The Hon. Rauff Hakeem, Attorney-at-Law
Hon. Rauff Hakeem welcomed action against officials who deliberately acted during the COVID-19 period but recalled that Muslim burials were permitted only after major protests. He argued that the cremation-only policy was unscientific and hostile, citing WHO guidance and medical views that the virus would not spread through groundwater or survive after death. He specifically questioned what action would be taken against Prof. Meththika Vithanage for her claims regarding groundwater contamination and burial policy.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 I welcome action against officials who acted deliberately. Only after massive protests did the then Government allow Muslim burials. At that time, Prof. Meththika Vithanage of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura claimed the pandemic could spread through groundwater, whereas WHO was clear it would not. Your party secretary, a specialist in communicable diseases, also opposed cremation-only policy, noting scientifically that viruses cannot survive after the host dies. Yet, unscientific, hostile decisions insisted on cremation for Muslims and proposed burials in areas with deep water tables. What action will you take regarding this official?
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Thursday, 23 January 2025 ·No. 1738314169039521 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
- Page · column
- not yet extracted — page/column anchors are not in the current dataset; the source PDF is the citable location.
- Permalink
/lk/speeches/10480
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/10480