The Eighties in America - Salem Press (2009)

leader of a militant Sikh separatist group called
Babbar Khalsa. The focus of this violent organiza-
tion was to establish Punjab, India, as an indepen-
dent state for Sikhs.
In 1983, Parmar was indicted in India for killing
two Indian police officers. After he spent a year in Ca-
nadian jail, however, the Canadian government re-
fused to extradite him to India. Parmar was closely
watched by the Canadian Security Intelligence Ser-
vice (CSIS) as a result of various suspicious activities.
Less than a month before the bombings, CSIS ob-
served Parmar and Inderjit Singh Reyat enter the
woods in Vancouver Island. The agents then heard a
loud noise, which they assumed to be the pair firing
guns. Shortly after the bombing, the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police searched Parmar and Reyat’s dwell-
ings and charged the men with possession of weapons
and explosives, as well as conspiracy. Both men were
released after paying fines. In 1992, Parmar was killed
in a reported gunfire exchange in India. There was
never sufficient evidence to charge Parmar with the
Air India bombings, despite the Canadians’ belief
that he was the leader of the conspiracy.
Out of the four main suspects in the Air India
bombings, Inderjit Singh Reyat was the only one
convicted for the crimes. Reyat’s involvement began
when he started receiving phone calls from Parmar
and others who were known to be Sikh extremists. In
1990, he was charged with manslaughter for the To-
kyo Airport bombing and was found guilty and sen-
tenced to ten years in prison. Reyat was later charged
with murder in the Flight 182 case; he pleaded guilty
to a lesser charge and was sentenced to five years in
prison. Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh
Bagri were also charged for the Air India bombings,
but they were found not guilty on all counts.

Impact The Air India Flight 182 bombing alerted
people around the world to the potential implica-
tions of religious disputes in seemingly distant coun-
tries. It confirmed that in a decade witnessing the
rise of globalism, terror too was becoming global,
and it illustrated the dangers posed by terrorist or-
ganizations to neutral or third-party nations. The
bombing forced the Canadian government to in-
crease its security precautions at airports and else-
where in the country, and it gave pause to other na-
tions as well.

Subsequent Events A new investigation on the Air
India bombings was launched in 2005 by Jack Mayor,

a retired Canadian Supreme Court justice. The in-

vestigation’s primary objectives were to evaluate the

circumstances of the incident, to determine if justice

was served by the trials of those accused, and to con-

clude whether the incident could occur again de-

spite modern precautions.

Further Reading

Dobson, Christopher, and Ronald Payne. “The

Golden Temple (India).” InThe Never-Ending War:

Terrorism in the 1980’s. New York: Facts on File,

1987. Examination of Indian Sikh terrorism in
      the 1980’s, especially in the wake of the raid on
      the Golden Temple; part of a general study of ter-
      rorism in the 1980’s.
      Laqueur, Walter.Terrorism: A Study of National and In-
      ternational Political Violence. Boston: Little, Brown,


1988. A comprehensive look at the intersections
      of nationalist and international politics and ter-
      rorism.
      Netanyahu, Benjamin.Fighting Terrorism.New York:
      Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001. This overview of
      terrorism in the 1980’s and 1990’s provides de-
      tails of terrorist activity in the Middle East, Can-
      ada, and the United States.
      Tusty Zohra

See also Air traffic controllers’ strike; Foreign pol-

icy of Canada; Immigration to Canada; Minorities in

Canada; Pan Am Flight 103 bombing; Religion and

spirituality in Canada; Terrorism.

Air pollution

Identification Contamination of the air with

human-generated gases or particles

Air pollution continued to be a serious environmental prob-

lem during the 1980’s. The issue aroused a good deal of po-

litical debate, as the Reagan administration relaxed or

failed to enforce some standards.

During the 1970’s, the United States made progress

in dealing with air pollution and other environmen-

tal problems. The Clean Air Act of 1970 gave the En-

vironmental Protection Agency (EPA) authority to

define and implement environmental standards.

For the rest of the decade, the country made mea-

surable progress, and air quality had improved by

1980. Nonetheless, much remained to be done. Fac-

The Eighties in America Air pollution
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