Pak Premier welcomes Sri Lanka Premier’s COVID burial assurance

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has welcomed Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister’s statement in Parliament today that Sri Lankan Muslims would be permitted to bury their loved ones who die of COVID-19.

In a tweet, Pakistan Prime Minister Khan said: “We welcome Sri Lanka PM Mahinda Rajapaksa’s assurance given in Sri Lanka Parliament today allowing Muslims to bury those who died from COVID19.”

Mr. Khan’s tweet comes days ahead of his Sri Lanka visit, during which it is said the Sri Lankan authorities are expected to seek Pakistan’s assistance to canvass support from Muslim countries for Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Council. The council this month will take up the Human Rights Commissioner’s report which is critical of Sri Lanka.

In Colombo, Pakistan’s Ambassador Saad Khattak tweeted: “The decision to allow burial of Covid 19 muslim victims by the government of Honourable @GotabayaR is widely welcomed across the muslim world. The decision will surely address the anxiety of muslim community leading to greater ethnic harmony on the island. @PresRakapaksa.”

The Sri Lankan government’s decision not to permit burial for Muslims who die due to COVID-19 has come under severe criticism in Islamic countries. It received wide media coverage in the Arab and Islamic world.

The 52-member Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) also issued a strongly worded statement questioning the Sri Lankan government’s cremation only policy, when the World Health Organization has permitted both cremation and burial. The Sri Lankan government’s decision also has come under fire from Western nations and several human rights organizations.

Premier Rajapaksa’s statement indicating a change of policy came in response to an opposition parliamentarian’s query whether the government would allow burial as COVID-19 Prevention State Minister Sudarshini Fernandopulle had in statement in Parliament yesterday said that COVID-19 virus was only airborne, and it could not be transmitted through water.

She was responding to a question as to whether the government was aware of the danger posed to schoolchildren in Kebethigollawa in the Anuradhapura district, as effluent from a COVID hospital was flowing to a canal near a school.

In social media comments, activists who are campaigning for the Sri Lankan Muslims’ burial rights said Premier Rajapaksa’s statement meant nothing unless the Government issued a gazette notification cancelling the cremation only regulation. The regulation was not reviewed even after an expert committee and Sri Lanka Medical Association said burial posed no danger to society.