NEW DELHI: A Sri Lankan honor guardsman clubbed the Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi with an unloaded rifle Thursday during a ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Colombo.
Gandhi, who ducked and fended of the blow, said he suffered only “a lump” on one shoulder.
The attack occurred in the Sri Lankan capital as Gandhi reviewed 72 white-uniformed sailors before returning to New Delhi. The Sinhalese assailant apparently was incensed at the previous day’s signing of an Indian-brokered peace pact designed to end Sri Lanka’s four-year-old civil war between the island’s Sinhalese majority and Tamil guerrillas.
The United News of India news agency called it an “assassination attempt,” but Gandhi declined to endorse that interpretation, telling journalists they could decide for themselves what to call it.
Gandhi, who ducked and held up his arms for protection, told reporters on the plane home: “It was something. I was clobbered on the left shoulder.”
Many Sri Lankan Sinhalese have been enraged by India’s support for Tamil militants.
Tamils, most of whom are Hindus like the vast majority of Indians, form 18% of Sri Lanka’s population of 16 million. They say they are discriminated against by the Sinhalese Buddhists, who control the government and the armed forces.
Sri Lankan authorities are investigating whether the sailor who assaulted visiting Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi has any connections with an outlawed leftist group, security sources said today.
Wijeyemunige Rohana De Silva, 22, a member of a naval honor guard, swung his rifle by the barrel at Gandhi and hit him with the butt on the back of the head, neck and left shoulder,
The sailor was overpowered by two naval officers while Gandhi’s security men swiftly moved him to safety watched by a stunned audience comprising Sri Lankan. President Junius Jayewardene, ministers, diplomats and journalists.
Article extracted from this publication >> Aug 7, 1992
