Who bombed the Hilton? Read Online Free PDF Page B

out to the world. Titled ‘Regarding a Fatal Bomb Explosion outside the Hilton Hotel’, he sends it first to the respective countries of the visiting Commonwealth heads of state, next to the secretary-general of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) in Paris, and then to every member country of Interpol. He asks simply for a ‘list of persons belonging to international organised gangs and who are known to be responsible for various types of violent crimes (bombings, assassination attempts, hostage taking etc.)’. 14
    In 1978 the telex is at its pinnacle and it connects the most remote places on the planet to each other. Yet despite the information being conveyed in real time, it cannot be responded to instantly. Without sophisticated computers and email to flit across the globe, hard-copy files need to be searched, experts consulted, responses compiled. It may be a slow form of evidence-gathering (some of the responses will take up to two or three weeks to arrive), but when answers do come, they are considered and disturbing.
    By the end of the day Norm Sheather sends Detective Superintendent Jim Black to face the press. He reports the accomplishment of lots of groundwork, the compilation of lots of statements, of messages sent to interstate police and to Interpol, but ‘No positive leads.’ 15

It all goes quiet

    Weirdly, almost by magic, the moment the top secret task force report is being compiled in late November 1977, all the violence stops. Stops not just in Australia, but everywhere else in the world. Up to that point, since late July 1977, when Sarkar’s first appeal was unsuccessful, to late November, there have been acts of violence or threats of violence either by Margiis or in their name in a dozen countries every two or three days — sometimes every day.
    Then abruptly, between 28 November 1977 1 and 7 February 1978, when an even greater wave of violence is unleashed, there is no recorded act of violence or threat of violence towards an Indian national anywhere in the world. The only thing to change in this 10-week window is that Sarkar’s second appeal is denied on 2 February 1978.
    So what were the authorities doing during thosetwo months? Doing what spies and secret police do best: spying.
    December 1977 and January 1978 see the two agencies charged with leading the surveillance on the sect — ASIO and New South Wales Special Branch — in covert operations heaven. There are wire-taps on Ananda Marga headquarters in every state. There are listening devices planted in their meeting places as well as in meditation and yoga centres. Cars are stationed outside gatherings, camps and training grounds and careful notes taken of each member’s comings and goings. While there is information collected from Ananda Marga in Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra and Perth, Sydney is the epicentre. ASIO regards it as ‘the focal point of Ananda Marga activity in Australia and also the location of most Margiis suspected of being capable of being involved in politically motivated violence’. 2
    Norm Sheather and the Hilton task force pore over the surveillance material ASIO and Special Branch gathered in the months leading up to the bombing. It’s hyper-detailed, consisting of members’ names, bank accounts, property holdings, photographs and transcripts of wire-taps. There are elaborate lists of dates and times, of members’ movements at a variety of Margii activities throughout January. All this material seems to indicate that something is going on. Just what that something may be is more difficult to ascertain.While they are carefully monitoring the imminent camp to be held at the Seventh Day Adventists’ Crosslands Youth and Convention Centre at Galston from 23 to 29 January, Special Branch gets a tip-off about another camp to be held earlier in January.
    Ananda Marga Inquiry — information received from reliable source concerning Paul