Sri Lanka sticks to forced Covid cremation policy, despite revised advice from its own expert panel
Sri Lanka sticks to forced Covid cremation policy, despite revised advice from its own expert panel
29th Jan 2021
Photo: Muslim protestors outside Kanatte Crematorium, in Colombo, Sri Lanka on December 23, 2020, with banners calling for an end of forced cremations. (Credit: Courtesy of Anis Mama)
Forcible cremation of Muslim baby sparks outrage, the public health policy behind it, which is practised exclusively in Sri Lanka and is in conflict with WHO guidelines, is considered a smokescreen for persecuting Muslims.
Elham Asaad Buaras
Sri Lanka’s Health Minister has insisted that the country will continue to cremate all the bodies that have died of Covid-19, despite a revised recommendation by the Government’s own expert medical panel that included burial as means of disposal of bodies.
Colombo, Sri Lanka – Muslims in Sri Lanka are outraged over the forced cremation of a 20-day-old COVID-19 victim last week against the family’s wishes, the latest in more than a dozen such cremations in the Buddhist-majority country since the pandemic erupted.
Ignoring the World Health Organization’s (WHO) guidelines which permit both burials and cremations, Sri Lanka in March made cremation mandatory for people who die or are suspected to have died from the coronavirus infection.
On December 9, baby Shaykh was forcibly cremated in a cemetery in Borella, the largest suburb of Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo – the youngest among 15 Muslims to be cremated, thereby denying them Islamic funeral rites.