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From: kammula@plato.engr.umbc.edu (Chandra Sekhar Kammula)
Newsgroups: misc.news.southasia
Subject: India: 6/30, R.Gandhi Assassination traced...
Message-ID: <Jun.30.21.17.36.1991.5620@remus.rutgers.edu>
Date: 30 Jun 91 23:23:04 GMT
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Approved: gaddam@remus.rutgers.edu (surekha reddy gaddam)


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Country: INDIA
Subj:    GANDHI ASSASSINATION TRACED TO SRI LANKA'S TAMIL TIGER SUPREMO:
         INDIA MAGAZINE
Source:  [NEWSCLIPS/INFO.SERVICES.MAIL] MAIL/USA 
Date: Sun, 30 Jun 91 19:23:04 EDT
From: Chandra Sekhar Kammula <kammula@plato.engr.umbc.edu
==========================================================

 
 Subj:   GANDHI ASSASSINATION TRACED TO SRI LANKA'S TAMIL TIGER SUPREMO:
         INDIA MAGAZINE
 
 
 NEW DELHI (JUNE 29) - The plot to murder Rajiv Gandhi was hatched in October
 1990, and his assassination last month was ordered by the supremo of Sri
 Lanka's Tamil Tigers, an Indian magazine said Saturday. 
 
 Velupillai Prabhakaran decided to eliminate Mr. Gandhi the moment it became 
 clear the National Front coalition which succeeded the slain premier's 
 Congress (I) party in November 1989 was going to collapse, India Today said. 
 
 The leadership of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) met in its 
 forest hideouts in northeastern Sri Lanka and decided that the chances of the 
 Congress (I) coming back to power were "now almost certain", the magazine said.
 
 In an exhaustive investigation, the respected fortnightly magazine said the 
 rebel group feared Mr. Gandhi's return could mean a possible reintroduction of 
 Indian troops into Sri Lanka and a certain crackdown on the LTTE network in 
 India's southern Tamil Nadu state. 
 
 There was no immediate official comment on the report, but detectives 
 connected with the government's investigation into the slaying said it 
 appeared to be accurate. 
 
 In mid-1987, Mr. Gandhi, acting under an accord reached with Colombo, 
 despatched thousands of troops to Sri Lanka to end the Tamil separatist 
 campaign spearheaded by the LTTE. 
 
 Indian troops went on the offensive after the LTTE rejected the accord, 
 refusing to lay down arms and were recalled in March 1990 by the National 
 Front government of Mr. Gandhi's successor Vishwanath Pratap Singh. 
 
 The Front alliance was voted out by parliament in November 1990 after it lost
 a working majority and was succeeded by a breakaway faction which ruled for
 four months with the support of the Congress (I). 
 
 "Even before the National Front government collapsed, the LTTE had made up its
 mind to prevent Rajiv Gandhi from regaining power even if it required the 
 ultimate deterrent -- his assassination," India Today said in its latest issue.
 
 Mr. Gandhi was murdered May 21 in the Tamil Nadu town of Sriperumpudur, by a 
 woman suicide bomber in the midst of an election campaign. 
 
 India Today said the team involved in the assassination was personally put 
 together by Mr. Prabhakaran, the charismatic leader of the guerrilla group. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Subj:   REPORT SAYS ISRAELIS TRAVELED TO KASHMIR FOR ATTACK ON PAKISTANI
         NUCLEAR PLANT
 
 
 ISLAMABAD (JUNE 29) - Pakistan said Saturday it was "intrigued" by the 
 presence of Israeli tourists in the violence-torn Indian state of Kashmir, 
 following a press reports suggesting they were there to sabotage a nearby 
 Pakistani nuclear facility. 
 
 "Of course we are intrigued by the situation," a foreign office spokesman said 
 here. 
 
 "It is hard to believe that so ma foreigners were present there enjoying the
 scenic beauty in the valley in such a situation." 
 
 One Israeli was killed and another kidnapped after a group of eight young 
 Israelis was attacked Wednesday night on their houseboat in picturesque Dal 
 Lake. 
 
 But six Israelis managed to escape after a struggle broke out that resulted in
 the death of two of their would-be kidnappers, militants of the Jammu and 
 Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF). 
 
 The JKLF is one of a number of groups fighting to separate India's only 
 Moslem-majority state from Indian control. 
 
 An intensive search was underway Saturday for the missing Israeli, 25-year-old
 Yair Yitzhaki, of Jerusalem. 
 
 Meanwhile, a local English language daily, The Muslim, said the tourists were
 in fact "elite Israeli commandos".                                                            
 Wednesday's incident may have destroyed a covert Israeli plan to somehow 
 interfere with Pakistan's nuclear major facility at Kahuta, just 20 kilometres 
 (12 miles) from the border with Indian Kashmir, The Muslim said in a report 
 from Washington. 

End of Article