India should have sent its troops back to Sri Lanka to kill or capture Velupillai Prabakaran and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leadership after the assassination of the former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, says a new book by a former U.S. diplomat. Rajiv Gandhi's killing was an attack on India's status as a regional power. Forcibly bringing Prabakaran to India to face trial would have sent a clear message to the region, and the world, that India would defend its political leaders from attack, defend its political system from intimidation and defend its primacy in South Asia against any challengers, the author says.