OTTAWA - The Canadian government Monday dodged demands for a public inquiry, five days after two Sikhs were acquitted of murdering 329 people when a bomb ripped through an Air India jumbo jet in 1985.
In the House of Commons, two opposition party leaders, Conservative Stephen Harper and New Democrat Jack Layton, demanded answers.
But Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan, also the minister responsible for public security, suggested an inquiry would not be helpful.
Carefully dodging a direct response to the demands for a public inquiry, McLellan said "there are many lessons to be learned from that tragedy," adding: "In the past 20 years, we have learned a lot."
Harper insisted that there should be "a full public inquiry" if any appeal, currently being mulled by prosecutors in Vancouver, British Columbia, is unsuccessful.
Layton said it was obvious there should be "an open and transparent process" to determine what happened in 1985.
But McLellan hit back, saying "it is not clear (what could be) learned from a public inquiry."
Two Indian-born Sikhs were last week cleared in court in Vancouver of involvement in the downing of the Boeing 747 off the coast of Ireland. The plane had taken off from Vancouver.
Another bomb had exploded at Japan's Narita airport, killing two baggage handlers transferring suitcases to another Air India flight.
The cost of the criminal probe in Canada and the subsequent trial has been estimated at 100 million dollars (82 million US).
McLellan did appear to leave open a small possibility that she might eventually agree to some sort of judicial investigation.
She told Layton that she has offered to meet with the families of the Air India bombing "and then think of the best way to move forward."
Families of passengers who perished, in both Canada and India, have demanded a government investigation.
"The perpetrators of this crime are free men today, they have made a mockery of the Canadian justice system," Eddie Maddon, whose father Sam died in the tragedy, said last week.
"If the two accused who were narrowed down after a lot of investigation are not the culprits, then who is it," asked Bollywood actor Vijayendra Ghatge, whose sister Sangeeta died in the mid-air tragedy.
Prosecutors failed to persuade a judge that the two men worked with a Sikh group to build suitcase bombs on Vancouver Island, then planted the explosives on two flights from Vancouver that connected with Air India planes.
03/21/2005 20:40 GMT