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EDITORIAL: Out of the limelight

There’s a lot to be said for owning up to one’s past mistakes.
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There’s a lot to be said for owning up to one’s past mistakes.

Most of us have experienced a misstep or misjudgment along the way, and while some opt for denial, the better among us will acknowledge our errors, accept the consequences and proceed with life.

In the case of Jaspal Atwal – convicted for an act of terror in 1986 in which he attempted to murder a cabinet minister from India visiting Vancouver Island – the local man has indeed learned from his most heinous mistakes, if comments made at a press conference are to be believed.

You might have heard of Atwal in the past month, after his invitation to attend Canadian government functions in India – facilitated by Surrey Centre MP Randeep Sarai – became somewhat of an international incident, embarrassing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and becoming a topic for criticism nationwide and beyond.

Having heard enough, evidently, Atwal and his attorney Rishi Gill held a news conference in Vancouver last week to express shock and devastation at the way this story has played out in the media.

Reading from a prepared statement, Atwal said: ““I’m sorry for the embarrassment this matter has caused to Canada, India, my community, and family and friends… I want to again stress this terrible event that happened in the past is something I live with every day and I take complete responsibility for.”

The right words.

Unfortunately, those words were followed by many more, with both Atwal and Gill stressing that the attempted murder in question happened “almost four decades ago” and that the media is in the wrong not to drop the story now.

Perhaps. And had Atwal faded out of the limelight once he paid his dues, perhaps one could make the argument that he has some right to privacy. Yet his face keeps popping up again and again and again, being photographed with various politicians at all levels, much to to the elected officials’ chagrin.

We can only hope that, based on his being “completely overwhelmed” by this latest round of media coverage, we will have both seen and heard the last of Jaspal Atwal.

But we encourage him to accept that – like all of us – he will be membered in history for his most public actions, whether they were good deeds or bad, regardless of how much time has passed.