Hijacker rejected in his bid to practice law.

January 21 2010 by Liam Clifford

Hijackers character called into question over application to practice law in Canada.

A convicted hijacker who served 10 years in a Pakistani jail has been told that he does not possess sufficient ‘good character’ to be allowed to practice law in Ontario, Canada.

The man, Parminder Singh Saini, was originally sentenced to death for his role in the 1984 Air India flight hijacking, but consequently had his punishment cut to a life sentence.

Mr Saini was the leader of a militant Sikh ‘student’ group that carried out the hijacking of the plane, bound for New Delhi from Srinagar. The plane was carrying 264 people and was diverted to UAE. The motives behind the act related to the Sikh secessionist struggle in the state of Punjab, after negotiations by the UAE all hostages were released without harm.

Saini originally came to Canada under false documents in 1995, he subsequently spent considerable time being held by Canada immigration and evidently fighting his deportation. It was while being detained that he achieved a law degree from the University of Windsor and a political-science degree from York University.

Although the man appears to have appeased the Canadian immigration authorities, the Ontario law society’s decision said that Mr Saini’s Canada immigration record and the ‘horrendous’ crime of hijacking a plane meant that he was assessed as not being a suitable person to be practising law in the territory of Ontario.

It can be safely assumed that, as was the case with Canada immigration, the man will appeal the law society’s decision.

See the latest Immigration News