Inputs to Thondaman’s Cabinet paper on State apology to Muslims on forced COVID cremations

If this is not a crime against humanity to some extent one wonders what crimes against humanity are – Pic by Shehan Gunasekara 

With reference to the subject news report titled “Thondaman calls for formal Govt. apology to Muslim community over forced COVID cremations” appearing on the front page of your widely circulated and read newspaper of Friday 5 April 2024, I wish to bring the following to the attention of your readers with regard to the article.

The apology from an individual on behalf of the Government which as a collective acted in contravention of prevalent and established ethical, scientific and moral grounds to selectively target a section of its own citizens indeed must not and should not be accepted as the decision to forcefully cremate COVID-19 dead during the pandemic was solely a political decision.

If Thondaman is initiating a Cabinet paper to get the Government of Sri Lanka to make a formal apology to those who were subjected to the unscientific decision of being forcefully cremated due to death from COVID-19 against their personal and religious customs and culture then Thondaman’s action in obtaining a formal State apology must be commended. Thondaman while attempting to gain a State apology must also include in his Cabinet paper the following:

(a) Measures he recommends the Cabinet take to hold all those responsible for recommending, implementing and sustaining the forced cremation policy for the COVID-19 dead. 

(b) Measures he recommends the Cabinet take to compensate the families of the victims of a specific Government policy which lacked any and all scientific merit.  

Independent of the above apology from the State, the country ought to be told the exact facts as to the process which was followed and adopted by the Government led by the Ministry of Health (as technical experts) in recommending, implementing and sustaining the forced cremation of the COVID-19 dead despite no scientific evidence either internationally or locally to support the recommendation, implementation and sustenance of such policy for almost two years.

To achieve some clarity with regard to Point (3) a series of questions have been submitted to Parliament. The questions (in total 4) are herewith attached and I will be most thankful if you would be so kind as to bring them to the notice of the public in light of your subject front page article. For the record some (not all) of these questions have indeed been raised by Rauf Hakeem, MP Leader Sri Lanka Muslim Congress in Parliament and have also been placed in the order paper to be answered by the Minister of Health.

If the questions which have been included in the Parliament order paper are answered in an honest transparent timely and responsible manner (without playing the customary political games particularly in an election year) we the citizens of Sri Lanka should have an unbiased factual picture as to the process and thinking of the experts and others (political and military leaders) which led to the recommendation, implementation and sustenance of the forceful cremation of the COVID-19 dead.

The most important outcome of an apology or no apology MUST be the creation of a suitable process to hold all those responsible (medical doctors, other scientists, military officers, politicians, the judicial system, religious leaders, civil society leaders) accountable for their active and passive support of an unscientific decision which impacted the dignity of the dead and scarred the living irreparably in mental physical and social terms for life. If this is not a crime against humanity to some extent one wonders what crimes against humanity are? The search for answers to this despicable, calculated and premeditated act against a system of religious belief misusing science must never happen again to any segment of the Sri Lankan citizenry. It is in this context that it is so important to a hold full formal Presidential or Preliminary inquiry into this matter and ascertain the facts of the matter with a view of punitive action against the perpetrators and compensation in financial terms (inclusive of an official State apology) to all members of surviving families of those who had to suffer at the hands of a Government which instituted a policy to forcefully cremate all COVID-19 dead despite the lack of any local or international scientific data to do so. Without accountability there will be no sense in any apology by any one!

A section of the Sri Lankan citizenry is looking for a sense of justice and more than anything a sense of closure to a decision by the Government who were supposed to protect and defend the rights of all Sri Lankans regardless of ethnicity, race or religion or indeed any other parameters. With regard to the forced cremation of the COVID-19 dead this clearly did not happen for political reasons.

(The writer is a Specialist Family Physician and past President of Sri Lanka Medical Association.)