COLOMBO, March 9: Sri Lanka's main Marxist party Wednesday demanded the expulsion of the World Bank's country director after accusing him of giving official recognition to Tamil Tiger guerrillas.

The People's Liberation Front, or the JVP, said the official, Peter Harrold, had extended de facto recognition to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) when he said in an interview the World Bank recognised that the guerrillas were in control of parts of the country.

The JVP, which is the junior partner in President Chandrika Kumaratunga's government, launched a scathing attack on Harrold over the interview with a local weekly on the need for the government and rebels who control parts of the island's embattled north east to work closely together on tsunami relief.

"If he does not withdraw his remarks, the World Bank authorities must take steps to remove him," the JVP's Wimal Weerawansa said in parliament. Harrold said there had been a "misleading portrayal" of the World Bank's position in a previous JVP statement and subsequent media reports.

"A careful review of a recording of the interview shows that what I said was that 'given that there is such a thing as the LTTE-controlled area - that's an official statement - an officially recognised part of the country is the LTTE-controlled area.

"There is an enormous difference between recognising the LTTE's role in this process (of tsunami relief) and recognising an unofficial state, which we do not," Harrold said. -AFP