Indian tribunal upholds the ban on Sri Lanka's terrorist organization

An Indian tribunal set up in Chennai to evaluate the Central government's ban on Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger terrorist organization has upheld the ban. The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Tribunal has upheld the Central government's order extending the ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam issued on May 14, 2012. Justice V K Jain, who headed the Tribunal, has noted that the LTTE failed to appear before the Tribunal during its hearings in Tamil Nadu to counter the allegations made against it and had failed to declare that it has no connection with organizations that advocate cession of a part of India. The judge has observed that the evidence produced by the Central government and the Tamil Nadu government are not so "intrinsically unbelievable as to warrant rejection even in the absence of being controverted by the LTTE." Pro-LTTE Tamil Nadu political leader, the general secretary of the MDMK, V. Goplasamy aka Vaiko has also presented his case calling to remove LTTE from the banned list of terrorist organizations in India. Vaiko has said that the LTTE is not seeking a separate part in India but it wants to set up an independent state only for those Tamils living in Sri Lanka. The pro-LTTE groups are considering to move the Madras High Court to challenge the verdict of the Tribunal.