’re doing, put it on there and tell the police that, what they’re doing is incitement and intimidation”, Bordman said.

The Canadian journalist clarified that the Khalistani protesters falsely claimed to have a permit and described the protesters’ tactics of attempting to set up as close as possible to the memorial site in order to provoke conflict and harassment incrementally.

“Again, they were lying. They claimed that they had a permit, but they didn’t have a permit. They wanted to set up, and they were trying to set up basically as close to the memorial as they could and come in and really start pushing because that’s just one of the tactics that extremists use: sort of inch by inch by inch but closer, forcing conflict, and then harassing. So it was important for us to sort of set a red line and let the police know what they’re there to do”, Daniel Bordman said.

“So once we got the police on hand, they did move the Khalistanis a good distance away from the memorial site. We wouldn’t be intimidated. They backed off after their initial push and went to do their nonsense further away”, he added. (ANI)