Image: AFP
Faizel Patel – 15/12/2020
Outrage is mounting in Sri Lanka after at least 15 Muslim coronavirus victims, including a one day-old baby, were cremated against family wishes and in contravention of Islamic funeral rites.
Health authorities in Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka insist all victims must be cremated — even if they are Muslims.
The order issued in April came amid alarm raised by influential Buddhist monks that burying bodies could contaminate groundwater and spread the virus
Speaking to Radio Islam, former Sri Lankan Parliamentarian Faizar Mustafa says while there is a distinction in many countries of people who die from COVID-19 and those who do not, in Sri Lanka there is no segregation.
“I believe that there is a sinister purpose other than a technical side to it because scientifically there is no evidence in terms of what has been placed even in the Supreme Court with regards to a person being contaminated with COVID if a body is being buried through the water.”
Also speaking to Radio Islam, Ml Mafaz Najmuddeen, an Islamic scholar in Sri Lanka says Muslims in the country are protesting over the cremations of Muslim bodies.
“They have asked even the Muslim families to give consent. But because of our belief and because there is no scientific proof, Muslims haven’t given their consent. Because of that, for the last week Muslims bodies were piling up in the general hospitals.”
Mustafa says Muslim parliamentarians in government and opposition are speaking with one voice against the forced cremations.
“I’ve been appealing to the government that there is no scientific reason to prevent us from this right. They are continuously agitating in parliament and outside parliament for government officials to give us this right because this is against out religious belief. Cremation is a no, no for the Muslim community in Sri Lanka.”
Meanwhile, the United Ulama Council of South Africa (UUCSA) has called on South Africa’s International Relations Minister Naledi Pandor to intervene in the forced cremations of Muslims who passed away from COVID-19.
In a statement, Uucsa says the callous repression and cruelty meted out against the minority Muslim community by the Sri Lankan regime calls for international intervention adding that forced cremations are a violation of basic human dignity and internationally recognized rights of religious freedom.
Uucsa has called for the immediate cessation of forced cremations.
International Relations Minister Naledi Pandor told Radio Islam she will issue a statement once she receives Uucsa’s correspondence
Listen to the interview with Faizar Mustafa and Ml Mafaz Najmuddeen
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