We cannot discuss the latest bomb threat diversion on Air India, this time to a remote Canadian province, without talking about the unraveling relations between Canada and India. The likely common link? The Khalistan movement. But an act of grace by Canada after over 200 Air India passengers found themselves stranded in the Canadian Arctic may soften what is turning into a nasty diplomatic row.
Canada Comes To Aid Of Air India After Bomb Threat And Diversion To Canadian Arctic
On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Canada had expelled India’s High Commissioner (Ambassador) and five other diplomats after new evidence emerged about the Indian government’s involvement in the targeting or assassination of Canadian citizens. In June 2023, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian Sikh involved with the Khalistan separatist movement (seeking to create a homeland for Sikhs), was assassinated. Canada has alleged that the Indian government was behind the assassination. India has vehemently denied involvement, though US and Canadian investigators strongly believe otherwise. India responded by expelling several Canadian diplomats from India.
The Khalistan movement is understandably a big deal in India and the Indian government and Hindu nationalists view such a movement as terrorism.
One tool that is used to disrupt (though it is not yet clear who called in the bomb threat here) is calling in bomb threats. Such threats have proliferated recently, with more than a dozen flights from India diverting in the last 48 hours due to such threats.
That included Air India flight 127, traveling from New Delhi (DEL) to Chicago (ORD) on Tuesday, October 15, 2024 and operated by a Boeing 777-300ER jet (registration code VT-ALM). A bomb threat was posted on social media, prompting a diversion to the Canadian Arctic.
#ImportantUpdate pic.twitter.com/uXQ4DS943e
— Air India (@airindia) October 16, 2024
After landing in Iqaluit, Canada (YFB), the aircraft was carefully checked and nothing suspicious was found. But the crew was unable to continue (having exceeded maximum duty hours). Because the infrastructure in Iqaluit lacks sufficient beds for the 211 passengers and 20 crewmembers onboard, the Royal Canadian Air Force stepped in, sending in an Airbus A330 to transfer the stranded passengers to Chicago.
https://twitter.com/FrankReardon1/status/1846372499321127385
An Olive Branch From Canada
As a political scientist, I cannot help but focus on the olive branch extended by Canada here. Presumably, Canadian taxpayers will pay for the fuel and other costs incurred by the A330 that was sent from Trenton (YTR) to Iqaluit to Chicago and back to Trenton.
This strikes me as wise statecraft. While India has a justifiable concern to eliminate terrorism against its sovereignty, targeting Canadian citizens in Canada is not the way to do it…ultimately, I think we can understand why India felt it had to eliminate Nijjar, but it also seems that doing so has created far more problems than solving them.
As the diplomatic row between Canada and India worsens, hopefully, this act of kindness by Canada will be a balm that ratchets down tensions.
What Do About These Bomb Threats…
We cannot forget the 1985 bombing of Air India flight 182 by Sikh terrorists, which still marks the worst terrorist attack in Canada’s history.
It’s a dangerous game to dismiss bomb threats…even as they proliferate. That may become necessary if Air India or other Indian carriers start deceiving dozens per day, but the better response is more harshly punishing those who make such threats (20 years in a penal colony?). Another alternative could be carefully checking every plane before it departs beyond just a visual search and baggage screening.
But a civilized society will take every threat seriously because in these cases there is no room for error. I do concede that a real bomb threat will likely not be called in…but erring on the side of caution is still the best course of action among many unfavorable choices.
CONCLUSION
The olive branch extended by Canada in transporting stranded Air India passengers from Iqaluit to Chicago will hopefully lessen some of the tensions between India and Canada over the Khalistan separatist movement in Canada. There is no handbook guiding this sort of reaction, but gestures like this show a preference for stability, which is something both India and Canada desire. Don’t we all?
image: Florian Klebl
Just so you know they found out who made the threats. https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/minor-taken-into-custody-over-hoax-bomb-threats-to-airlines-6803831
The bomb threat could have been made by anyone, including by fans of the Modi government or even Modi government agents.
