Centre extends ban on LTTE for five years, says 'it continues to adopt strong anti-India posture'

The notification states that the LTTE’s continued violent and disruptive activities are prejudicial to the integrity and sovereignty of India; and it continues to adopt a strong anti-India posture as also continues to pose a grave threat to the security of Indian nationals.

Sri Lankan protestors outside the Canadian High Commission kick the flag of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Colombo on May 27, 2009. The demonstrators denounced alleged Canadian support for the Tamil Tiger rebels who were militarily defeated by the Sri Lankan army after almost three decades of internal strife. AFP PHOTO/Ishara S. KODIKARA (Photo by Ishara S. KODIKARA / AFP)

New Delhi: The Government of India has extended the ban on the Sri Lanka-based militant outfit Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for another five year period. As per a notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs “the Central Government has extended the ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for another five years under sub-sections (1) and (3) of section 3 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (37 of 1967) with immediate effect”. The notification states that the LTTE’s continued violent and disruptive activities are prejudicial to the integrity and sovereignty of India; and it continues to adopt a strong anti-India posture as also continues to pose a grave threat to the security of Indian nationals. The LTTE, a Tamil militant and political organisation based in northeastern Sri Lanka operated with an aim to secure an independent state of Tamil Eelam in the north and east in response to the state policies of successive Sri Lankan governments towards Tamils. It was spearheaded by V Prabhakaran and was involved in numerous armed clashes against the Sri Lankan state forces and by the late 1980s it emerged as a dominant Tamil militant group in the island nation. It carried out two major assassinations: those of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, and Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa in 1993, using suicide bombers on both occasions.