India rejects Lankan rebels' apology over Rajiv Gandhi's assassination
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
New Delhi, June 28, IRNA
India-LTTE-Apology
India has rejected the Sri Lankan rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) apology for the dastardly crime of killing former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on May 21, 1991.
Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma rejected the Tamil rebel group's plea, saying forgiving the LTTE for the "dastardly crime" would be "tantamount to endorsing its philosophy of terror, violence and political assassinations."
Sharma said the remarks of Balasingham amount to a "confession" of the rebel group for its "complicity" in Gandhi`s assassination which was a "well-known fact" over the last 15 years with LTTE cadres having been convicted in the case.
On the LTTE's plea that India put the past behind, the minister said the "people of India cannot forget the dastardly crime which was committed by the LTTE or at their behest."
Sharma said the LTTE "still continues to believe in the politics of terror and violence."
On Gandhi's assassination on May 21, 1991, LTTE's London-based chief negotiator Anton Balasingham Tuesday told private Indian news channel New Delhi Television (NDTV) that "as far as that event is concerned, I would say it is a great tragedy, a monumental historical tragedy for which we deeply regret."
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