The Sri Lankan Government on Thursday requested the Australian Government not to accept Tamil refugees, media reports from Australia said yesterday.

A news story published by ‘The Australian’ said that this request had been made through the Sri Lankan High Commissioner in Australia and this may cause a diplomatic rift between the two countries.

The TA story said: "The forthright comments by Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner in Canberra, Senaka Walgampaya, came amid growing fears that Australia could be swamped by Tamil asylum seekers following the end of the country’s bloody civil war this week.

As many as 300,000 people, mostly Tamils, have been displaced by the conflict, forcing Canberra to send officials to Colombo to work with the Sri Lankan Government on ways to prevent a new wave of asylum seekers.

Mr. Walgampaya told ‘The Australian’ yesterday that he saw no justification for Australia accepting any Tamil asylum seekers on either political or humanitarian grounds.

"My view is that Australia should not accept political or humanitarian (Tamil) refugees because Sri Lanka is perfectly safe for Tamils and Sinhalese equally," Mr. Walgampaya said.

"The Government is adequately providing for (displaced Tamils). I do not accept (Tamil) claims that they are not being treated well. There is no reason for these people to be political or humanitarian refugees."

The High Commissioner’s comments place him on a collision course with Canberra, which is expected to increase the number of Tamils it currently accepts under its humanitarian programme.

Sri Lankan armed forces this week crushed the last military resistance of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam after a 26-year civil war in which the LTTE failed to establish a separate state within Sri Lanka.

Australia has supported the Sri Lankan Government’s long struggle against Tamil militants, but at the same time Canberra has accepted a growing number of Tamil refugees on humanitarian grounds.

Asylum is granted to people who have well-founded fears of persecution in their homeland, but decisions are made on a case-by-case basis, not on the grounds of a single race or ethnicity, meaning not all displaced Tamils would automatically qualify.

Since 2003-04, 1899 visas have been granted to Sri Lankans, mostly Tamils, under Australia’s refugee and humanitarian program, including 676 in 2007-08 and 488 in the 10 months to May this year.

That number is almost certain to increase as hundreds of thousands of Tamils consider their future in Sri Lanka without the prospect of an independent homeland.

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith yesterday acknowledged the conflict could create a situation that would lead to more people looking for asylum elsewhere.

"One of the things we’re looking at very closely are the so-called push factors - what is forcing or pressing people to look afar," Mr. Smith said."