Frustrated Canada judge may quit Air India case

OTTAWA, Feb 19 (Reuters) The head of a Canadian inquiry into the 1985 Air India bombing today threatened to quit unless the government declassified documents it has claimed must be kept secret for security reasons.

The commissioner, former Supreme Court Justice John Major, said the issue hampered his examination of the security lapses that allowed the explosion, which killed 329 people in history's deadliest bombing of a passenger airliner.

''If the documents remain, in a manner of speaking, blacked out, there is no way I can carry out my mandate, and if this remains I will communicate my view to the prime minister after assessing the state of affairs on March 5,'' Major said.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who appointed Major last year, told Parliament that federal law prevented the release of a limited number of documents.

But he said that, as a result of Major's statement, he had given instructions that government departments apply the law in as ''non-restrictive'' -- or uncensored -- a manner as possible.

Air India Flight 182, originating in Canada, blew up off the Atlantic coast of Ireland on June 23, 1985. A near-simultaneous attack aimed at a second Air India flight killed two Tokyo airport workers.

The attacks were believed to be the work of Sikh militants in revenge for India's storming of the Golden Temple in 1984.

Major's inquiry is not to find the perpetrators but to find out what went wrong to allow the bombings.

Two Vancouver Sikh separatists were found not guilty in 2005 of murder charges in the case. Their trial heard that fighting between Canada's spy agency and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police hampered the investigation.

Relatives of the victims demanded the inquiry after the trial.

Reuters PKS VP0230