The Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has on Wednesday announced to lift ban for the burials of Muslims over the government’s decision to cremate all those who died of Coronavirus.
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa said in parliament the bodies of virus victims will be allowed to be buried.
In March last year, the Health Ministry had said that the burial of the coronavirus victims could lead to the virus spread. It said the bodies of the deceased, irrespective of their religion, would therefore be cremated.
However, the World Health Organization (WHO) stressed that cremation is a “matter of cultural choice.”
“It is a common myth that persons who have died of a communicable disease should be cremated, but this is not true,” it added.
Moreover, Muslims and non-Muslims have protested against the rule over the past year, calling it unscientific and insensitive of Muslim religious beliefs.
