NEW DELHI, April 28: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa says he wants to catch LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran alive.

In an interview broadcast today on CNN-IBN, an Indian television channel, he said he will first put Prabhakaran on trial in Sri Lanka for the innumerable killings and other crimes committed, and then extradite him to India, where he is wanted for the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at an election rally at Sriperumbudur near Chennai in May 1991.

Rajapaksa said Prabhakaran and some of his close associates are still in the No Fire Zone (NFZ). "We have asked them to lay down their arms and surrender. They have never done that. We are waiting. Either they have to surrender or face the army. That’s all."

The president went on: "Now it’s almost over for them. They have to surrender. There is no option for them. This is only a six-square km area. We will be cleaning it up. We will continue the operations till the last hostage is taken out from the LTTE hold."

Question: Will you extradite him to India?

Rajapaksa: First he has to go through our trial.

Then we might send him there. I think India has a right because he is the man who killed Rajiv Gandhi, one of the greatest leaders in India.

He said he prefers to catch Prabhakaran and company alive. "We don’t want to kill them. We want to get them alive and tell the world: These are the terrorists. They are the people who have deprived the Tamil people of their rights in Sri Lanka. For 30 years they were suffering without development. They built bunkers. People were never given the food we sent them. No education. The children of LTTE leaders on the other hand were educated in various universities and colleges abroad. But not these ordinary people. They are suffering. They were given cyanide and a gun—-a T-56. Prabhakaran’s son and daughter were given a university education. So the people must know who they (Prabhakaran and company) are. That’s why I want them alive."

The president said the LTTE cadres will be rehabilitated. "I have seen some of these young ones who have surrendered today. About 50 people. We have some LTTE cadres who have confessed. One confessed to having killed about 126 people. Even then we will rehabilitate him.

He said he will rehabilitate the LTTE cadres and bring them into mainstream. "We have to do that. Otherwise, should we lock them up, and just feed them? Why should we do that? If we can change them we will do that. We want to change them. Rehabilitate them. Use them for our society, for the development of our country. We have to use their talent."

Asnwering a question on his political vision in the post-conflict phase, he said: "What we are trying to do is implement the Indo-Sri Lanka treaty and the 13th amendment. The 13th amendment is a part of our Constitution but, unfortunately, it was not implemented because of Prabhakaran and his crowd. So now we will have to implement that. We will have a dialogue with all political parties.

"I have a plan. Whatever we did, we had a plan: Clear this area, defeat terrorism from this country and then give the Tamil people a political solution. I must not impose any political solution on the people. It must come from the people. We must all get together and decide. Agree upon the things that we are going to give them."

Q: How will you dismantle the LTTE support structures that exist?

Rajapaksa: This is where the international community comes in. They must help. There are organisations that collect money and buy weapons. This is where we would like to see other countries take action. We will not allow anyone to reorganise LTTE, or terrorism in this country. Never.