Talwinder Singh Parmar
Encyclopedia
Talwinder Singh Parmar born in village Panshta (Panchhat
), district Kapurthala
, Punjab, India
, was a highranking member of the Sikh
militant group Babbar Khalsa
. He belonged to the Sikh Rajput community.
Parmar carried out fighting from outside India founding the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) in Vancouver
, Canada
in 1979. Parmar was the overall chief of Babbar Khalsa whereas Sukhdev Singh Babbar
was only the Chief of India. Parmar later became a naturalized Canadian citizen. The Commission of Inquiry into the Investigation of the Bombing of Air India Flight 182 concluded that Talwinder Singh Parmar, although never convicted, was the leader of the conspiracy to bomb Air India flights
in 1985. He was killed in a police encounter with Punjab Police
on October 15, 1992; details of this incident are disputed.
In July 2007, the investigative magazine Tehelka
reported that Parmar may have confessed to the Punjab police during interrogations preceding his death. He is said to have supplied the dynamite to Lakhbir Singh Brar Rode
, a nephew of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who was claimed to have been the mastermind behind the bombing of Air India Flight 182
.
and its chief Talwinder Singh Parmar notoriety. In 1982, India issued a warrant for Parmar's arrest for six charges of murder, stemming from the killing of police officers. Canada declined to extradiate Parmar to India.
On April 8, 1985 he was wiretapped while he phoned a German man from his Canadian residence, and discussed whether it was feasible to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi
. However, the recordings of the conversation were later erased by Canadian Security Intelligence Service
(CSIS).
" The bombing attack, the worst act of airliner terrorism before 9/11 was followed by at least six other terrorist incidents, plots or threats which were linked to Babbar Khalsa sect in British Columbia, Hamilton and Montreal. Five Babbar Khalsa members from Montreal were arrested May 30, 1986 in another plot to bomb up Air India flights out of New York City. Newspaper editor Tara Singh Hayer was targeted with a bomb at his office in January 1986. Just weeks later, Sikhs from the Hamilton temple along with Air India bombing suspects Talwinder Singh Parmar and Ajaib Singh Bagri were arrested are being wiretapped while plotting to blow up the Parliament and kidnap children of MPs in India. Visiting Punjabi Cabinet Minister Malkiat Singh Sidhu was ambushed in Canada, surviving being shot in March 1986 by four gunmen.
reported that Parmar had been interrogated in India between October 9 and 14, 1992, by senior police officers, where he revealed that the Air India 182 blasts were instigated by Lakhbir Singh Brar Rode. The article also states that Lakhbir may have been an Indian agent, which is why the confession was officially destroyed.
Recently, retired Punjab Police DSP Harmail Singh Chandi, the key official behind Parmar's arrest at Jammu
in September 1992, and his subsequent interrogation before he was killed, has come forward
with audiotapes and statements from Parmar's confessions. Despite being ordered to destroy these records, he had apparently preserved them in secret. The confession apparently outlines many details of the plot:
After this interrogation, Parmar was shown as having been killed in an exchange of fire between police and six militants in the early morning of 15 October 1992, near village Kang Arian in Phillaur
sub-division.
However, Tehelka claims that actually, Parmar had been killed while in custody. It cites discrepancies between the First Information Report
(FIR) regarding the incident, and the post-mortem report. According to the FIR, Parmar was killed by AK-47 fire by SSP Satish K Sharma, firing from a rooftop, at 5:30 AM. The PMR shows that the line of fire of the three bullets are different, which is not possible if one person is firing from a fixed position. Also, the PMR says that the time of death was between 12am and 2am.
The tapes and statements are claimed to have been handed over to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
(RCMP) and the John Major
Commission of Inquiry that is reinvestigating the Kanishka blast. This was made possible through the efforts of the Punjab Human Rights Organisation (PHRO), a Chandigarh
-based NGO that conducted interviews of Parmar's associates and prepared a comprehensive report over seven years.
Tehelka reports that "the PHRO's Principal Investigator Sarbjit Singh and lawyer Rajvinder Singh Bains flew to Canada along with Harmail in June and produced their findings before the Commission's counsels". Official inquiry spokesman Michael Tansey told the The Globe and Mail
: "We're
aware of this article in Tehelka, and we will explore this and any other
allegations when the hearings resume in the fall."
