Air India Investigation
Further investigation into the Air India bombing will be suggested tomorrow. Good.
It has the potential to uncover a number of institutional mistakes in the Canadian criminal justice system, but it also has the potential to fail miserably.
I just saw a piece on CBC's The National which showed me why further investigation into the Air India case might not be all that fruitful. CBC's Terry Milewski (one of the most pathetic excuses for a reporter I've ever witnessed) and the Vancouver Sun's Kim Bolan (also in the same category) put forth a number of very poorly reasoned arguments that they believed pointed back towards the two men who were exonerated this past March (one of those men I know quite well.)
In almost every news story on the matter of problems in the Air India investigation, theories put forth by journalists show a shocking lack of understanding of both the case itself as well as of the community at large.
The first misconception is that "terrorists" still and have always had a strong grip on Canada's Sikh community. This is such a pathetic slander, and I can't believe that they so strongly insinuate it in every story. By terrorism, if the journalists are referring to the indiscrimate killing of civilians, or even the assasination of political leaders, I can confidently say that no mainstream Canadian Sikh organization holds that view. Not a single one. And not only that, but the only "Sikhs" I've ever heard espouse such a view are teenagers on internet message boards. That's it, and I've been raised in the Canadian Sikh community all my life.
The second misconception is similar to the first. The journalists grossly overexxagerate the strength, organization and financing of the "terrorist groups" that they refer to. There is no well-established and well-connected movement for an independent Sikh state in the Punjab province of northern India. I actually wish there was (incase India moves into full-mode communal and ethnic violence some day), but there isn't. There never really has been. Saying that there has been is indicative of either wishful thinking or shocking ignorance.
The third error in reporting on this matter attempts to connect issues that are completely independent from one another in order to advance an agenda (the emotionally-driven agenda of wanting certain people who the journalists believe to be responsible for the Air India bombing to be held responsible for it). For example, almost every story on the investigation mentions the death of Tara Hayer. As I've said before, Tara Hayer was an opportunistic and disingenuous man who was never the "moderate" that he was portrayed to be by the news media. Also, it is an incredible stretch to imply that Hayer would have been of any real or critical value to the Air India case had he been alive. There is NO evidence of that being true.
There are a number of other errors and misunderstandings in the news media's coverage (by the news media, I refer solely to Milewski and Bolan) of this matter - errors and misunderstandings that I really hope do not carry themselves into any further investigation by the government.
It has the potential to uncover a number of institutional mistakes in the Canadian criminal justice system, but it also has the potential to fail miserably.
I just saw a piece on CBC's The National which showed me why further investigation into the Air India case might not be all that fruitful. CBC's Terry Milewski (one of the most pathetic excuses for a reporter I've ever witnessed) and the Vancouver Sun's Kim Bolan (also in the same category) put forth a number of very poorly reasoned arguments that they believed pointed back towards the two men who were exonerated this past March (one of those men I know quite well.)
In almost every news story on the matter of problems in the Air India investigation, theories put forth by journalists show a shocking lack of understanding of both the case itself as well as of the community at large.
The first misconception is that "terrorists" still and have always had a strong grip on Canada's Sikh community. This is such a pathetic slander, and I can't believe that they so strongly insinuate it in every story. By terrorism, if the journalists are referring to the indiscrimate killing of civilians, or even the assasination of political leaders, I can confidently say that no mainstream Canadian Sikh organization holds that view. Not a single one. And not only that, but the only "Sikhs" I've ever heard espouse such a view are teenagers on internet message boards. That's it, and I've been raised in the Canadian Sikh community all my life.
The second misconception is similar to the first. The journalists grossly overexxagerate the strength, organization and financing of the "terrorist groups" that they refer to. There is no well-established and well-connected movement for an independent Sikh state in the Punjab province of northern India. I actually wish there was (incase India moves into full-mode communal and ethnic violence some day), but there isn't. There never really has been. Saying that there has been is indicative of either wishful thinking or shocking ignorance.
The third error in reporting on this matter attempts to connect issues that are completely independent from one another in order to advance an agenda (the emotionally-driven agenda of wanting certain people who the journalists believe to be responsible for the Air India bombing to be held responsible for it). For example, almost every story on the investigation mentions the death of Tara Hayer. As I've said before, Tara Hayer was an opportunistic and disingenuous man who was never the "moderate" that he was portrayed to be by the news media. Also, it is an incredible stretch to imply that Hayer would have been of any real or critical value to the Air India case had he been alive. There is NO evidence of that being true.
There are a number of other errors and misunderstandings in the news media's coverage (by the news media, I refer solely to Milewski and Bolan) of this matter - errors and misunderstandings that I really hope do not carry themselves into any further investigation by the government.
posted by Japnaam Singh at
10:45 PM
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