Discrimination against Sri Lanka’s Muslim community during the pandemic: a chilling foreshadow

Last week, the body of 20-day-old Shayk was cremated by Sri Lankan authorities, despite the pleas of his grieving family. His cremation is one of many that have deeply shaken and angered Sri Lanka’s Muslim community. 

SRI LANKA’S CREMATION POLICY 

Cremation of the dead is strictly forbidden by Islamic law, with some believing that to cremate the dead is to condemn them to hell. The Sri Lankan government’s COVID-19 policy disregards Muslims’ rights to belief and dignity in death, but the government continues to enforce cremation for all deaths resulting from the virus within 24 hours of death. Reports state that of 124 COVID-related deaths in Sri Lanka at least 50 of those who died were Muslim—all have been cremated. There are also cases where the dead have been cremated only for tests to later show that the deceased was not infected with the virus. 

Sri Lanka’s Chief Epidemiologist informed the BBC that Sri Lanka’s policy was based on the understanding that “those who die from Covid-19, as well as those suspected of dying from it, are cremated, as burials could contaminate ground drinking water”. This is despite the World Health Organization’s (WHO) confirmation that “cadavers do not transmit disease,” “cremation is a matter of cultural choice and available resources,” and that “people who have died from COVID-19 can be buried or cremated”. 

LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE

The Muslim community has responded through both formal and informal protest. On the one hand, families are now refusing to participate in the cremation process, where they are expected to pay “around LKR 50,000-60,000 (approximately USD 270-325)” after claiming the bodies. One family member said, “they demanded payment for the coffin but I refused because I told them it is against our religion to burn bodies. We have to obey the law but we would not participate, we would make no payments, we would have no part and no complicity in this.” The Sri Lankan Attorney General responded by ordering the authorities to proceed with the cremations, regardless of families’ absences. On the other hand, 11 families—both Muslim and Christian—also went before the Supreme Court in July 2020, claiming a violation of their fundamental rights. On 1 December 2020, the Supreme Court dismissed the case without providing further reasoning, striking a devastating blow on both communities and leaving them with no further recourse in the domestic justice system.

Local civil society as well as international organisations have joined the Muslim community in highlighting concerns of discrimination and human rights violations, and have called for the government to allow for burials as per the WHO’s guidelines and the practice of almost every other country. They have signed petitions, issued statements, and advocated to the government. In early November, the government appointed an expert committee to reconsider the policy on mandatory cremations, citing a need to revisit the policy given recent scientific understanding of the virus. However, at the end of the month, the committee decided that cremation was to remain the only option for Sri Lanka.

CREMATION IN THE CONTEXT OF SYSTEMIC ANTI-MUSLIM DISCRIMINATION AND VIOLENCE

The government’s stance is, at best, careless of the rights and requests of the Muslim community. At worst, it is deliberately discriminatory and cruel. Neither of these attitudes is a new phenomenon. From the outset of the current government’s entry into power in a landslide vote by the Sinhalese majority, the Sri Lankan government has—both subtly and overtly—highlighted its disregard for minority communities, of which the Muslim community is one. Within this majoritarian structure, there has also been growing hatred particularly against the Muslim community, continuing the trajectory of the past few years.  

In relation to the COVID-19 pandemic itself, state bodies have repeatedly cast the Muslim community in a negative light. In a COVID-19 exit strategy presented to the president, the Government Medical Officer’s Association (GMOA) and the Information and Communication Technology Agency Sri Lanka (ICTA) suggested that the Muslim community carried the highest weight of risk in spreading the virus. Although this was later amended after heavy criticism for racially profiling Muslims, this sentiment continues to echo among the media and public and has led to a rise in hate speech and suspicion of the Muslim community.

On a broader scale, the Muslim community has increasingly become the primary target for vitriol and discrimination. There have been several violent anti-Muslim riots in the past decade, each of which has seen Muslim shops and homes looted and burnt  and multiples individuals injured and killed. Each of these riots has spread rapidly in a short time period, signalling a latent fear of or hatred toward the Muslim community in parts of the country. The sentiment prompting these outbursts of violence has only been strengthened by the terror attacks on Easter Sunday 2019. Although the attacks were carried out by a small group of radicalised Muslims and strongly condemned by the broader Muslim community in Sri Lanka, the result has been more deep-rooted fear and suspicion of Muslims, manifesting in overt and subversive discrimination. 

Where the state should have adopted a nuanced approach towards peace, successive governments have stirred up and capitalised on these anti-Muslim sentiments for political gain. A retired Muslim government official was arrested by state officials for his statements against discrimination on his personal Facebook account. After months in detention despite serious health conditions, he was released on bail. A prominent Muslim lawyer has been detained for months under a draconian terrorism law with allegations of links to terror groups. However, no charge has been brought against him in court. While Muslim professionals are being targeted with alleged links to radicalisation, those already on the margins continue to struggle. Muslim communities displaced by conflict struggle to establish their right to return home. Muslim women have at times been banned from shops and because of their clothing and head coverings. 

THE LATEST IN SRI LANKA’S RECURRING CYCLES OF VIOLENCE

Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict ended in 2009, when state forces subdued the separatist rebel movement which claimed to represent the Tamil minority. The conflict was prompted by increasingly racist policies adopted by successive governments to marginalise and terrorise the Tamils, as well as the impunity granted to state forces and the public for attacking and violating the rights of the Tamil people. Since the conflict ended, peacebuilders and activists have consistently highlighted the need for accountability, systemic reform, and egalitarian peace-oriented politics. In the ten years since the end of the conflict, this has not been addressed. On the contrary, it seems that a new enemy has been identified, and the trajectory of these tensions bears similarities to the previous conflict. The Muslim minority faces increasing racial injustice and discrimination from sections of the public as well the state. Their fundamental rights to live and die with dignity are being systematically and overtly violated. 

Where past violations are not addressed and accounted for, conflict will breed conflict. In itself, the Sri Lankan government’s lack of compassion in enforcing unnecessary cremations is horrific and despicable. When studied in the broader framework of events with a view to the future, it is terrifying. 

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Esther is a lawyer by training, and works as a researcher and writer. Her work is focused on strengthening rule of law in Sri Lanka, and studying the broader relationship between accountability and long-term peace and political stability. Her interests lie in public international law, transitional justice and minority rights and identity. She holds an LLB and LLM in Legal and Political Aspects of International Affairs from Cardiff University, UK.