VANCOUVER, July 5, 2004
CP
An interpreter played down the graphic violence of a
speech given by an accused Air India bomber Monday and denied any history
of bloodshed between Hindus and Sikhs in India.
Defence witness Gian Singh Kotli translated a fiery
address given by Ajaib Singh Bagri at a gathering of Sikhs in Madison
Square Gardens where Bagri called for the murder of 50,000 "Hindu
dogs'' and former Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi.
Kotli's version of the speech differed from Crown translator
Surjeet Kaur Kalsey's version in several places.
According to Kalsey, who has four master's degrees,
Bagri told the crowd the families and children of Sikh betrayers should
be "crushed in crushers and reduced to pulp.''
"This is a total distortion and gives very violent
meaning to the sentence,'' Kotli said under cross-examination by the
Crown.
He said the Punjabi phrase in question meant to "destroy''
or "cause maximum harm.''
He also said Bagri was making a historical reference
to Sikh scripture when he said, "the scalps are removed with hoes.''
Kalsey's translation had Bagri telling the crowd, "when
the skin is scraped off the skull.''
Kotli became agitated several times during his testimony,
saying Cairns was trying to muddle him up with complicated questions.
He admitted to making multiple mistakes in his translation,
but insisted the Crown translator had misunderstood the historical context
of several words and idioms.
Bagri and Ripudaman Singh Malik are charged with murder
and conspiracy in two June 23, 1985, bombings that targeted Air India
and killed 331 people.
Kotli also denied any longstanding religiously based
violence between Hindus and Sikhs.
"So everything was just fine between Sikhs and
Hindus?'' asked Crown prosecutor Richard Cairns.
"Yes,'' Kotli replied, though he said politicians
may have tried to stir up religious violence after Cairns read him several
newspaper accounts of Hindu-Sikh violence during the mid-1980s.
Kotli worked for Malik in the 1990s teaching at his
school and his wife is still employed there. He denied he was biased
in any way.
"I am here for justice and not to support anyone,''
he said.
Kotli was the first witness Bagri's defence team has
called since opening its case. In earlier testimony, he disputed the
accuracy of explanations given in the Punjabi-English dictionary.