With increasing domestic pressure and indisputable evidence…

The stated position which has been disclosed repeatedly by the President, PM & Health Minister since the beginning of COVID-19 regarding permitting burials is to “go with the recommendations of the experts”. (2)

Similarly, the stance of the Muslim community since the very beginning has been that IF science proves that burial is harmful, THEN we will cease our claims immediately, as we do not wish to cause harm to anyone.

This has been conveyed to to all officials and the public. (3)

Over the last 10 months, science has proven overwhelmingly that in 194 countries and at least 1.5 million COVID-19 burials worldwide, there is no tangible evidence that burial is harmful. (4)

The formation of this new expert committee is due to the fact that it has now been proven overwhelmingly that the previous committee’s recommendations are disputed and were based largely on “unknowns”, with lack of substantial evidence to prove or disprove its recommendations.(5)

Such recommendations were also not available in the public domain for the aggrieved Muslim community to consume.

If such information was valid, then it should have been made available so that we can accept it & agree with the stance of the Government. Nothing was provided. (6)

Now, I place my full confidence in science and in the reputation of the members of this new committee.

I also place confidence in the fact that the President, PM & Health Minister have stated repeatedly that they will act in accordance to the recommendations of the experts.(7)

I’d like to believe that this new committee’s findings is based purely on SCIENCE and supplemented by the recommendations provided by international organizations & experts who have ruled clearly that burial does not create a risk to contaminate groundwater or spread COVID-19. (8)

Their report is now completed and is due to be presented on 30.12.2020 to the President via the Health Ministry.

I sincerely hope it will be presented in its full form, without any last-minute changes or deletions. (9)

As such, I only ask that the President, Prime Minister and Health Minister act as promised, with the recommendations of the new expert committee, and pass the requisite legislation in keeping with this report by this new committee. (10)

I also request this report be made available to the public via the Health Ministry or Presidential Secretariat after its submission.

I ask this on behalf of my entire distressed community to give us solace, and on behalf of those aggrieved families, to give them closure.(11)

Moreover, this will largely assist in assuaging the prevailing distrust and fear between affected communities and the authorities, which will greatly contribute towards COVID-19 mitigation and controlling the spread throughout Sri Lanka. We can fight this together! (12)

I place my trust and faith that after an exhausting, grueling, heartbreaking 10 months of struggling for basic human rights, science and humanity will finally prevail. God Willing. (13)

#StopForcedCremations

With increasing domestic pressure and indisputable evidence provided by internationally accredited experts, the Government has now appointed a new 11 member expert committee on 24.12.2020 comprised of reputed virologists and qualified experts. (1)

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