R Sambandhan, parliamentary leader of the Tamil National Alliance in Sri Lanka and a pro-Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam party of Tamils, was the first leader with whom India set up contact after the recent escalation of violence. He led a delegation to visit National Security Advisor M K Narayanan in April and sought India's intervention.

In Chennai now, Sambandhan talks to Krishnakumar P about LTTE's end, the way forward, the Tamil people's distrust of President Mahinda Rajapakse and how the dreaded outfit's end is definitely not the end of the Eelam issue.

Now that the LTTE has been comprehensively defeated, how would you put it in the context of the Tamil ethnic struggle?

The struggle for Tamil equality and justice for Tamils did not start with the LTTE and will not end with LTTE. I am not saying that the LTTE has come to an end. But the Sri Lankan government claims to have dealt a comprehensive military defeat.

If indeed their top leadership has been killed that will be a major setback for the LTTE. The struggle for equality and justice of the Tamil-speaking people is very legitimate and has existed even before the LTTE came.