The Sri Lankan government Thursday branded a request by the Tamil Tigers to change the composition of the international truce monitoring group in the island as unreasonable, but said it was happy with the group's representation.

Anura Yapa, the government spokesman and minister of media told reporters that "we have no problem and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) request is unreasonable."

The LTTE rebels said Wednesday that they had told the Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattskar that the group wanted monitors representing Denmark, Sweden and Finland in the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) removed from the 57 member Nordic mission.

The Tigers' request came after the decision by the 25-member European Union (EU) to ban the LTTE late last month.

The Tiger position is that the EU ban makes the monitors from the three nations to adopt a biased attitude towards the rebels.

However, Yapa disagreed with the LTTE position, saying that the monitors "are in the SLMM as individuals and not as representatives of the countries concerned."

The LTTE request to the Norwegian peace facilitators forms part of its response to a five-point question put forward by the Norwegians to both the Sri Lankan government and the rebels.

The Norwegians called for renewed commitments from both sides towards the role of the SLMM and the Norwegian-backed peace process which has come under increasing threat due to the ongoing escalation of violence.

The SLMM of late has faced criticism from both sides -- the Sri Lankan government charges them of being biased towards the rebels while the LTTE accused them of working to the government's agenda.

The SLMM was entrusted with the task of monitoring the ceasefire when the two sides entered accord in February 2002 to end hostilities.

Source: Xinhua