The Hon. Rauff Hakeem, Attorney-at-Law
Rauff Hakeem raised concern that COVID-19 death data was not recorded or reported by religion, suggesting this could have been determined from names. He questioned the Minister on the prolonged lockdowns of predominantly Muslim villages such as Atulugama and Akurana after reported COVID-19 cases, alleging residents faced unnecessary fear and illegal pressure, and asked whether the actions in Atulugama were unlawful and whether an inquiry would be conducted.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Minister, we are concerned that there is no information on deceased by religion, which would have been easy to determine if names were recorded. Please consider this.
¶ 02 My first supplementary is this: You, too, represent Kalutara District. Atulugama is a village with a predominantly Muslim population, as is Akurana in Kandy District. We learned that for over one and a half months these villages were completely locked down, creating unnecessary fear, and the entire village was shut as soon as a COVID-19 case was reported, subjecting residents to illegal pressure. Do you accept that what happened in Atulugama—where you have significant voter support—was an unlawful act carried out in a hostile manner by some officials in that province? Will you conduct an inquiry?
Provenance
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- Hansard, Thursday, 23 January 2025 ·No. 1738314169039521 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Rauff Hakeem, Attorney-at-Law. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 23 January 2025. No. 1738314169039521. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/10478