Malik murder no consolation for Air India victims' families

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On July 15, 2022, Ripudaman Singh Malik was shot dead while sitting in his car outside his place of work. As one of the two men acquitted in 2005 of being part of the conspiracy to bring down Air India Flight 182 the media naturally sought reaction from people sympathetic with the victims of Canada's worst mass murder. 

Kim Bolan: Reporting on the case
Kim Bolan has been reporting on the case since 1985. Check out her initial report here. It turns out the police were pursuing a number of leads and, on July 27, two men with a history of violence were charged with the homicide. We'll see what the investigation reveals in terms of the motive behind the crime. The murder has all the hallmarks of professional hit.

​Bolan makes an important point at the end of her article on the arrest of the alleged murderers, "Postmedia has spoken to more than a dozen people who know Malik or worked on the investigation into the June 23, 1985, Air India bombing that left 329 dead. None believed that Malik’s murder, which they all described as shocking, had anything to do the terrorist plot 37 years ago."

Ujial Dosanjh: Reveals his thoughts on the murder of Malik
In this CITY NEWS Vancouver article, former B.C Premier Ujial Doshanjh says, "The judge made clear to Mr. Malik and Mr. (Ajaib Singh) Bagri, the co-accused, that the fact that the Crown and the police had not been able to prove beyond reasonable doubt did not mean that they had not committed the offence.”  When asked about Malik’s death specifically, Dosanjh said, “I don’t think that that’s appropriate for anyone to kill anybody for any reason whatsoever, except in self-defence under appropriate circumstances. I don’t rejoice at his death, I don’t think anyone would.” He added, “The Air India families particularly wouldn’t [find comfort in his death] because they would have loved to have seen him and others tried for the Air India crime and convicted and jailed.”

Chandrima Chakraborty: A poignant take on the death of Malik
Meanwhile Dr. Chandrima Chakraborty, a leading scholar studying the Air India tragedy from a myriad of different perspectives, gave this poignant interview on the CBC. She makes the point that no one sympathetic with the Air India victims' families would want to see Malik murdered. In fact, she hopes the perpetrators are caught and brought to justice so that the Malik family can find some comfort and closure (something the Air India families have never experienced). The Air India families have always wanted justice and murder isn't justice. She goes on to speak about how, years later, the Air India tragedy continues to fail to resonate with Canadians.