Soft Target (book)
Soft Target: How the Indian Intelligence Service Penetrated Canada is an investigative journalism work in the form of a book written by two Canadian reporters Zuhair Kashmeri (from The Globe and Mail) & Brian McAndrew (from Toronto Star). The authors define Soft Target as "an espionage term used for any country, institution or group of people very easy to penetrate and manipulate for subversive purposes"[1] and argue that the Canadian Sikh community was a "Soft Target" of a covert operation by the Indian government during the 1980s. The book also makes a bold claim that Indian intelligence agencies not only penetrated the Sikh community in order to discredit them worldwide and halt the momentum of the demand of an independent Sikh state, but also manipulated the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).[1]
 | |
| Author | Zuhair Kashmeri & Brian McAndrew |
|---|---|
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Investigative Journalism, Espionage, Canadian Sikhs, Canadian History |
| Publisher | James Lorimer & Company |
Publication date | 1989 and reprint in 2005 |
| Media type | Print Paperback & Cloth |
| Pages | 162 |
| ISBN | 1-55028-221-2 (Paperback 1989) & 1-55028-904-7 (2005) |
| Followed by | Reprint in 2005 |
The 1989 edition is partitioned into 10 chapters. The authors claim that although the book is written in the form of a spy-thriller, all of the facts and documentation are real.
India conspiracy
Inderjit Singh Reyat, the only person convicted of in the Air India Flight 182 bombing, is seen in the book being fed a story by Indian government agents. While Reyat's official testimony was contradictory, at one point Reyat claimed that a man staying at his home bought the tuner and took it when he left. Reyat said he did not know the man's name.[2]
The book claims that within hours after the flight was blown up, the Globe and Mail received a call from Toronto Indian Consul General Surinder Malik with a detailed description of the bombing and the names of those he said were involved. Malik claimed his source was the Indian intelligence network, which had traced the methods of planting the bombs and the identity of the culprits.[3]
Use by SIRC in Official Investigation
Canada's Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC) investigated Soft Target's description of events surrounding Flight 182 and concluded "the CSIS information it examined was insufficient to establish a conspiracy against Air India sponsored by foreign governments, in particular the Government of India."[4]
Banning in India
The Telegraph reported that Soft Target was banned in India for "obvious reasons".[5]
References
- Zuhair, Kashmeri; McAndrew, Brian (1989). Soft Target: How the Indian Intelligence Service Penetrated Canada. James Lorimer & Company. ISBN 1-55028-221-2.
- Matas, Robert. "Reyat didn't buy tuner used in Narita bombing, testimony revealed". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
- Kashmeri, Zuhair; McAndrew, Brian (2005). Soft target : the real story behind the Air India disaster (2nd. ed.). Toronto: J. Lorimer. ISBN 978-1550289046.
In the Globe article, he claimed that his source was the Indian intelligence network, which had traced the methods of planting the bombs and the identity of the culprits within hours
- "TERRORISM, INTELLIGENCE AND LAW ENFORCEMENT – CANADA'S RESPONSE TO SIKH TERRORISM DOSSIER 2" (PDF). Commission of Inquiry into the Investigation of the Bombing of Air India Flight 182. p. 26. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 March 2009. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
- "Publish and be banned". www.telegraphindia.com. July 18, 2010. Retrieved 10 October 2017.