LTTE's strong anti-India posture continues; Govt extends ban

NEW DELHI: Government has extended the ban on LTTE declaring that it continues to adopt a strong anti- India posture and pose a grave threat to the security of its citizens.

In a notification, the Home Ministry said the activities of LTTE are detrimental to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India and there is a continuing strong need to control all such separatist activities by all possible means.

"LTTE continues to adopt a strong anti-India posture as also continues to pose a grave threat to the security of Indian nationals, it is necessary to declare LTTE as an 'unlawful association' with immediate effect," the Home Ministry notification issued by joint secretary Dharmendra Sharma said.

LTTE was banned in India in the aftermath of the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991. The organisation was also defeated and virtually decimated by the Sri Lankan forces in 2009 when its supremo V Prabhakaran was also eliminated.

The Home Ministry said separatist Tamil chauvinist and pro-LTTE groups continue to foster a separatist tendency among the masses and trying to enhance the support base for LTTE in India, particularly in Tamil Nadu, which will ultimately have a strong disintegrating influence over the territorial integrity of India.

"The diaspora continue to spread through articles in the Internet portals, anti-India feeling amongst the Sri Lankan Tamils by holding the top Indian political leaders and bureaucrats responsible for the defeat of the LTTE," it said.