Al Jazeera News :
Muslims in Sri Lanka are outraged over the forced cremation of a 20-day-old Covid-19 victim last week against the family’s wishes, the latest in more than a dozen such cremations in the Buddhist-majority country since the pandemic erupted.
Ignoring the World Health Organization’s (WHO) guidelines which permit both burials and cremations, Sri Lanka in March made cremation mandatory for people who die or are suspected to have died from the coronavirus infection.
On December 9, baby Shaykh was forcibly cremated in a cemetery in Borella, the largest suburb of Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo – the youngest among 15 Muslims to be cremated, thereby denying them Islamic funeral rites.
Shaykh’s father MFM Fahim told Al Jazeera he could not gather the courage to witness the burning of his infant son’s body.
“I told them that I cannot go into a place where they are burning my baby. My friends and family asked the authorities how they can go ahead with the cremation when neither of the parents had signed any document giving consent,” Fahim told Al Jazeera.
“They said because the baby is a COVID-19 positive patient, they can cremate. It is as if they rushed to cremate our baby,” he said. ‘When we asked questions, they didn’t have any proper answer.”
“We would have had some comfort if they had allowed us to bury him instead of cremating him by force. That is what is unbearable,” Fahim told Al Jazeera.
Muslims and Christians bury the dead. But Sri Lanka’s mandatory cremation policy for those infected with COVID-19 has left minority communities feeling helpless and angry.
“It is a communal decision they took. The government wants to hurt the feelings of the minorities. They are violating WHO guidelines and basic human rights,” Azath Salley, leader of the National Unity Alliance (NUA) and former governor of the Western Province, told Al Jazeera.
“They did not even spare a child who was only 20 days old. To add to the family’s sorrow, they were even asked by the government to pay [approximately $300] to cover the costs of cremation,” he said.
Salley urged the international community to put pressure on the Sri Lankan government to “respect the beliefs of the minorities and to allow them to bury their dead”.
Muslims in Sri Lanka are outraged over the forced cremation of a 20-day-old Covid-19 victim last week against the family’s wishes, the latest in more than a dozen such cremations in the Buddhist-majority country since the pandemic erupted.
Ignoring the World Health Organization’s (WHO) guidelines which permit both burials and cremations, Sri Lanka in March made cremation mandatory for people who die or are suspected to have died from the coronavirus infection.
On December 9, baby Shaykh was forcibly cremated in a cemetery in Borella, the largest suburb of Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo – the youngest among 15 Muslims to be cremated, thereby denying them Islamic funeral rites.
Shaykh’s father MFM Fahim told Al Jazeera he could not gather the courage to witness the burning of his infant son’s body.
“I told them that I cannot go into a place where they are burning my baby. My friends and family asked the authorities how they can go ahead with the cremation when neither of the parents had signed any document giving consent,” Fahim told Al Jazeera.
“They said because the baby is a COVID-19 positive patient, they can cremate. It is as if they rushed to cremate our baby,” he said. ‘When we asked questions, they didn’t have any proper answer.”
“We would have had some comfort if they had allowed us to bury him instead of cremating him by force. That is what is unbearable,” Fahim told Al Jazeera.
Muslims and Christians bury the dead. But Sri Lanka’s mandatory cremation policy for those infected with COVID-19 has left minority communities feeling helpless and angry.
“It is a communal decision they took. The government wants to hurt the feelings of the minorities. They are violating WHO guidelines and basic human rights,” Azath Salley, leader of the National Unity Alliance (NUA) and former governor of the Western Province, told Al Jazeera.
“They did not even spare a child who was only 20 days old. To add to the family’s sorrow, they were even asked by the government to pay [approximately $300] to cover the costs of cremation,” he said.
Salley urged the international community to put pressure on the Sri Lankan government to “respect the beliefs of the minorities and to allow them to bury their dead”.
