• Do you have a broader idea what the settlement will be?

I think the 13th Amendment, which Rajiv Gandhi gave, was the best. And according to me the 13th Amendment plus one will be the best.

• What is the plus one?

Plus one is what they have to decide on.

• So you’ll give them the discretion.

The 13th Amendment is there, but it never got implemented.

• And do you think V. Prabhakaran (the LTTE chief) wants a settlement?

If you ask my personal view, I say no. He will never agree to any settlement. What he wants is to kill time till they get ready for another attack. He wants a separate state.

• Or till he can carry out something spectacular in Colombo.

In Colombo. . . and get their cadres trained.

• So if that is your view, that he has no stake in peace, then why would there be a settlement?

I’m not worried about Prabhakaran or Pottu Amman. I’m worried about his people, the Tamil people.

• But Prabhakaran and Pottu Amman have got a lot of people worried around the world. Even a newspaper as careful as The Hindu describes him now as Pol Pot-ist.

Right! That’s why I said I’m not worried about him. His views are immaterial to me.

• Can there be peace when Prabhakaran is alive?

Again I say, if you ask me privately, I would say no. Because if he is there, he’ll not agree to any agreement.

... contd.