COLOMBO, Aug 1: The Sinhala Marxist Party, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), which is the chief political partner of President Kumaratunge's coalition government and a strong opponent of the government's policy of peace attempts with the LTTE , issued a statement accusing the opposition United National Front of trying to lure the alliance into giving the LTTE its desired separate north-eastern state.

The statement came immediately after the United National Front Parliamentarians decided to fully support the alliance if it immediately began the stalled peace talks with the LTTE.

Talks with the LTTE collapsed in April last year during the regime of the United National Front when the Tamil Tigers walked out of talks stating that process of dialogue had reached a dead end.

"We are aware of a campaign to be launched by the United National Front to see that the LTTE gets its Tamil homeland. The UNF is merely trying to take advantage of the fact that the government is a minority government so that it can fulfil its pledges to the LTTE", a spokesman for the JVP said.

Meanwhile, official sources said on Sunday that the government was drafting the outlines for an Interim Self-Governing Council (ISGC) in a desperate bid to satisfy both Sinhala extremists and the LTTE who want an Interim Self Governing Authority (equivalent to a separate north eastern state).

However the LTTE, when informed about the government's new endeavour by the Norwegian deputy foreign minister, dismissed the government offer stating that they would not settle for anything less than a separate north eastern LTTE administration.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels have accused the government of gearing up for a fresh war following the failure of Norway's latest shuttle diplomacy to revive the island's moribund peace bid.

The pro-rebel Tamilnet website quoted a Tiger political wing leader, C. Ilamparithi, accusing President Chandrika Kumaratunga of strengthening her security forces to renew hostilities despite the Norway-brokered truce that has been in place since February 2002.

"We are certain of victory if the Sri Lanka government launches a war to occupy our traditional homeland," Ilamparithi said over the weekend. "Sri Lanka's president is not keen on maintaining the current peace environment. Her deeds and words are leading Sri Lanka to renewed hostility and war."

No comment was immediately available from the government on the Tigers' allegations but media minister Mangala Samaraweera last week rejected rebel reports that the island was slipping back into ethnic war.

The statements came as police accused the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) of gunning down a rival Tamil rebel, Kandiah Yogarasa, in the capital Colombo on Saturday.

Police said Yogarasa, 41, was a top informant for the military and had been in contact with a renegade Tiger leader, V. Muralitharan, better known as Karuna, who led a split in March and went underground five weeks later.

The Tigers have accused the government of trying to crush their organisation by using the breakaway leader Karuna whose whereabouts are unknown. "She (Kumaratunga) is also involved in creating divisions within the Tamil community by using the renegade Karuna who is now a virtual prisoner with the Sri Lanka intelligence division," Ilamparithi said.

Western and Asian diplomats said they were concerned about the internecine clashes and the absence of any movement in the peace process aimed at ending three decades of ethnic bloodshed that has cost more than 60,000 lives. -AFP