COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan government, battling the Tamil Tiger rebels fighting for a separate state in the country’s north-east, has refused to endorse the Unilateral Declaration of Independence by Kosovo denouncing it as a violation of the Charter of the United Nations and stating that it could set an ‘unmanageable precedent’.

The Foreign Ministry in Colombo releasing a statement on Monday said Kosovo’s move could set an ‘unmanageable precedent’ ‘in the conduct of international relations, ‘the established global order of sovereign States and could thus pose a grave threat to international peace and security.’

“This action is particularly regrettable, since all efforts at reaching a negotiated political settlement on the future status of Kosovo, as envisaged by the Security Council Resolution 1244, have not been exhausted,” the statement said.

Meanwhile the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) which last month urged the United Nations to recognise ‘Tamil sovereignty’ gave prominence through various LTTE sympathetic internet websites to Kosovo’s declaration of independence, attempting to draw a parallel with rebel leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran’s war for a separate north-east state in Sri Lanka.

One article published in the pro rebel website Tamil Net claimed that in contrast to Kosovo, the armed struggle by the Liberation Tigers for a separate state provides ‘additional weight’ to the rebel demand.

However senior Tamil lawmakers opposed to the rebels on Wednesday rubbished the LTTE’s claims. “Under no circumstances can the LTTE, a fascist organisation which is day by day trampling upon all Tamil aspirations, draw a parallel with the Kosovo’s struggle,” T Sritharan, General Secretary of the Padmanadha Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) opined when contacted.

“If the LTTE wishes to draw such a parallel then it could begin by explaining why Tamils are trying at every possible opportunity to leave rebel held areas and why thousands of Tamils prefer to live in Colombo and other areas in the South”, he said.

V Anandasangaree, President of Sri Lanka’s oldest Tamil party, the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) and one of the most outspoken critics of LTTE leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran also dismisses that the Kosovo example could help the LTTE.

“The last thing Tamil civilians want is a separate state under the Tamil Tigers. I can say with authority that the moment the iron curtain is opened in rebel held areas and the people allowed to get out, every Tamil man, woman and child living in Killinochchi and Mullativu would be rushing to government controlled territory. At present even those needing urgent medical treatment are being prevented from leaving to government held northern areas at gunpoint by the LTTE,” alleges Anandasangaree who opposes the carving of a separate north eastern state but has repeatedly urged the Sri Lankan government to usher in a political solution akin to a federal structure.

“Scores of Tamil intellectuals, freedom fighters and politicians have been killed by the LTTE. The Tamils do not consider the LTTE leader their sole representative but are forced to be the slaves of terror,” alleges the TULF president who lives in Colombo with heavy police protection having fled his hometown Jaffna following death threats by the Tiger separatists.

Anandasangaree’s comments come as the Sri Lankan government perturbed about the ‘imminent recognition’ of Kosovo as a separate country by Western states announced plans to present a report on forced military indoctrination of children by the Tiger guerillas at the Security Council meeting on Thursday.