By a Correspondent / New Delhi
India’s Home Ministry today extended ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, LTTE for a further period of five years. The fresh notification issued today said, Government of India under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 declares the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as an Unlawful Association.
LTTE was banned in India after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.
The gazette notification noted that LTTE was an association based in Sri Lanka, but having its supporters, sympathizers and agents in India and that its objective for a separate homeland Tamil Eelam for all Tamils threatened the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India for the Union and thus, fell within the ambit of unlawful activity.
It said, LTTE, even after its military defeat in May 2009 in Sri Lanka, has not abandoned the concept of Eelam and has been clandestinely working towards the Eelam cause by undertaking fundraising and propaganda activities in Europe.
The remnant LTTE leaders or cadres have also initiated efforts to regroup the scattered activists and resurrect the outfit locally and internationally.
It added that the Tamil chauvinist groups and pro-LTTE groups continued to foster a separatist tendency amongst the masses and enhance the support base for LTTE in India and particularly in Tamil Nadu.
The notification also mentioned that the Diaspora continued to spread through articles in the Internet portals, the anti-India feeling amongst the Sri Lankan Tamils by holding Government of India responsible for the defeat of the LTTE.
It said, such propaganda through the Internet, which remains continued, is likely to impact VVIP security adversely in India.
The Home Ministry justified the extension of ban stating that the Central Government has information that the activities of the LTTE remnant cadres, dropouts, sympathisers, supporters who have been traced out recently in the State of Tamil Nadu suggest that the cadres sent to Tamil Nadu would ultimately be utilised by the LTTE for unlawful activities.