Imran thanks Sri Lanka for ending forced cremations
ISLAMABAD: Sri Lanka on Friday ended forced cremations of people who have died of coronavirus, ater visiting Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan urged Colombo to respect the funeral rites of the island’s minority Muslims.
Imran on Friday welcomed the notification of the Sri Lankan government, regarding the burial option for those dying of coronavirus.
The premier took to Twiter and said, “I thank the Sri Lankan leadership and welcome the Sri Lankan government’s official notification allowing the burial option for those dying of COVID-19.”
The government first banned burials in April over concerns — which experts said were baseless — by influential Buddhist monks that the practice could contaminate groundwater and spread the virus.
The policy was decried by members of the South Asian nation’s Muslim community who constitute 10 per cent of the 21 million population.
While health minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi did not give a reason in her announcement reversing the ban, official sources said Imran had raised the subject with both President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa during his trip earlier this week.
Dozens of demonstrators had used Imran’s visit as an opportunity to call atention to the Sri Lankan government’s disregard for Islamic burial customs and carried a mock coffin.
The 57-member Organisation of Islamic Co-operation ( OIC) had also raised the forced cremation policy at the United Nations in Geneva this week.
In December, authorities ordered the cremation of at least 19 Muslim COVID-19 victims, including a baby, ater their families refused to claim the bodies from a hospital morgue.
Muslim community leaders say more than half the country’s 459 COVID-19 victims were from the Muslim minority.
Earlier, Imran had said that Sri Lanka is a special friend and a strong partner of Pakistan.
In a post on social-networking website Twiter, the premier thanked the leadership and the people of Sri Lanka for warm reception and gracious hospitality during his tour.
It is to be mentioned here that Imran has recently concluded his two-day official visit to Sri Lanka where he met the senior leadership and business community and invited them to visit Pakistan.