Colombo: Despite strong opposition from the minority Muslim community, the Health Minister of Sri Lanka on Thursday said that for those who died of Covid-19 in the country as per the recommendation of the expert committee Only the decision to perform cremation will remain.
It is noteworthy that Sri Lanka in April last year changed the law to make cremation of those who died of Covid-19 mandatory to prevent the spread of any possible infection. However, the World Health Organization has also approved the burial of dead bodies of the infected.
Health Minister Pavitra Vanniarachchi said in Parliament that cremation is the ideal method of disposal of dead bodies according to the committee’s report. “There is no intention to withdraw from the decision taken on the basis of the report of the committee considering the demands of any ethnic or community,” he said.
Pavitra gave this information in response to the question of opposition MP Gajendra Kumar Ponnambalan. Gajendra underlined that virus experts have verified that burying the bodies of the infected do not spread the Corona Virus. It is noteworthy that Muslim groups are opposing forcible cremation against their religious belief in case of death of their community person due to Covid-19. Cremation of the dead body is forbidden in Islam and Jewish religion.