Meanwhile, Lakhbir Singh Rode, who is the head of the banned International Sikh Youth Federation
, is now alleged to be living in Lahore
.
Panchhat
Panchhat, commonly known as Panshta, is a village in Phagwara Tehsil in the Kapurthala District, Punjab. The nearest city, Phagwara, is about away. To reach Panchhat one must travel about on the Hoshiarpur-Phagwara Road and then travel about on the link road to Panshta...
), district Kapurthala
Kapurthala
Kapurthala is a city in Punjab state of India. It is the administrative headquarters of Kapurthala District. It was the capital of the Kapurthala State, a princely state in British India. The secular and aesthetic mix of the city with its prominent buildings based on French and Indo-Saracenic...
, Punjab, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, was a highranking member of the Sikh
Sikh
A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...
militant group Babbar Khalsa
Babbar Khalsa
Babbar Khalsa , also known as Babbar Khalsa International , is a Sikh armed organisation based in India. Many consider the Babbar Khalsa a Resistance movement, and it played a prominent role in the Punjab insurgency. Babbar Khalsa International was created in 1978, after a number of Sikhs were...
. He belonged to the Sikh Rajput community.
Parmar carried out fighting from outside India founding the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in 1979. Parmar was the overall chief of Babbar Khalsa whereas Sukhdev Singh Babbar
Sukhdev Singh Babbar
Sukhdev Singh Babbar was the leader of Babbar Khalsa International the most heavily armed, most feared and most powerful of dozens of the militant groups in Punjab State that are fighting for an independent state for Sikhs, known as Khalistan...
was only the Chief of India. Parmar later became a naturalized Canadian citizen. The Commission of Inquiry into the Investigation of the Bombing of Air India Flight 182 concluded that Talwinder Singh Parmar, although never convicted, was the leader of the conspiracy to bomb Air India flights
Air India Flight 182
Air India Flight 182 was an Air India flight operating on the Montreal–London–Delhi route. On 23 June 1985, the airplane operating on the route a Boeing 747-237B named after Emperor Kanishka was blown up by a bomb at an altitude of , and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean while in Irish airspace.A...
in 1985. He was killed in a police encounter with Punjab Police
Punjab Police
Punjab Police may refer to:* Punjab Police , which operates in the Indian state of Punjab* Punjab Police , which operates in the Pakistani province of Punjab...
on October 15, 1992; details of this incident are disputed.
In July 2007, the investigative magazine Tehelka
Tehelka
Tehelka is an Indian weekly political magazine under the editorship of Tarun Tejpal known for its undercover exposé style of journalism. Its cover price is Rs 20 per issue. The publication began in 2000 as a news website, Tehelka.com...
reported that Parmar may have confessed to the Punjab police during interrogations preceding his death. He is said to have supplied the dynamite to Lakhbir Singh Brar Rode
Lakhbir Singh Brar Rode
Lakhbir Singh Brar Rode is the nephew of Sikh leader Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, and currently heads the banned International Sikh Youth Federation , which has branches in over a dozen countries in western Europe and Canada. Lakhbir is also affiliated with the Khalistan Zindabad Force...
, a nephew of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who was claimed to have been the mastermind behind the bombing of Air India Flight 182
Air India Flight 182
Air India Flight 182 was an Air India flight operating on the Montreal–London–Delhi route. On 23 June 1985, the airplane operating on the route a Boeing 747-237B named after Emperor Kanishka was blown up by a bomb at an altitude of , and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean while in Irish airspace.A...
.
Wanted in India
On November 19, 1981 the Punjab Police was looking for Kalasinghian and his accomplices, when on the morning of November 19, 1981 an encounter took place at Daheru village in Ludhiana district in which Police Inspector Pritam Singh Bajwa and Constable Surat Singh of Jalandhar were gunned down. All of the militants hiding in a house of Amarjit Singh Nihang managed to escape. Among those named in the FIR were Wadhawa Singh (present chief of Babbar Khalsa now based in Pakistan), Talwinder Singh Parmar, Amarjit Singh Nihang, Amarjit Singh (Head Constable), Sewa Singh (Head Constable) and Gurnam Singh (Head Constable). This is believed to be the first act which gained Babbar KhalsaBabbar Khalsa
Babbar Khalsa , also known as Babbar Khalsa International , is a Sikh armed organisation based in India. Many consider the Babbar Khalsa a Resistance movement, and it played a prominent role in the Punjab insurgency. Babbar Khalsa International was created in 1978, after a number of Sikhs were...
and its chief Talwinder Singh Parmar notoriety. In 1982, India issued a warrant for Parmar's arrest for six charges of murder, stemming from the killing of police officers. Canada declined to extradiate Parmar to India.
