NEW DELHI: The condition of Julius F.Ribeiro India’s ambassador to Romania who was attacked by Sikh assailants in Bucharest on Tuesday was reported to be stable Wednesday.
Ribeiro got hit in the hip and was hospitalized for treatment an external affairs ministry spokesman said here.
Known as the super cop of Bombay Ribeiro had left no stone unturned in his tenure to carry out New Delhi’s genocidal policies against Sikhs.
The spokesman told reporters that the question of extradition of one of the assailants now in the custody of the Romanian authorities would be considered later.
He said India had been receiving information on threats to the life of Ribeiro for some time the latest one three days before the attack
The spokesman said that by responding to India’s request the Romanian authorities had taken adequate security steps to protect Ribeiro The number of uniformed guards outside his residence have been increased. Plainclothes surveillance was also strengthened in the Indian chancery and the route frequented by Ribeiro.
This was the second attempt on Ribeiro’s life Punjab militants had tried to kill him while he was governor of Punjab some years back.
The spokesman said the Romanian government had been requested to redouble efforts to apprehend the one assailant who escaped after the attack the spokesman declined to reveal the identity of the assailants.
Police guarding Ribeiro opened fire killing one assailant on the spot. A second assailant was wounded but died in hospital a third was arrested and the fourth escaped according to reports. The external affairs minister Madhavsinh Solanki and the foreign secretary Muchkund Dubey in messages to Ribeiro expressed shock and wished him speedy recovery.
India the spokesman said had passed on to the Romanian government extensive and detailed information about the activities of militant organizations operating in the United Kingdom Western Europe and elsewhere New Delhi offered all assistance and all cooperation in their investigation he stated.
Bucharest had also been requested to take whatever measures necessary to tighten checks and prevent entry into Romania of such persons the spokesman said.
CHANDIGARH: The central intelligence agencies had been warning the Indian embassy in Romania about threat to the ambassador. F Rikeira from militant’s police sources said here on Tuesday.
The sources suspected that the assailants who attacked Ribeiro at Bucharest on Tuesday were Punjab militants who might have reached the Romanian capital via Geneva or Germany.
Ribeiro had become a target of militants primarily for having been associated with the entry of the police and commando force into the Golden Temple on April 301986 when Surjit Singh Barnala was the chief minister. He was director general police Punjab at that time
He escaped an attempt on his life six months later when militants attacked him at the Punjab Armed Police campus Jalandhar.
Ribeiro took up his ambassadorial assignment in the latter half of 1989. Having served as the director-general of police in Punjab Ribeiro had been on the hit list of the militants in the state. It was then felt that Romania would be a safe place for Ribeiro. However after the recent turmoil in Easter Europe he has once again been facing threats to his life.
SWIFT EVENT: The sources said Mrs Ribeiro who was with her husband when the incident took place is believed to have told the Romanian authorities that one of the attackers appeared to be an Indian. She was however not sure as everything happened so swiftly and suddenly.
Meanwhile a spokesman of the external affairs said Wednesday that India had once again offered its assistance to the Romanian authorities and urged Bucharest to redouble their efforts to apprehend the assailant escaped.
The spokesman said only on August 17 the govt had received fresh information about the threat to Ribeiro’s safety having increased. Soon thereafter the security around his residence in Bucharest was reinforced along with surveillance by plain clothes men. He said Ribeiro was satisfied with the geared-up security arrangements.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 30, 1991
