The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) of Sri Lanka has
accepted responsibility for the assassination of former Indian
Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and apologized for it, according to New
Delhi TV Tuesday.
"As far as that event is concerned, I would say it is a great
tragedy, a monumental historical tragedy for which we deeply regret
and we call upon the Government of India and people of India to be
magnanimous to put the past behind and to approach the ethnic
question in a different perspective," said Anton Balasingham, LTTE
chief negotiator to the dialogue for peace with the government of
Sri Lanka in an exclusive interview by the TV in an undisclosed
location in Europe.
Asked whether LTTE's unhappiness over the accord between the two
states led to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, Anton Balasingham
said "No. It happened later on. What has happened is, since we
rejected the Sri Lankan accord there were a lot of events that took
place creating a gulf between the LTTE and the Government of India
and the Indians later sent the Indian Peace Keeping Force to disarm
the LTTE and eventually broke out into an open confrontation."
"We fought a guerrilla war against the Indian army for two years
and finally the Sri Lankans. We had a negotiation with Sri Lanka
and secured the withdrawal of the Indian troops and of course
finally it was followed by the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi,"
Anton said.
Anton emphasized, "LTTE were not very happy with the political
solution proposed by India because it did not satisfy the political
aspirations of our people."
"If India has offered a federal solution as she has in her own
country then we would have definitely responded positively, but the
provincial administration suggested by India was totally inadequate
to meet the demands of the Tamil people. So that's why we did not
support the accord," he said.
Asked if the LTTE can give any sort of assurance to India that
this kind of a thing won't happen again, Balasingham said, "we have
made pledges to the government of India that under no circumstances
we will act against the interest of the Indian Government."
But the Indian government rufused LTTE's apology for killing
Rajiv Gandhi.
"The people of India cannot forget the dastardly crime that was
committed by the LTTE," said Indian Minister of State for External
Affairs Anand Sharma when interviewed by NDTV.
Responding to Balasingham's plea to India to show "magnanimity",
Sharma said, "that would be tantamount to endorsing the philosophy
of terror, violence and political assassination."
Rajiv Gandhi was killed at an election rally at Sriperumbudur
near Chennai, capital of south India's Tamil Nadu, by a female
suicide bomber on May 21, 1991. The LTTE had initially denied any
involvement in the killing.
(Xinhua News Agency June 28, 2006)
