Sri Lanka apologises to Muslims for forced Covid cremations against WHO advice

Sri Lanka’s entire Muslim community – around 10 per cent of the 22 million population – was still traumatised, representatives said

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Relatives of a Covid-19 victim prepare to unload a wooden coffin from an auto rickshaw at a mortuary in Colombo in August 2021. Photo: AFP

Published: 10:29am, 24 Jul 2024Updated: 10:36am, 24 Jul 2024

Sri Lanka’s government formally apologised to the island’s Muslim minority for forcing cremations on Covid victims, disregarding World Health Organization assurances that burials in line with Islamic rites were safe.

The cabinet issued an “apology regarding the compulsory cremation policy during the Covid-19 pandemic”, the government said in a statement on Tuesday.

It said a new law would guarantee the right to burial or cremation to ensure the funeral customs of Muslims or any other community were not violated in future.

Traditionally, Muslims bury their dead facing Mecca. Sri Lanka’s majority Buddhists are typically cremated, as are Hindus.

Muslim representatives in Sri Lanka welcomed the apology, but said their entire community, accounting for about 10 per cent of the island’s 22 million population, was still traumatised.

Family members look at the funeral pyres of Covid victims at a crematorium in New Delhi in 2021. India’s majority Hindus are typically cremated, as are Sri Lanka’s Buddhists. Photo: Xinhua

“We will now sue two academics – Meththika Vithanage and Channa Jayasumana – who were behind the forced cremation policy of the government,” said Hilmy Ahamed, spokesman for the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka. “We will also seek compensation.”