This incident happened right after Canada ordered the removal of Indian diplomats who provided cover and facilitation to Indian government assassination plots in Canada and the US aimed at nationals of Canada and also of the US. A lot of angry Modi fans wanted to retaliate against Canada and people going between Canada and the US.
The Indian government nowadays even considers some journalists to be terrorists even in the absence of credible evidence of being materially involved in any terrorist act. The India of today under Modi is a proto-fascist/neo-fascist state. Even Vajpayee himself could he considered an “anti-national terrorist” by some of the extreme Modi fan brigade which really hates Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru and the legacy of India’s freedom fighters who refused to make common cause with Hitler and copy the Nazi movements in the way of the RSS/BJP that is now so deeply in love with Netanyahu and the ways of Israel that they want to do the same now that they are considered an indispensable ally of the US.
A generous move by Canada to de-escalate tension. Bomb threats are no less terrorism than physical violence. Disruptive to peace, those that threaten deserve the full punishment of the acts promised.
This assistance by Canada had nothing to do with trying to placate the Indian government. It was Canada doing what any sensible government would do for any civilian commercial flight needing to divert due to a serious security concern about the safety of the flight.
I stand by my words. It was a generous gesture, not required.
The Modi-loving Indian media that gets off on bashing Canada like crazy nowadays would have had a field day if the diverted Indian passengers got treated poorly in an under equipped Canadian place for a big plane-load of passengers. But Canada would have likely done the same thing even for a hypothetical PIA flight to the US if subject to a bomb threat under similar circumstances as the Air India flight.
@GUWonder: I agree with Maryland on Canada’s generosity, but I was also very clear not to blame the bomb threat on anyone; you are correct that it could just as easily have been a Hindu zealot as a Sikh separatist.
What else was Canada going to do, ignore the situation? Have they done something similar in the past where they told the flight crew and passengers “Whelp, sorry, you’re on your own”?
Can you point to a past case where Canada dispatched a widebody jet to transport stranded passengers to the United States?
I was expecting sleeping bags and food, like the Air India Russian diversion last year, not this.
I’m not familiar with Canada’s dealings with all of it’s stranded passengers throughout it’s history, hence me asking.
With regards to sending them to the US, I imagine it was probably because quite a few of them may not have had visa access to Canada.
Also with regards to your link, who knows why Canada did not grant those people emergency visas like Russia did.
India executes convicted terrorists. Do you think it appropriate to execute a kid who calls in a bomb threat to try to blame a disliked kid or to avoid a test or homework deadline when there is no physical threat? Didn’t realize you had become a fan of the death penalty, but maybe it’s like with Jeff Epstein’s buddy Alan Dershowitz.
The kid was over the age of reason. And if it would apply universally yes as well. And I have children. If we make allowances this terrorist threat will never stop globally. It will only increase because actors will use children. Do you believe children should be excused from punishment? Respond tomorrow please.
So you’re now a fan of the death penalty for threats made by a child who has made no attempts to procure weapons/explosives/incendiaries to deliver on a communicated verbal threat? 25 years ago in Maryland weren’t you still opposed to the death penalty and lauding Israel as a beacon of human rights because it didn’t have the death penalty being ordered by any courts in its civilian criminal justice system?
India has had the death penalty for as long as India has been. I knew a couple of judges in India who had to order and/or observe ordered executions and they said they were sickened by the brutality of such a state and what it says about a person or nation in favor of the death penalty and the future character of such persons and nations populated by so many flawed persons in positions of power and influence over too many others.
Rather than speculating that these incidents were because of political elements at playit would be best to check the news! Excerpt from news in India: “A minor has been taken into custody by the Mumbai Police over a series of bomb threats being issued to various airlines since Monday, leading to some flights being diverted, including one to a remote airport in Canada. Police said the threats were allegedly issued because the boy wanted to frame one of his friends, with whom he had a dispute over money.” Source NDTV India
That is a theory of the case…yes, it merits mentioning. No, I’m not fully convinced.
Some news reports said the kid responsible for this bomb threat was in Chattisgarh — almost as close to Nepal as to Bombay. So why would the Bombay police have made the arrest in Chattisgarh?
