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One of the many colossal blunders made by the Gotabaya Rajapaksa Presidency was the decision to forcibly cremate the bodies COVID-19 victims inflicted on the Muslims, which resulted in widespread anguish within the minority community.

Responding to questions raised by Parliamentarian Rauf Hakeem in the House on Friday, Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella admitted that a government-appointed committee was “misled” on the issue of groundwater contamination from COVID-19 burials. 

In his reply to Mr. Hakeem’s question, he said one committee member had threatened to resign if her recommendation to cremate the bodies of COVID-19 victims was not adhered to “because she was the professor in charge of that particular discipline.”

The Minister did not agree with Mr. Hakeem’s accusation that the previous government had handpicked experts with a racist attitude to be committee members. However, the Minister did not say what action would be taken against such experts who misled the previous Government.

The Minister’s response was in line with the recent pattern of Government spokespersons foisting the blame for wrong decisions on officials, advisors and now even on an “invisible force.”

It was only last week that Foreign Minister Ali Sabry told Parliament that former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government had decided to go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for financial assistance, but an invisible force prevented the move.

Moreover, in May last year, Minister Sabry blamed the Treasury Secretary, Central Bank Governor and senior Presidential economic advisors, for misleading the Cabinet about the country’s economic situation.

On other occasions, Government spokespersons blamed unnamed Viyathmaga advisors for the Government’s blunder in attempting to make an overnight switch from chemical fertiliser to organic fertiliser resulting in an unprecedented crisis in the agricultural sector.

When Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s Government took the decision to forcibly cremate the bodies of COVID-19 victims against the weight of all global and local medical evidence, it never made any official announcement justifying the decision.

According to information filtering into the public domain at that time, it was known that a committee appointed by then Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachi had recommended the policy of cremation. The full list of committee members were not known, although the professor referred to by Keheliya Rambuwella and another medical professional who was not a virologist, were the ones said to be strongly objecting to the burials.

These two individuals were not identified by Government spokespersons until they were spotted at the aragalaya protests at Galle Face. The first to do so was Minister Ali Sabry, and then Minister Keheliya Ramukwella on Friday.

It goes without saying, whatever the advisors say, the decision is the Government’s and under the Constitution the buck stops with the Cabinet– including the Executive President. If the Government has made the wrong choice of advisors, it should have the capacity to appoint fresh advisors or check the validity of such advice with other advisors. Moreover, there was ample contra evidence to show forced cremations were totally against scientific evidence.

The World Health Organisation’s guidelines permitting burials of COVID-19 victims had been followed by 194 countries. Sri Lanka’s own world renowned expert Malik Pieris did not see any objections to following the WHO guidelines and endorsed burials.

The Sri Lanka Medical Association and the College of Community Physicians too issued statements that burials could be permitted in the case of COVID-19 related deaths, adding to the overwhelming medical and scientific opinions which the previous Government chose to ignore.

It was also reported that all 11 members of a committee headed by Prof. Jennifer Perera had confirmed there was enough scientific evidence to show burials would cause no harm, as COVID-19 was a respiratory illness and not a waterborne disease. Moreover, the committee said the bodies should be put inside a double-layered body bag before being placed in a coffin and should be disposed within 24 hours.

To add insult to injury, the then Government also took the shocking step of requesting the Maldivian Government to permit bodies of COVID-19 victims to be buried in that country. It was only resistance in some Maldivian quarters that prevented Muslims from suffering the indignity of being buried in another country. The previous Government’s determination not to permit the burial of Muslim COVID-19 victims was evident.

Even when the question was raised in Parliament, the Government never responded positively to the calls to ease the anguish and pain caused to the Muslim community by compelling them to cremate their loved ones in violation of their Constitutionally protected fundamental right to be buried, in accordance with their religious teachings. Whenever Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa raised the matter in Parliament he was rebuffed.

The Opposition Leader deplored the previous Government’s actions in creating religious tensions by unfairly denying citizens of their burial rights during the pandemic, to appease racist elements.

The Opposition Leader was told in Parliament this week not to play the race card with the sensitive issue of cremating Muslim COVID-19 victims to score political points, by rousing communal disharmony.

Foreign Minister Ali Sabry said the issue was sensitive to Muslims as cremation was in violation of Islamic burial rights, and asked the Opposition Leader not to play politics with such issues.

Minister Sabry said so after Opposition Leader Premadasa raised the issue of cremating Muslims during the debate in Parliament on two new regulations under the Medical Ordinance.

The Opposition Leader went on to say: “While other countries united in their battle against COVID-19, we were divided. The World Health Organisation permitted both cremation and burial of COVID-19 victims. The Health Minister repeatedly said she followed WHO guidelines. Muslims were cremated here. That is a sin. Not only that, there was a rumour being circulated that COVID-19 was spread by the Muslims.”

However Mr. Sabry attempted to stifle expressions of such concerns by countering Mr. Sajith Premadasa with remarks of “not to politicise the issue.”

Finally it was the intervention of Prime Minister Imran Khan that made the Government have a change of heart and permit burials. But the victims had to face the ignominy of being buried far away from their homes, in Ottamawady in the Eastern Province.

This was despite the results of a water table survey at the Kuppiawatte burial grounds in Colombo by University of Peradeniya experts, which had determined it was safe to make burials there.

Probably the bitterest experience faced by Muslims in the country’s history was the decision to deny burial rights to those who died or were suspected to have died of COVID-19. While many may eventually forget this injustice it will take a long time for the near and dear ones of those who were cremated to do so.

(javidyusuf@gmail.com)