Supporters fight to get LTTE ban removed
The supporters of Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers in India are engaged in a legal battle to get the ban on the rebel group that was militarily defeated last year removed, the BBC’s TN Gopalan reports from Chennai.
The LTTE might be part of history, for all intents and purposes. But its supporters in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu are going all out to try and get the ban lifted in India. A tribunal headed by Justice Vikramjit Sen is currently holding a public hearings on the issue. Though observers discount any possibility of revocation of the ban imposed in May 1991, ardent supporters of Tamil Eelam are crying their hearts out. This is no justice, they argue, and LTTE is no longer a threat to anyone. Rajiv Gandhi murder The ban was first promulgated in May 1991, following the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, and has been renewed every two years. The ban order is issued under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967 and holds good for two years. Under law, a tribunal headed by a sitting high court judge has to adjudicate whether the ban is justified or not. Invariably the bans are upheld, though the organizations concerned might protest. In the case of the LTTE too, the ban has been extended routinely. A couple of times in the past, LTTE representatives have appeared before the tribunal and argued against banning, but to no effect. The pro-LTTE sections in Tamil Nadu have not made any sustained effort till now to contest the ban, except for making ritual denunciations. But now the likes of Vaiko, general secretary of the MDMK and Pazha Nedumaran of the Organization of the Eelam Tamil Supporters have been appearing before the Vikramjit Sen tribunal and trying to make a case against extending the ban. Their main contention is when the LTTE is not a threat to Indian sovereignty or the country’s integrity, why should one ban it. P.Pugazhenthi, Coordination Secretary of the Tamil Nadu People’s Rights Forum, another veteran Eelamist, is yet to be permitted to argue before the tribunal, but undaunted he has been submitting petitions. When there has not been a single incident involving the Tigers since May last year what purpose a ban in India would serve, he wants to know. However, no major political party has opposed the ban in public or appeared before the tribunal. The state police is also said to be reluctant to allow the organization any legitimacy, claiming allowing the Tigers, armed or unarmed, any free run, could give Tamil nationalists a chance to rally together. They might then pose a serious problem to law and order in the state, the police apprehend. The Tribunal’s next sitting is scheduled to be held on 28th October at Chennai.