The Hon. M. S. Uthumalebbe

¶ 01 Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim.

¶ 02 Hon. Presiding Member, I am pleased to speak on the Private Member’s Motion by our Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Leader, Hon. Rauff Hakeem, to appoint a Select Committee to inquire into the cremation of those who died due to COVID-19 under the Rajapaksa administration.

¶ 03 An earlier Hon. Member, who was on that special committee, clearly explained why the Janazas were cremated. In truth, there was no reason to cremate Muslim Janazas. Our religious and cultural right is to bury. The WHO said the dead could be either buried or cremated. Religious leaders worldwide appealed not to cremate Muslim Janazas, calling Sri Lanka’s decision “majnoon” — a mad decision.

¶ 04 From the list submitted, while about 182 countries followed customary practices, only Sri Lanka committed this cruelty. This is a grave injustice to Muslims. Those in Opposition then — including today’s President and our party leaders — all fought against it. I thank them. Our Leader of the Opposition Hon. Sajith Premadasa and many in this Parliament raised their voices and did their duty. What pains us is that Gotabaya Rajapaksa decided to cremate Janazas merely because Muslims did not vote for him, not for any other reason.