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Swamy wants Vajpayee to raise LTTE issue with Lanka

Janata Party president Dr Subramanian Swamy today said Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee would be doing a disservice to the nation if he did not raise the issue of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam chief Prabhakaran's extradition with Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga during his current visit to Colombo.

In a letter to the prime minister, a copy of which was released to the media in Madras, Dr Swamy said that according to reliable sources, Vajpayee did not propose to raise the issue during his stay in Colombo.

"If you do not raise the issue of Prabhakaran's extradition while in Colombo, you will be doing a national disservice and adding to the feeling in the country that, under pressure from two pro-LTTE ministers in the Cabinet, you have lost the nerve to keep this issue on your agenda," he said.

If the Sri Lankan government was unable to locate Prabhakaran, who is the first accused in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, India should despatch its Israeli-trained commando force to Jaffna to locate and bring him to India, he suggested.

Dr Swamy alleged that the island government was insensitive to the feelings of patriotic Indians on this issue and had failed to take any steps to secure the arrest of Prabakaran and deport him to India to face trial in the assassination case.

UNI

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