COLOMBO, March 5: Crisis within the LTTE has deepened after a letter was written by a dissident Tamil Tiger leader, Vinayagamurthi Muralitharan alias Karuna, directly to Tiger supremo Velupillai Prabakaran.

In his letter the dissident leader had sought the permission of Mr Prabakaran "to function independently under his direct leadership", according to northern sources.

Karuna had urged Norwegian peace facilitators and the Sri Lankan military to treat his eastern troops as a separate entity. The Sri Lankan government on Friday responded negatively to Karuna's request to enter into a separate defence agreement for the troubled eastern province.

Defence Secretary Cyril Herath said he had rejected the proposal. "We have an agreement with the LTTE so it is not possible to have agreements with individuals," Mr Herath said, referring to conditions in the ceasefire agreement brokered by Norway.