New Delhi, July 8 (Inditop.com) India Wednesday said it is still waiting for a formal response from Sri Lanka confirming the death of Tamil Tigers chief Velupillai Prabhakaran and promised continued assistance to Colombo to rehabilitate Tamils displaced by the conflict.
“In connection with the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, a formal request for an official confirmation of the deaths of Prabhakaran and Pottu Amman, the chief of the intelligence wing of the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam), has been made to the government of Sri Lanka,” External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna told parliament, when asked whether India had sought the death certificate of Prabhakaran.
“A formal response from the government of Sri Lanka is awaited,” he told the Lok Sabha.
Prabhakaran, the alleged mastermind of the 1991 assassination of former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, was killed in May near the coast of Mullaitivu district, 400 km from Colombo, his hideout for a long time.
The top brass of the LTTE also died in the military offensive against the rebels, ending the decades-long insurgency.
In a telephonic conversation with then external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee May 18, Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa confirmed that the armed resistance by the LTTE had ended and that Prabhakaran was dead.
Alluding to an allocation of Rs.500 crore (nearly $100 million) announced by India in its annual budget for the rehabilitation of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sri Lanka’s northeast, Krishna said more assistance is being organised for the welfare of the around 300,000 Tamils housed in relief camps.
“India is sending 2,600 tonnes of galvanised corrugated steel sheets to Sri Lanka to construct shelter for approximately 5,000 families living in relief camps in northern Sri Lanka,” Krishna said in answer to a separate question.
Four Indian de-mining teams will deployed by the Sri Lankan government to speed up the rahabilitation of IDPs, he said. Another consignment of family relief packs will be shortly dispatched from Tamil Nadu.
Krishna also stressed the need for a negotiated political settlement within Sri Lanka, acceptable to all the communities including the Tamils, he said.
The government feels that the end of military operations in Sri Lanka provides an opportunity to pursue a lasting political settlement, Krishna underlined.
