Covid-19: Sri Lanka reverses 'anti-Muslim' cremation order

Sri Lanka has reversed a controversial mandatory order to cremate the bodies of all those who died of Covid-19.

Critics had said the order was intended to target minorities and did not respect religions. The cremation of bodies is forbidden in Islam.

The government had argued that burials could contaminate ground water.

Thursday's reversal came after an official visit by Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan, who welcomed the decision on his Twitter account.

Analysts say that the decision is likely to be influenced by the fact that the South Asian nation is seeking international support at a UNHRC session which began earlier this week.

The council is expected to consider a new resolution responding to mounting rights concerns in Sri Lanka, including over the treatment of Muslims.

Sri Lanka is being called to hold human rights abusers to account and to deliver justice to victims of its 26-year-old civil war, which killed at least 100,000 people - mostly civilians from the minority Tamil community.

The country had earlier come under intense criticism from rights groups, including the UNHRC, over the forced cremation order.

They said it failed to respect the religious feelings of the victims and their family members specially of the Muslims, Catholics and some Buddhists.

The government had argued that burials could contaminate ground water, based on the say-so of an expert committee, the exact composition and qualifications of which are unknown.

But political, religious and community leaders had repeatedly questioned this, pointing to the more than 190 countries allowing burials, and World Health Organization advice

It even took its fight to the Supreme Court, but the cases were dismissed without any explanation.

Public debate intensified when a 20-day-old Muslim baby was forcibly cremated.

(BBC)