HVK Archives: Canadian newspaper publisher is shot dead
Canadian newspaper publisher is shot dead - India Abroad
Ajit Jain
()
November 27, 1998
Title: Canadian newspaper publisher is shot dead
Author: Ajit Jain
Publication: India Abroad
Date: November 27, 1998
Tara Singh Hayer, 64, publisher of Canada's largest circulated
Punjabi newspaper, the Indo-Canadian Times, and recipient of the
Order of Canada, Canada's highest civilian award, was shot dead
in the garage of his suburban Surrey home, near Vancouver, Nov.
18.
Hayer had been partially paralysed in 1988 when there was an
assassination attempt on him. A 17-year-old refugee claimant was
charged in that incident who, after serving jail time, was
deported to India.
In a 30-minute interview on Nov. 20, Constable Grant Learned of
the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) told India Abroad that
"when we responded (to the call) we found Mr. Hayer was in his
vehicle, just the door was open, like he was in the process of
just getting out of his vehicle."
On the basis of the autopsy report, Grant confirmed that Hayer
"had suffered a gunshot and he had died instantly." Some
published reports are claiming that a "hit list" exists of seven
people on which Hayer-was reportedly included.
When asked whether there is any such "hit list," Learned said,
"There is so much of misleading information being circulated.
There has been to my knowledge no physical hit list prepared by
any one or any group identifying specific names."
Learned, however, referred to the edict issued by Jathedar Ranjit
Singh, head of the Akal Takht in Amritsar, back in April in which
he excommunicated seven people, including Hayer, for their
defying the ban on the use of tables and chairs in the "langar
room" of gurdwaras.
"What came to us through our own sources was that there are
people who have been identified as potential victims of violence
and confrontation," Learned went on. "Hayer's name was one of the
individuals who came to our attention at that time and Tara
(Hayer), along with other individuals, were contacted by our
office. The issues of their security was discussed with them."
According to published reports, besides Hayer, other persons who
were excommunicated by Ranjit Singh, are: Jarnail Singh Bhandal,
who's now a candidate for the presidency of Vancouver's Ross
Avenue gurdwara in the forthcoming elections: Kashmir Singh
Dhaliwal, Harkirat Singh, Balwant Singh Gill, Preet Sandhu, and
Ratn Gitran.
The RCMP has launched an international manhunt for the killers of
Hayer. It has opened a national "tip line" open 24 hours a day
from any part of Canada. It has also contacted all its liaison
officers in other countries where there are concentrations of
Sikhs. It is in touch with its officers in India.
Since the national "tip line" in Canada was opened, up to Nov. 20
the RCMP had received two dozen tips. Hayer's son, David Hayer,
is quoted in newspaper reports as saying that the killers are the
same so-called fundamentalists involved in the 1985 crash of an
Air-India plane into the Atlantic, apparently due to a bomb, and
in recent violence in temples.
Addressing a press conference on Nov. 19, he reportedly traced
the violence that took his father's life to the top ranks of Sikh
fundamentalism.
Tara Singh Hayer's daughter-in-law, Isabelle Hayer, reportedly
called the killers "worthless cowards," responsible for not only
killing an honorable Canadian, a journalism father, grandfather
and husband, but also for branding the, Indo-Canadian community
as violent terrorists.
British Columbia Attorney General Ujjal Singh Dosangh, who
himself was subject to assault with iron pipes several years ago
when he was a practicing attorney, is quoted in published reports
as saying that he Was deeply shaken by the killing.
He said he had known Hayer for a long time. The two had disagreed
on many occasions, he said, and Hayer as a journalist may have
caused discomfort to some people. In a separate statement from
his Ottawa office, Federal Minister of Revenue Herb Dhaliwal,
himself a Sikh and also from Vancouver, expressed "shock and
sadness" over Hayer's killing.
Tarsem Singh Purewal, national coordinator of the Ottawa-based
Sikh Professional Association of Canada, also noted "with great
shock and sorrow" the death of Hayer.
In an editorial, the Vancouver Sun newspaper argued that Hayer's
death "is an especially frightening event for people in the
newspaper business."
"We believe he is the first Canadian journalist to be killed for
his views. People at newspapers and magazines often publish
material that angers some readers, and occasionally there are
threats. Freedom of the press means nothing if we don't stand up
to such threats," the Sun wrote in an editorial titled "A man of
courage pays for his principles."
In an editorial tribute tided "He also had a dream," the
Vancouver Province said, 'The public often perceives journalists
as a hardened lot; quick to criticize, sensationalize. But like
most news coverage, reporters harbor another side, visible when
tragedy strikes."
And the Toronto Star tided its editorial as "Murdering free
speech."
"Through his paper, the Indo-Canadian Times, Hayer never shrank
from wading in on heated political and religious disputes," the
Star stated. "He took on Sikh spiritual leaders in India,
Khalistani separatists and Sikhs who he believed were sowing
division in the community." It suggested that "angry rhetoric,
demonization of people who hold different views and appeals to
violence have no place in our country, as most Sikhs understand.
Left unchallenged. they are a cancer that cats at the
commonwealth."
The National Post, a national daily, devoted almost three pages
in its issue of Nov. 20 to reporting about Hayer's tragedy. One
of the stories in this paper is headlined "Death of a most
radical moderate."
Hayer's funeral is slated for Nov. 28.
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