The Home Ministry's annual report for 2004-05 says that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) demand that its naval unit should be treated on a par with the Indian and Sri Lankan navies was a "threat to Indian security".

"The LTTE continues to be an extremely potent, most lethal and well organised terrorist force in Sri Lanka and has strong connections in Tamil Nadu and certain pockets of southern India," the report said in a brief but hard-hitting section on the Tamil Tigers.

"The organisation assiduously cultivates Tamil chauvinist elements who are inspired by the Tamil Eelam concept of a separate Tamil Nadu, i.e., secession from India.

"The LTTE, by carrying out several successful suicide killing missions in Sri Lanka and one in India, has emerged as one of the deadliest terrorist organisations in the world, which has sympthisers, supporters and agents on the Indian soil."

The report's reference was to the May 1991 assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at an election rally at Sriperumbudur near Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

The LTTE initially vehemently denied any involvement in the grotesque killing but in recent times has hinted that it would like New Delhi to adopt a forget-and-forgive attitude.

New Delhi outlawed the LTTE in 1992 and has renewed the ban every two years. The ban was last renewed in August 2004.

The home ministry report said: "Notwithstanding the current peace process, the LTTE is yet to give up violence as a means to achieve its goal of establishing a separate homeland for Tamils.