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CBK returns early to attend funeral
President Chandrika Kumaratunga returned to the island early yesterday after visiting India to deliver the Madav Rao Scindia memorial lecture on "Democracy and Conflict" and meet Indian leaders. President Kumaratunga cut short her visit by two days to attend the funeral of PSD Chief Nihal Karunaratne's mother who died suddenly earlier this week.

In India, President Kumaratunga had wide-ranging discussions with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and other leaders on the current peace process in Sri Lanka and expressed her own views. Indian leaders are learnt to have expressed their support for the peace process and their commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, a Chennai datelined PTI report quoted Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa as saying yesterday that she would demand the extradition of LTTE chief V. Prabhakaran if Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe met her during his visit to India.

"If he meets me, I will definitely demand Prabhakaran's extradition," she told reporters here, adding she had received a letter from the Sri Lankan Premier detailing the efforts by his government to end the ethnic strife in the island.

She said she would be happy if the Oslo brokered peace talks between Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE brought an end to the Sri Lankan Tamils' agony.
However, Mr. Prabhakaran was not the sole representative or the leader to talk to the Sri Lankan Government on behalf of Tamils, she said, adding "he is a self-declared representative. He is not the elected representative."

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