The Gampaha District SJB Member of Parliament Ranjan Ramanayake, who was sentenced to four-years Rigorous Imprisonment on Tuesday (January 12), will lose his Parliamentary seat, just four months after getting re-elected.
Heading Towards The Gadarene Slope On Covid Cremation
Jehan Perera
Fear when combined with falsehood and insular inward-looking nationalism make a potent combination that can lead to the brutalization of society in the short term and possible disaster in the longer term. Sri Lanka is gaining international notoriety on this account. The issue of enforced cremation of those who die of Covid, or are suspected of it as a possible cause of death, has shocked the sensibilities of the world to the extent that four UN Special Rapporteurs have called on Sri Lanka to permit burial of such fatalities. Significantly, these were the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief; the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; the Special Rapporteur on minority issues; and the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism.
Heading Towards The Gadarne Slope On Covid Cremation colombotelegraph.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from colombotelegraph.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
By Jehan Perera
Fear, when combined with falsehood and insular inward-looking nationalism, make a potent combination that can lead to the brutalization of society in the short term and possible disaster in the longer term. In a callous attempt to prevent the Covid infection from spreading, the Indian government forced millions of migrant workers from distant regions to go back to their home villages, giving most of them less than a day’s notice. Many had to journey back by foot, trekking hundreds of kilometers, which not all of them survived. In Sri Lanka too, the outbreak of Covid in the apparel factory hub of Katunayake led to the enforced transfer of thousands of factory workers, at short notice, to faraway quarantine centres.