Image: Al Jazeera
Faizel Patel – 01/03/2021
Sri Lankan Muslims have welcomed the country’s decision to end a ban on the burial of COVID-19 victims following international criticism.
Sri Lanka banned the burial of pandemic victims last March in a controversial move, causing an international cry about the matter as Muslims and Christians bury their dead.
The order was raised by influential Buddhist monks who said that burying bodies could contaminate groundwater and spread the virus
Health authorities insisted that all victims must be cremated even if they are Muslims.
Speaking to Radio Islam, an Islamic scholar in Sri Lanka Ml Mafaz Najmuddeen says the Sri Lankan government faced international pressure to lift the ban.
“Alhamdulillah, the pressure from the international community and Islamic countries helped. We believe that a small impact from the visit of the honourable Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan, Masha’Allah because of all these and blessings of Allah.”
Ml Najmuddeen says the procrastination in lifting the ban was a result of the lack of information about the Coronavirus and the impact it could have on the country.
“So what I believe is maybe two hundred days they were right. But after that, there were many racist teams or racist mobs together with monks. They didn’t want Muslims to come because they believe that Muslims didn’t support the regime that’s ruling now, the Rajapaksa regime.”
Ml Najmuddeen Sri Lank’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, especially during the first wave was very good, making it one of the few country’s with minimal infections and deaths.
Listen to the interview with Ml Mafaz Najmuddeen
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