Ottawa: Terming the frequent acts of glorifying terrorism in Canada as "deplorable", India has said it was "unfortunate" that such actions are allowed to be "routine" on many occasions here when it should be condemned by all peace-loving countries and people.
In a statement on the 39th anniversary of the 1985 Kanishka bombing, in which 329 persons, most of them Canadians of Indian descent, on board an Air India flight lost their lives, the Indian High Commission said that terrorism knows "no borders, nationality, or race".
The Montreal-New Delhi Air India 'Kanishka' Flight 182 exploded 45 minutes before it was to have landed at London's Heathrow Airport on June 23, 1985, killing all 329 people on board, including 86 children.
The bombing was blamed on Sikh militants in retaliation to 'Operation Bluestar' to flush out militants from the Golden Temple in 1984. The Indian High Commission in Ottawa and the consulates of India in Toronto and Vancouver organised memorial services on Sunday and solemnly remembered the victims of the "dastardly act of terror" in 1985.
Last week, India strongly objected to the Canadian parliament observing a "one-minute silence" in memory of Khalistan extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was gunned down in British Columbia in June last year.
India lodged a strong protest with Canada over Khalistani extremists holding a so-called "citizens court" and burning an effigy of the Indian prime minister outside the Indian consulate in Vancouver.
Quoting India's external affairs minister S Jaishankar, the statement said, "...Nor must we countenance that political convenience determines responses to terrorism, extremism and violence. Similarly, respect for territorial integrity and non-interference in internal affairs cannot be exercised in cherry picking."
High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma on Sunday paid homage to the victims of Air India flight.
Family members and friends of the victims, Canadian government officials, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Assistant Commissioner, Ireland envoy and more than 150 members of the Indo-Canadian community attended the solemn occasion, the High Commission said.
