Date:20/02/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/02/20/stories/2004022007851100.htm

National

Bid to hide embarrassment, says Swamy

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, FEB. 19. The Janata Party president, Subramanian Swamy, said today that the Congress leader Eduardo Falerio's explanation for his visit to Jaffna was an attempt to "hide the huge embarrassment of being found out." "There is no such thing as a private visit to a terrorist- controlled area for a public person," he said and claimed that the Indian High Commission in Colombo had advised him against the visit.

In a statement here, Dr. Swamy said, "The Jaffna `Collector,' the Jaffna University Vice- Chancellor and the Jaffna Bishop whom he admittedly met are all pro-LTTE persons."

Mr. Falerio could have briefed the media on his visit which had become "public after my statement."

Mr. Falerio had said in Colombo on Wednesday that he was on a personal visit. His travel was restricted to Government-held regions of the northern Peninsula. During his overnight visit to Jaffna, Mr. Falerio said, he was "throughout escorted by the Sri Lankan Army which was due to the good offices of the Indian High Commission" and he denied media reports that he was an "emissary" of the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi.