Cong leader lashes out at LTTE leader's statement

Pondicherry, June 29 (UNI) All India Congress Committee General Secretary V Narayanasamy today said the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) did not deserve the right to regret the assassination of Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Reacting to LTTE Chief Negotiator Anton Balasingham's statement, Mr Narayanasamy said the Tigers had targeted and assassinated Mr Gandhi. ''This was a henious crime which could neither be forgotten nor forgiven, he added.

The Centre, which had cited LTTE leader V Prabhakaran as the prime accused in the case, had written to the Sri Lankan Government to arrest him, he said in a statement here.

Mr Balasingham's request for India's intervention in the Sri Lankan issue, that too, after the failure of talks with the Lankan Government, was surprising.

The Congress leader said India was compassionate towards the Sri Lankan Tamils, but not towards the LTTE.

He asked the Centre to reject Mr Balasingham's requests to pardon the organisation and intervene in the Lankan issue.

UNI PAB PA DB1341