And Air India takes no responsibility for this, instead escalating to the Canadian government which bailed it out by sending a CAF plane. What about the actual AI plane, did it fly back to India?
According to FlightRadar24, it will fly to Chicago today and Delhi tomorrow.
I came across some mention of a diverted Virgin flight to this airport resulting in a 3+ day wait for a different Virgin flight to get the diverted Virgin flight’s passengers. But it sounded like it was an incident from quite far back.
iqaluit is a really small community, most locals don’t the resources to live comfortably. I can’t understand why the Canadian Government would fly the passengers to Chicago! A Canadian Airforces plane is probably nicer than any Air India plane. Let’s hope things stay peaceful between Canada and India. Most Canadians don’t want to see this escalate
Things will stay peaceful. Canada is a member of NATO, and so we will protect them. We also have an intelligence sharing agreement with Canada which is in large part why they know a bit about the dastardly anti-Canadian and anti-American deeds of the Modi government. Unfortunately the Biden Admin was reluctant to fully assist Canada from the start when we found out the Indian plots on NATO grounds, but then some golden nuggets of Amerigan info landed in Canada and Canada knew they could get more intel from us. Unfortunately then again the Biden Admin decided to play nice anyway with the rogue Modi government and failed to appreciate that Canada will stand with us far more extensively and honestly than so-called “allies” like Modi’s India and Netanyahu’s Israel,
Thank you for placing all this in the right context: “We cannot forget the 1985 bombing of Air India flight 182 by Sikh terrorists” but it might be better to indicate that these were Khalistani terrorists. A minority of Sikh people support that movement and it’s only their voices that get amplified in discourse like this.
You also mentioned “The Khalistan movement is understandably a big deal in India and the Indian government and Hindu nationalists view such a movement as terrorism.’ and “you are correct that it could just as easily have been a Hindu zealot as a Sikh separatist.”
Ok, so you’ve unnecessarily brought two religions into the picture. And yet no mention of the elephant in the room:
Are you going to ignore that? Probably, because you’re afraid of being labeled *phobic.
You think this was a Pakistani or anti-Indian, pro-Pakistani doing? Possible, but unlikely in this situation. Maybe you want to think it’s Bangladeshis since India is hosting Bangladesh’s ex-prime minister even as she is absconding while wanted for murderous crimes against Bangladeshi protesters?
Lots of bomb threats directed at India’s domestic and international flights in recent days, and that too across a variety of Indian airlines:
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/10/16/india/bomb-threats-indian-airlines-canada-singapore-intl-hnk
YFB was previously a USAF base into the Reagan-Bush.
Maybe RCAF had spare lift for so many passengers and used it since it could take days to get a big enough charter to get them all out without housing them at a ice hockey rink or something like that. It’s not like Canadian North, Air Nunavut or Air Greenland have spare capacity to move so many down even to Ottawa, Montreal or anywhere else
I wouldn’t read in to the diplomatic gesture too much here. AI diverting to YFB isn’t like most US bound flights. UA 900 diverted in 2022, and UA was easily able to send up a replacement aircraft. When AF338 diverted, they sent another plane up from YUL. What exactly could AI do here?
Having been to Iqaluit before, I would surmise that space wasn’t the main issue. The needs of pax on an AI flight (mainly dietary) probably couldn’t be fulfilled up there. This was a humanitarian issue.
Also, Nunavut isn’t a remote province, it’s not a province at all… It’s a territory.
Personally, I’m on the side of increasing penalties for making such threats. Not to sound complacent, but security measures are already pretty robust and uniform nowadays (though I do find some to be quite questionable or ineffective). Adding security theatre just increases the logistical costs while doing nothing to add security. Better deterrence is necessary to send a message that such threats will not be tolerated.
On the other hand, I don’t know if this is a diplomatic olive branch. It’s just the Canadian authorities doing what needs to be done. Though the way it has played out between both countries has been unfortunate, and not all of the Modi government’s actions have necessarily been the right ones, Canada needs to do more to crack down on dodgy Khalistani militants. Only then will ties improve.