Sri Lanka To Cremate The Bodies Of Muslim COVID-19 Victims

Cremation illustration (Pixabay)

JAKARTA - The Sri Lankan government insists that it will cremate all victims who have died due to the COVID-19 pandemic in their country. To that end, the policy owners have rejected all international requests and recommendations to allow Muslim minorities to bury their bodies according to Islamic law.

Launching CNA, Saturday, January 9, the government previously banned the burial of the bodies of victims of COVID-19 in April. The reason is that buried bodies can contaminate groundwater and spread the virus.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reacted. They said, the bodies that have been buried will not contaminate and spread COVID-19. With that in mind, WHO appealed to Sri Lanka to start burying victims of COVID-19 again. However, the proposal was rejected.

"This decision will not be changed for social, religious, political or other personal reasons," said one Sri Lanka Health Ministry official.

Due to this move, the Sri Lanka Muslim Council (SLMC) accused the government of provoking Muslims to do something reckless. The protest was even raised directly by the Minister of Justice Ali Sabry, who is known to be a Muslim.

"We have a disproportionate number of deaths because Muslims do not seek treatment for COVID-19, for fear they will be cremated if they are diagnosed with COVID-19 after going to hospital," said SLMC spokesman Hilmy Ahamed.

Previously, tensions between the Muslim and Buddhist communities were frequent in Sri Lanka. The tension also escalated during the Easter 2019 bombings by local militants. As a result, religious conflict has risen to this day.

So far Sri Lanka has confirmed 46,780 cases of COVID-19 transmission. Among them, there were 222 cases died.