Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wrapped up his historic visit to Canada by paying respects to Air India victims and urging Indo-Canadians to move on from the divisive homeland events that preceded the terrorist attacks a quarter-century ago.

Mr. Singh, who is the first Indian Prime Minister to visit in 37 years – the last was Indira Gandhi – made two stops before leaving Toronto after the G20 summit. The first was a candid meeting with Indo-Canadian MPs and provincial legislators at Toronto’s Royal York hotel, where he expressed India’s pride in their political successes and those of Indo-Canadians in general.

Mr. Singh then visited Toronto’s Air India memorial, where he laid a wreath and briefly met with relatives of the 331 victims of the 1985 bombings. His visit coincided with the 25th anniversary of the bombings and came just over a week after Mr. Justice John Major’s sweeping report into the tragedy.

The gesture by Mr. Singh took place just days after Prime Minister Stephen Harper stood at the same spot and formally apologized for Canada's failure to stop the worst terrorist attack in the country's history.

Monday's event was a much smaller and lower-key affair, apparently due to the Indian government's insistence on tight security. Only nine relatives were in attendance – each personally invited by India, with no explanation of why they were chosen and others not.

Deepak Khandelwal, whose two sisters were killed aboard Flight 182, said he appreciated that Mr. Singh made time for a brief visit to the memorial. “When he talked to the families he reiterated his commitment to stand against terrorism globally, which I was pleased to hear,” he said.

Family members also asked Mr. Singh to erect a memorial to the victims in India, to add to those in Canada and Ireland.

The masterminds of the 1985 Air India bombings supported a separate Sikh state in India, a movement that had led a year earlier to an Indian army attack on the holiest Sikh shrine, the Golden Temple. Months later, the assassination of then-prime-minister Indira Gandhi by Sikh bodyguards set off anti-Sikh riots in which 2,700 people were killed.

Sikhs have long complained that India hasn’t done enough to bring the perpetrators to justice, but on Monday Mr. Singh said he has apologized and that it is time to move on.

“These are horrible crimes. They should have never happened,” he said about the anti-Sikh riots during the gathering of nearly two dozen Indo-Canadian federal and provincial politicians. “We cannot take away from our past, but the challenge is how to move ahead.”

The Prime Minister, a Sikh himself, said “constant reminders” of the period are not helpful to Sikhs or the wider Indian community.

The leader’s comments did not sit well with Sikh groups, who said they have worked hard to marginalize extremists, renounce violence and promote Canadian-style human rights. India, as a growing power on the world stage, needs to make the same effort, they said.

“You can’t move forward as a democracy unless you address past wrongdoings,” said Balpreet Singh Boparai, a Toronto lawyer and World Sikh Organization spokesman.

Ontario Government Services Minister Harinder Takhar and Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh gave Mr. Singh a warm welcome, but raised several bilateral irritants. Mr. Takhar said Indo-Canadians sometimes run into problems with business and marriage fraud in India. Mr. Dosanjh, who has challenged Sikh extremism throughout his career, welcomed Mr. Singh’s comments on the issue during his visit.

“There are elements both in India and abroad that continue to undermine both the unity and integrity of India and in fact the fabric of the community abroad,” he said.

Toronto, June 26 (PTI) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said there are some elements "wedded to terrorism" outside India, including in Canada, who try to keep the issue of Sikh militancy alive and asked Ottawa to curb such anti-India activities from its soil.

"Sikh extremism, separatism and militancy were a problem in India more than two decades ago. Today, Punjab is at peace and there is growth and prosperity.

There are, however, some elements outside India, including in Canada, who try to keep this issue alive for their own purposes. In many cases, such elements have links to or are themselves wedded to terrorism," Singh, who is here to attend the G-20 Summit told Toronto Star in an interview.

Singh, a Sikh himself, has asked Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in at least two of his three bilateral meetings, to crack down on Sikh extremists in Canada, the newspaper said.