British Muslim leader cites ‘forced cremation’ in Sri Lanka unacceptable

A prominent leader of the British Muslim community has termed cremation of Muslims who died of Covid, in Sri Lanka as unacceptable and politically motivated. 

Speaking to Turkish news agency Anadolu the founding secretary-general of the UK’s biggest Muslim umbrella group, the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) Sir Iqbal Sacranie on Saturday described cremation of Muslims in Sri Lanka as a measure implemented to specifically target the Muslim community, he described it as “a political measure where a collective punishment is given to the Muslim community for political reasons.” 

As a precaution against the spread of the coronavirus, Sri Lankan authorities have adopted the policy of cremating those who died due to Covid, irrespective of their religion. 

Pointing out that followers of the Abrahamic faiths have the tradition of burying their dead he said, “Now, this has never happened in any part of the world. Sri Lanka is the only country in the world which has imposed this directive. And this is mandatory. Until yesterday, more than 103 Muslims have been cremated, which included a 20-day-old baby whose parents tested negative.”

Sacranie described cremation of Muslims as a human rights abuse. “It goes against the international conventions of the UN, the European conventions, and every convention around the world. Respect for religion and religious sensitivities is paramount,” he said.

Claiming that there exists no scientific proof to show that burial of bodies leads to spread of the virus he said that his organisation is lobbying hard to get international support to pressurise Sri Lanka from continuing this practice. 

“We have been in touch with more than 20 countries, with different heads of states, departments and ministers of foreign affairs and they have all started putting pressure on the Sri Lankan government that what it is doing is unfair and illegal under the international law,” he said. 

Source: UNI

-Agencies