COLOMBO – Former Sri Lanka President Chandrika Kumaratunga has urged then government to restore the last rights of the Muslims by rescinding the forced cremation rule in the island.
Kumaratunga has released a statement through her official Facebook page urging the government to permit burial of COVID-19 victims.
She said she came forward to make statement after the relevant facts related to the burial of COVID-19 victims. She dismissed the reasons for the mandatory cremation as baseless according to scientists and researchers in Sri Lanka and overseas. This is a decision which should be taken on the evidence of recognized local and international scientists in the relevant field.
Former President Kumaratunga further stated that this is a practice followed by Muslims for centuries and there is a legitimate right for Muslim community to follow their religious practices for burying the dead, which doesn’t harm anyone.” Muslims in Sri Lanka have been following the burial traditions from time immemorial. It is nothing but right to allow them to practice their religious customs and traditions according to their cherished faith, she concluded
