In pursuit of this objective, the LTTE seemed more wedded to direct and violent action than formulation of principles on which the independent state would operate.
Overall, the creation of an independent Tamil state, irrespective of ideology, remained the movement's only goal. Ideologically, LTTE theoreticians at times resorted to Marxist rhetoric to characterize their struggle. The Tamil militants' choice of the tiger as their symbol reflected not only the ferocity of that animal but a deliberate contrast with the lion ( singha), which traditionally has been a symbol of the Sinhalese people and is depicted in the Sri Lankan flag. Balasingham, its ideological spokesman, were the LTTE's most important figures. In 1988 Velupillai Prabhakaran, its undisputed military and political leader, and A.S. As extremist movements in other countries have done, the LTTE apparently established contacts with similar groups, such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, trained with Palestinians in Libya and Lebanon, and ran its own secret training camps in India's Tamil Nadu State. It was, according to one Tamil spokesman, "a direct challenge to their manhood." The Tigers' first act as an insurgent movement was to assassinate the progovernment mayor of Jaffna in 1975. The incident was viewed by youthful militants not only as a provocative act of violence but as a deliberate insult to Tamil culture. Nine persons were killed and many more injured. Police seeing large crowds milling around the meeting hall attacked them ferociously. In January of that year, the World Tamil Research Conference, bringing delegates from many different countries, was held in Jaffna. An incident of apparently unprovoked police brutality in 1974 started the LTTE on its career of insurgency. At that time, the idea of secession was still considered radical by most Tamil leaders, though the TULF embraced it four years later. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) emerged in 1972 when Tamil youth espousing an independent Tamil state established a group called the Tamil New Tigers. Sources: The Library of Congress Country Studies CIA World Factbook
Sri Lanka Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
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