India should not help the Tigers escape from the Sri Lankan military, if the Tamils are to get equal rights along with the Sinhalese, Indian intellectual Choy Ramaswamy said in an interview with the Asian Tribune yesterday.

He said if the Tamils needed a federal set up, then it meant that the Tigers had to be defeated. India should not interfere in this situation. India could only insist that the Sri Lankan Government deal with the Sri Lanka Tamils fairly, Ramaswamy said.

"We know very well," he said, "he (Prabhakaran) did not distribute those (Tsunami) funds he received for the welfare of the Tamil civilians."

Journalist, playwright, actor and above all a political thinker and commentator, Ramaswamy plays a very important role in shaping public opinion in India.