inter/national
Gandhi charges
plot, division
NEW DELHI, India (AP) —
Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, in
a speech commemmorating the
67th birthday of his
assassinated mother, declared
Monday that she was killed as
part of a far-reaching conspiracy
to dismember India.
A series of unconfirmed news
reports since Indira Gandhi’s
death Oct. 31 pointed to a
foreign-based plot by Sikh
I
separatists. But Gandhi's
speech was the first time his
government said publicly that
there was a conspiracy.
“Her assassination was not
just to remove a person but to
divide India into pieces,” Gan
dhi told more than 200,000 peo
ple who gathered at the rally
near Parliament.
“This conspiracy to kill
beloved Indira, to divide the
country, to weaken it — we are
seeing the far-spreading ten
tacles of this,” said Gandhi, 40,
who was sworn in as his
mother’s successor within
hours of her slaying.
The senior Gandhi, who
governed India for 15 of the past
18 years, was gunned down on
the lawn of her residence by two
men identified by authorities as
Sikh members of her security
detail.
Referring to a wave of arson,
looting and killings in which
more than 1,000 Sikhs died
following the assassination,
Gandhi said violence is counter
productive.
“Her death can only be
avenged in one way — if we put
all our might to end the inter
communal forces and keep In
dia united.” he said. "Only in
this way can we truly remember
beloved Indira.”
"The foundation of India is
not so weak that it will be
shaken by a few bullets," he
said. “We showed the world
that our country is stronger than
bullets.”
One of the alleged assassins,
36-year-old Beant Singh, was
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EX-DEFENSIVE END
EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED
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shot dead at the scene by other
security guards. The second,
identified as 22-year-old police
constable Sat want Singh, was
seriously wounded. He is being
interrogated.
Several Indian newspapers
have carried reports quoting
unidentified sources as saying
the assassins were part of a plot
by Sikh separatists seeking
revenge for a June army assault
on extremists holed up in the
Golden Temple in Amritsar, the
Sikhs’ holiest shrine.
An Indian External Affairs
Ministry spokesman said Mon
day he could not confirm
newspaper reports that India
had started extradition pro
ceedings against Harinder
Singh from Norway or Jagjit
Singh Chauhan, from England.
The government has not com
mented on Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak’s statement that
Libya may have been involved
in the assassination plot, a
charged denied by Tripoli.
India has accused neighbor
ing Pakistan of sheltering and
training Sikh extremists waging
a violent campaign for
autonomy in the border state of
Punjab, where Sikhs are a ma
jority. Pakistan has denied the
Indian charges.
Israel says no
to reparations
NAQOURA, Lebanon (AP) —
Israel on Monday rejected
Lebanon’s demand for up to $10
billion in war reparations and
insisted that security of Israel’s
northern border was the
primary goal of negotiations on
withdrawal of Israeli troops.
But Lebanese negotiators
argued that their country would
not be "Israel’s policeman’’
after removal of Israeli occupa
tion forces from southern
Lebanon.
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Will Be Reciting
Originals Plus
Selections From
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November 20, 1984.
7:00 PM 167 EMU