A split in the main Muslim party in Sri Lanka is threatening to overshadow a third round of peace talks between the government and Tamil rebels.

The party high command met Sunday night [and] decided to suspend the membership of Rauf Hakeem and remove him from the position of party leader

ALM Hafrath, SLMC secretary

Muslim leader Rauf Hakeem, a key voice in the government team attending the talks in Norway, rushed back to Colombo on the eve of Monday's talks when party rivals tried to oust him as leader.

As negotiations began, government chief negotiator GL Pieris told the BBC the focus would be on security issues and resettling refugees displaced by years of civil war.

He did not expect the crisis in Mr Hakeem's Muslim Congress, a member of Sri Lanka's governing coalition, to affect the progress of the talks.

Meanwhile, a Sri Lankan opposition delegation headed by the president's brother, Aruna Bandaranaike, has met Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha in Delhi.

Mr Bandarinaike said afterwards that India should push for a time-frame for the peace negotiations.

Political survival

The row in the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) came after Mr Hakeem suspended two senior members for mounting a challenge to his leadership.

They refused to recognise the move, and suspended him instead.

Muslim question is key element in peace talks

Observers say any split in the SLMC could threaten the political survival of the government, which depends on the Muslims' 12 seats for its parliamentary majority.

However, the breakaway faction has said it will continue to support the government of Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe.

His coalition has a majority of just two in the house.

Mr Hakeem's opponents within the SLMC complain that he has not lobbied hard enough for a separate Muslim political entity within the Tamil-dominated areas of eastern Sri Lanka.

Both the government and rebel delegations are playing down the significance of his departure from Oslo, but a BBC correspondent says his absence is certainly a setback to the peace talks.

His departure leaves the Muslims represented by just an observer in Oslo.

Talks agenda

We have now reached an important milestone in the peace process and it is our aim to carry it further

GL Peiris

The talks will focus on further consolidating the ceasefire in place since February.

The Tamil Tiger and government negotiators have said that a political solution to Sri Lanka's ethnic problem will be discussed at the Oslo talks.

"We have now reached an important milestone in the peace process and it is our aim to carry it further," said government negotiator GL Peiris.

But according to our correspondent, the Tamil Tiger chief negotiator, Anton Balasingham, was more circumspect about how quickly a solution could be found.

And Mr Peiris has stressed that human rights must be included in the peace process.

Over 60,000 people have been killed in the civil war in Sri Lanka since 1983.