TRIBUNAL TOLD: LTTE WANTS ‘GREATER TN’
TheLiberationTigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had not abandoned the concept of separate country for the Tamils and lifting the ban would imply allowing a deadly foreign terrorist organisation to operate from India giving a psychological boost as well as the secessionist Tamil forces in India, the Tamil Nadu State told a Delhi tribunal yesterday, the Indian Express reported. While seeking to extend the ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the Centre and the Tamil Nadu government told the tribunal that the banned outfit nurtured an idea of “greater Tamil Nadu, which includes the state of Tamil Nadu, part of Kerala, part of Karnataka, part of Andhra Pradesh and northeastern provinces of Sri
Tamil Nadu government told the tribunal that the banned outfit nurtured an idea of“greater Tamil Nadu, which includes the state of Tamil Nadu, part of Kerala, part of Karnataka, part of Andhra Pradesh and northeastern provinces of SL
Lanka,” the Indian Express reported yesterday.
The tribunal was also told that an offshoot of the banned terrorist outfit carried out a blast outside the home of former UPA Minister P. Chidambaram and tried to target the home of V. Narayanasamy inTamil Nadu.
The Delhi High Court tribunal was set up earlier this year to review whether the ban on LTTE should be renewed for another five years. On November 20, the tribunal, headed by Justice G. P. Mittal, upheld the Home Ministry’s notification to declare the LTTE as an “unlawful organisation” for the next five years.
MDMK leader Vaiko, who walked out of the NDA recently, argued against the government’s decision to extend the ban.
To support its claim that LTTE posed a danger to India, the State government said that in March 2014, two members of the Tamil National LiberationArmy — said to have close ties with the LTTE — blasted an iron pipe bomb near Chidambaram’s residence in Tamil Nadu and threw pamphlets to support the ideology of their founderleader, the late Tamilarasan.A similar pipe bomb was found outside the residence of former UPAMinister Narayanasamy.
As per the tribunal’s order, the Tamil Nadu government had said:
“The LTTE, even after its military defeat in May 2009 in Sri Lanka, has not abandoned the concept of separate nation for Tamils… Lifting of the ban on LTTE would imply allowing a deadly foreign terrorist organisation to operate from India… giving a psychological boost to LTTE as well as the secessionist Tamil forces in India.”
The State added that after the ban on LTTE in 2012, as many as five new cases had been registered against the outfit.
The MHA also said LTTE has links to other anti-national organisations, like the UK chapter of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, Kesari Lehat Movement and the Sikh Activist Network.