On April 8, 1985 he was wiretapped while he phoned a German man from his Canadian residence, and discussed whether it was feasible to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi
Rajiv Gandhi
Rajiv Ratna Gandhi was the sixth Prime Minister of India . He took office after his mother's assassination on 31 October 1984; he himself was assassinated on 21 May 1991. He became the youngest Prime Minister of India when he took office at the age of 40.Rajiv Gandhi was the elder son of Indira...
. However, the recordings of the conversation were later erased by Canadian Security Intelligence Service
Canadian Security Intelligence Service
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service is Canada's national intelligence service. It is responsible for collecting, analyzing, reporting and disseminating intelligence on threats to Canada's national security, and conducting operations, covert and overt, within Canada and abroad.Its...
(CSIS).
Air India Flight 182
The Commission of Inquiry into the Investigation of the Bombing of Air India Flight 182 concluded that Talwinder Singh Parmar"is now believed that he was the leader of the conspiracy to bomb Air India flightsAir India Flight 182
Air India Flight 182 was an Air India flight operating on the Montreal–London–Delhi route. On 23 June 1985, the airplane operating on the route a Boeing 747-237B named after Emperor Kanishka was blown up by a bomb at an altitude of , and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean while in Irish airspace.A...
" The bombing attack, the worst act of airliner terrorism before 9/11 was followed by at least six other terrorist incidents, plots or threats which were linked to Babbar Khalsa sect in British Columbia, Hamilton and Montreal. Five Babbar Khalsa members from Montreal were arrested May 30, 1986 in another plot to bomb up Air India flights out of New York City. Newspaper editor Tara Singh Hayer was targeted with a bomb at his office in January 1986. Just weeks later, Sikhs from the Hamilton temple along with Air India bombing suspects Talwinder Singh Parmar and Ajaib Singh Bagri were arrested are being wiretapped while plotting to blow up the Parliament and kidnap children of MPs in India. Visiting Punjabi Cabinet Minister Malkiat Singh Sidhu was ambushed in Canada, surviving being shot in March 1986 by four gunmen.
Alleged confession to Punjab Police in 1992
In July 2007 the investigative newsmagazine TehelkaTehelka
Tehelka is an Indian weekly political magazine under the editorship of Tarun Tejpal known for its undercover exposé style of journalism. Its cover price is Rs 20 per issue. The publication began in 2000 as a news website, Tehelka.com...
reported that Parmar had been interrogated in India between October 9 and 14, 1992, by senior police officers, where he revealed that the Air India 182 blasts were instigated by Lakhbir Singh Brar Rode. The article also states that Lakhbir may have been an Indian agent, which is why the confession was officially destroyed.
Recently, retired Punjab Police DSP Harmail Singh Chandi, the key official behind Parmar's arrest at Jammu
Jammu
Jammu , also known as Duggar, is one of the three administrative divisions within Jammu and Kashmir, the northernmost state in India.Jammu city is the largest city in Jammu and the winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir...
in September 1992, and his subsequent interrogation before he was killed, has come forward
with audiotapes and statements from Parmar's confessions. Despite being ordered to destroy these records, he had apparently preserved them in secret. The confession apparently outlines many details of the plot:
- "Around May 1985, a functionary of the International Sikh Youth Federation came to me and introduced himself as Lakhbir Singh and asked me for help in conducting some violent activities to express the resentment of the Sikhs. I told him to come after a few days so that I could arrange for dynamite and battery etc. He told me that he would first like to see a trial of the blast...After about four days, Lakhbir Singh and another youth, Inderjit Singh Reyat, both came to me. We went into the jungle (of British Columbia). There we joined a dynamite stick with a battery and triggered off a blast. Lakhbir and Inderjit, even at that time, had in their minds a plan to blast an aeroplane. I was not too keen on this plan but agreed to arrange for the dynamite sticks. Inderjit wanted to use for this purpose a transistor fitted with a battery.... That very day, they took dynamite sticks from me and left.
