• Do you get the sense that they are not keen enough to want him. If you actually caught Prabhakaran, do you think the government of India will be in a fix?

If they ask me, I’ll send him there. He has killed so many people and if India wants him I’ll definitely send him.

• It’s very interesting. The impression about you is that firstly you are a hawk. Secondly, in India, you were viewed with suspicion. You still are in some places. But in my so many years of dealing with Sri Lankan political leaders, I’ve never seen anybody talk so warmly of India and so candidly.

You take our culture, Buddhism, and they are our friends. They are our friends because Buddhism came from India, the culture came from India, and what is the difference between our two cultures? They are very similar. So I think people may not be keen about India but they want to places like Varanasi, Bodh Gaya.

• That is an emotional thing. Do you also see a much closer strategic covergence with India?

Yes, because I feel that . . . I will tell you one thing. When they tested the nuclear bomb in India, I think I was the only politician who supported it.

• You were minister of fisheries at that time and you made a splash by saying that it was a great historic moment of the millennium.

Because I think in this region we must have a strong country.

... contd.