The government of Sri Lanka in the month of March 2020, had imposed regulations announcing that the bodies of COVID-19 victims could only be cremated stating that the virus could spread by contaminating groundwater.
On the eve of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Visit a group of Muslim parliamentarians urged Pakistani Premier who was visiting the country to take up the issue with the Sri Lankan political leaders.
Thanking his Sri Lankan counterparts for the policy change Imran Khan tweeted “I welcome the Sri Lankan govt’s official notification allowing the burial option for those dying of Covid – 19,”.
The chairperson of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Michelle Bachelet, referred to the issue in a statement on Wednesday after the 57-member Organizations of Islamic Cooperation raised the forced cremation policy at the at the Human Rights Council in Geneva this week.
“The policy of forced cremation of COVID-19 victims has caused pain and distress to the minority Muslim and Christian communities,” she said.
The country being predominantly Buddhist cremates the dead. Muslims who bury their dead form about 10 percent of the population. Muslim community leaders claiming that from the countries 459 Covid-19 deaths half are from the Muslim minority citing fear of cremation should they die as a reason for not seeking treatment .