Lanka promises to give India Prabhakaran's death certificate
21 May 2009, 1914 hrs IST, PTI
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka has promised to give the certificate regarding LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran's death to close the Rajiv Gandhi
assassination case, India's national security adviser M K Narayanan said on Thursday.
He said India was going by public statements from the Sri Lankan government that Prabhakaran, 54, had been killed in combat in the island's northeast earlier in the week and had no reason to doubt Colombo's announcement.
Narayanan told reporters here after talks with President Mahinda Rajapaksa that the Sri Lankan government has made a public announcement on Prabhakaran's death.
"We will go by that. We will of course wait for a death certificate from the government so that Rajiv assassination case can be sort of closed," said Narayanan, who arrived here yesterday along with foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon.
"Beyond that, it is not possible for us to do anything. They have promised to give us a formal death certificate with regard to Prabhakaran," he added.
Asked if Sri Lanka had failed to abide by the April 27 assurance to India that it will not use heavy weapons in the battle against Tamil Tigers, foreign secretary Menon said: "We are not in a position to confirm or deny these allegations.
"We were not present on the ground. I assume a lot of this is, let's face it, because emotions are running high. So before we give a categorical answer, we would like to know for ourselves, see what we can find out, but we have to let emotions die down first."
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka has promised to give the certificate regarding LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran's death to close the Rajiv Gandhi
assassination case, India's national security adviser M K Narayanan said on Thursday.
He said India was going by public statements from the Sri Lankan government that Prabhakaran, 54, had been killed in combat in the island's northeast earlier in the week and had no reason to doubt Colombo's announcement.
Narayanan told reporters here after talks with President Mahinda Rajapaksa that the Sri Lankan government has made a public announcement on Prabhakaran's death.
"We will go by that. We will of course wait for a death certificate from the government so that Rajiv assassination case can be sort of closed," said Narayanan, who arrived here yesterday along with foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon.
"Beyond that, it is not possible for us to do anything. They have promised to give us a formal death certificate with regard to Prabhakaran," he added.
Asked if Sri Lanka had failed to abide by the April 27 assurance to India that it will not use heavy weapons in the battle against Tamil Tigers, foreign secretary Menon said: "We are not in a position to confirm or deny these allegations.
"We were not present on the ground. I assume a lot of this is, let's face it, because emotions are running high. So before we give a categorical answer, we would like to know for ourselves, see what we can find out, but we have to let emotions die down first."
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