While B.C. Supreme Court Justice Ian Bruce Josephson has found the two Sikh suspects in the Air India bombing not guilty, their trial has brought into focus the involvement of Sikh militants in the worst mass murder in Canadian history. Some Sikh leaders in Canada and India are celebrating the acquittals, but should they instead be using their time to take a more critical look at Sikh terrorism and the limits of forgiveness?

The court acquitted Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri for want of evidence while the third Sikh suspect, Inderjit Singh Reyat, has already been convicted. Malik and Bagri were charged for conspiracy to bomb an Air India jet in June 1985. Reyat pleaded guilty and got a five-year sentence. He was accused of making the bomb used in the crime.

The fourth suspect, Talwinder Singh Parmar, died in a police encounter in India in 1992. The crime was in response to the storming of the Golden Temple, the Sikhs' holiest shrine, by the Indian army in 1984. This followed the assassination of then-Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi by two Sikh bodyguards. Her assassination sparked anti-Sikh riots in different parts of India.

Inderjit Singh Reyat admitted that he made the bomb for Parmar because he was disturbed with the "persecution of Sikhs" back home. The verdict for Malik and Bagri is being welcomed by Sikh hardliners, who claim it is a victory for the Sikhs and an exoneration of the entire community from the stigma of being terrorists. Besides local Sikh fundamentalist leaders, the Sikh clergy in India is also celebrating. Jagir Kaur, the head of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the apex religious body of the Sikhs, issued a statement welcoming the verdict. According to her, this crime was the handiwork of forces that wanted to defame the entire Sikh community.

None of these leaders made mention of Reyat or Parmar. Apparently, they are either in a state of denial or they are distancing themselves from these two men, who supported the notion of Khalistan, the imaginary homeland of the Sikhs.

Reyat is a devout Sikh, like Malik and Bagri. Parmar was a devout Sikh, too. The Crown and the defence team agreed that he was a mastermind in the Air India bombing. The fact remains that most of them supported Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the Ayatollah Khomeini of the Sikhs. Bhindranwale had laid the foundation of Sikh militancy. He openly spewed venom against the Hindus. To achieve his goal, he had fortified the Golden Temple. This was the reason the Indian army attacked the temple.

The SGPC has accepted Bhindranwale as a hero of the Sikhs. Ironically, the clergy has excommunicated several writers and moderate Sikhs, while the people who targeted Hindus are considered heroes.

The clergy did not react when Reyat pleaded guilty. Wasn't it appropriate for the clergy to excommunicate Reyat for admitting his involvement in a crime that killed innocent passengers, including Sikhs? Why didn't the clergy issue edicts against the Sikh terrorists who hijacked buses in Punjab and gunned down innocent Hindu passengers more than once?

Before 9/11, the Air India bombing was the worst mass murder in the history of aviation terrorism. The people who did it are not the true followers of the Sikh religion. They are enemies of the faith. Malik and Bagri may be innocent, but Bagri had threatened to kill 50,000 Hindus. Did the clergy ever think to excommunicate him?

If the Sikh clergy is happy with the verdict, they should disown Reyat and Bagri, like they have disowned several moderate Sikhs. That the Sikh leaders won't say a word about Reyat, Parmar, and the hate speech of Bagri only reflects their conspiracy of silence.