- Then Lakhbir Singh, Inderjit Singh and their accomplice, Manjit Singh, made a plan to plant bombs in an Air India (AI) planeAir India Flight 301At 07:13 on Sunday, June 23, 1985 an explosion at Tokyo Narita International Airport killed two baggage handlers, and injured four. The bomb in that bag was intended for Air India Flight 301 with 177 passengers and crew on board, bound for Bangkok International Airport.-Bombing:Fifty-five minutes...
leaving from Toronto via London for Delhi and another flight that was to leave Tokyo for Bangkok. Lakhbir Singh got the seat booking done from Vancouver to Tokyo and then onwards to Bangkok, while Manjit Singh got it done from Vancouver to Toronto and then from Toronto to Delhi. Inderjit prepared the bags for the flights, which were loaded with dynamite bombs fitted with a battery and transistor. They decided that the suitcases will be booked but they themselves will not travel by the same flights although they will take the boarding passes. After preparing these bombs, the plan was ready for execution by June 21 or 22, 1985. However, the bomb to be kept in the flight from Tokyo to Delhi via Bangkok exploded at the Narita airport on the conveyor belt. The second suitcase that was loaded on the Toronto-Delhi ai flight exploded in the air." - from alleged confession by Talwinder Singh Parmar
After this interrogation, Parmar was shown as having been killed in an exchange of fire between police and six militants in the early morning of 15 October 1992, near village Kang Arian in Phillaur
Phillaur
Phillaur is a town and a municipal council in Jalandhar district in the Indian state of Punjab.- Overview :Phillaur is the railway junction on the border line of Ludhiana and Jalandhar Cantonment. It was a junction for Lohian and Ferozepur. In pre-partition days, it was the main timber market of...
sub-division.
However, Tehelka claims that actually, Parmar had been killed while in custody. It cites discrepancies between the First Information Report
First Information Report
A First Information Report or FIR is a written document prepared by the police in India, Pakistan and Japan when they receive information about the commission of a cognizable offence. It is a report of information that reaches the police first in point of time and that is why it is called the First...
(FIR) regarding the incident, and the post-mortem report. According to the FIR, Parmar was killed by AK-47 fire by SSP Satish K Sharma, firing from a rooftop, at 5:30 AM. The PMR shows that the line of fire of the three bullets are different, which is not possible if one person is firing from a fixed position. Also, the PMR says that the time of death was between 12am and 2am.
The tapes and statements are claimed to have been handed over to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
(RCMP) and the John Major
John C. Major
John Charles "Jack" Major, CC, QC is a Canadian jurist and was a puisne justice on the Supreme Court of Canada from 1992 to 2005....
Commission of Inquiry that is reinvestigating the Kanishka blast. This was made possible through the efforts of the Punjab Human Rights Organisation (PHRO), a Chandigarh
Chandigarh
Chandigarh is a union territory of India that serves as the capital of two states, Haryana and Punjab. The name Chandigarh translates as "The Fort of Chandi". The name is from an ancient temple called Chandi Mandir, devoted to the Hindu goddess Chandi, in the city...
-based NGO that conducted interviews of Parmar's associates and prepared a comprehensive report over seven years.
Tehelka reports that "the PHRO's Principal Investigator Sarbjit Singh and lawyer Rajvinder Singh Bains flew to Canada along with Harmail in June and produced their findings before the Commission's counsels". Official inquiry spokesman Michael Tansey told the The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
: "We're
aware of this article in Tehelka, and we will explore this and any other
allegations when the hearings resume in the fall."
Meanwhile, Lakhbir Singh Rode, who is the head of the banned International Sikh Youth Federation
Khalistani Groups
This is a page that depicts Khalistani Separatist, Guerrilla, and Paramilitary outfits.Babbar Khalsa is listed as a terrorist organisation by the United Kingdom, the EU, Canada, India, and the United States.-Others with less details:...
, is now alleged to be living in Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
.