The Government of India has reportedly shared information with the United Kingdom on Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE) to press for continuation of the ban on the organisation. The move comes after Britain's Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission delisted the LTTE as a proscribed terrorist organisation. The Union Government has also reportedly expressed that India is in favour of continuing the terror tag on LTTE. 

India is believed to have presented the UK with documentary as well as electronic evidence of LTTE still active and carrying out its activities in several parts of the world including in Sri Lanka. The dossier is believed to have submitted evidence of efforts of the former members of the banned organisation trying to regroup.

In October, 2020, Britain’s Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission had found that the UK Home Office decision to keep the LTTE proscribed as a terrorist organisation was “flawed and unlawful”. Sri Lanka had appealed against a judgement saying it has “sufficient evidence to prove that the remnants of the LTTE and groups aligned with its terrorist ideology are active in foreign countries, working to incite violence and destabilize the country”. 

The appeal was filed by unnamed members of a group that is believed to be a front for the LTTE called the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam’ (TGTE). It was filed against the UK Home Secretary’s refusal on March 8, 2019 to lift the ban on LTTE under the Terrorism Act 2000. 

TGTE, which is banned by Sri Lanka, is a government-in-exile for the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora that continues to pursue the aim of establishing a separate nation for the Tamils in Sri Lanka. 

The UK had listed the LTTE as a terror outfit in 2000 and it continues to be banned in 32 countries including India. The final decision of lifting the ban will be taken by the British Home Secretary. 

Demanding a separate Tamil homeland in the northern and eastern provinces of Sri Lanka, the LTTE ran a military campaign for nearly 30 years before its defeat in 2009 after the Sri Lankan Army killed its supreme leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

(With PTI inputs)