COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s chief Muslim party, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), has accused the LTTE of carrying out a ‘sinister operation’ to link Sri Lankan Muslims with extremist Muslim groups such as Al Qaeda and vehemently denied accusations by the Tamil Tigers that a Muslim Jihadi group was operating in the east of the country.

Rauf Hakeem, the leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), described as ‘preposterous’, the claims made by the LTTE who maintain that several killings of Muslims as well as Tamils were carried out by an emerging ‘Jihad’ movement.

The rebels on Monday stated that the latest killing in the east of a Muslim businessman was carried out by a Jihadi group while the LTTE peace delegation who met government representatives for peace talks in Geneva last month demanded that the government disarm the alleged Jihadi Muslim militant outfit.

“This is absolute nonsense. We will be the first to know if there is a Muslim militant group operating in the east. Sixty seven Muslims have been killed by the LTTE in the past few months. Are the Tigers now trying to say that Muslims are killing Muslims,” an irate SLMC leader said, claiming that the LTTE accusation was a deliberate and covert plan to tarnish the image of moderate Sri Lankan Muslims and divert international attention away from the killings and terror carried out by the LTTE terrorists.

The LTTE has denied many of the recent terror acts committed against Muslims, including the grenade attack, at a mosque in Akkaraipattu in the eastern district last November.

“We are not surprised if very soon they (the Tamil Tigers) proclaim to the international community that Sri Lankan Muslim groups have links with the Al Qaeda. We have raised concerns about this with President Mahinda Rajapakse,” the SLMC leader said, following a private meeting with President Rajapakse on Monday.

Meanwhile, following speculation that the SLMC which has a history of being linked with the present main opposition, the United National Party (UNP), might join the Rajapakse government, Hakeem said the party would do ‘what is best’ for the peace process.

“We discussed at length with the President the peace process and its implications on the Muslims, especially the Muslims who live in the east who are the majority community in several eastern districts,” he said stating that the SLMC will continue lobbying for a separate Muslim delegation at the next round of peace talks scheduled in April this year.

Asked if there was an outright invitation by Rajapakse for the SLMC to join his government, the Muslim Congress leader said that the President had ‘expressed his opinion that such a move would strengthen the government in its peace efforts with the LTTE.”

“The President feels that his hands would be strengthened if the SLMC would lend its full support to the government. We need to take a pragmatic step – but we do not at the moment say we will be joining the government,” Hakeem said. He did not deny that such a move was possible in the near future.

The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress chose to back United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickremesinghe at the last November Presidential election despite strong efforts by Rajapakse to lure the party onto his side.

Analysts say that a move by the SLMC to join Rajapakse now would help break the monopoly wielded by the LTTE in the eastern district of the country where a large number of the country’s seven per cent of Muslims live.