NEW DELHI: The Centre has extended the ban on Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for five years for clandestinely working towards the Eelam cause by undertaking fund raising and propaganda activities despite its decimation by Sri Lankan army in 2009. Ministry of Home Affairs said the remnant LTTE leaders or cadre have initiated efforts to regroup the scattered activists and resurrect the outfit locally and internationally.
“The separatist Tamil chauvinist groups and pro-LTTE groups continue to foster separatist tendency amongst the masses and enhance the support base for LTTE in India and particularly in Tamil Nadu… The declaration of LTTE as an ‘Unlawful Association’ has been extended for a further period of five years with effect from May 14, 2014,” a Home Ministry notification dated May 14 said. The LTTE was banned in India in 1991 immediately after former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination at an election rally in Sriperumbudur near Chennai. Apart from India, LTTE has been proscribed by US, Canada, Malaysia, European Union and Australia. An official said over 15 splinter groups continue to be involved in terrorist activities.
“The diaspora continues to spread through articles in the internet portals, anti-India feeling amongst the Sri Lankan Tamils by holding the government of India responsible for the defeat of the LTTE. Such propaganda through the internet is likely to impact
VVIP security adversely in India,” the Home Ministry notification said.
“It is not completely dismantled. Several pro-LTTE factions in US and Norway, part of its international network, continue to run re-grouping activities,” it added.