The new SARS-CoV-2 variant, which belongs to the B.1.1.7 lineage and now dominant in the United Kingdom, has been identified in Covid-19 positive samples received from four areas across the country.
The samples were received from Colombo, Avissawella, Biyagama and Vavuniya areas, says Director of the Department of Immunology and Molecular Medicine of Sri Jayewardenepura University, Dr. Chandima Jeewandara.
According to him, this Covid-19 variant, also known as VOC 202012/01, has a higher transmissibility.
The United Kingdom first reported the new SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern (VOC) to the World Health Organization in December last year.
By mid-January, 50 countries had identified the more contagious B.1.1.7 variant in Covid-19 positive cases.
The developers of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, however, stated that their jabs give people good protection against the new coronavirus variant. They had found similar efficacy against the B.1.1.7 variant to the original virus, based on swabs from volunteers.
Last month, Sri Lanka identified a special mutation (N439K) of SARS-CoV-2, which showed similar characteristics to a strain spreading in England, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark and Iceland. It was of B1258 lineage.
Five new Covid-19 related fatalities have been reported in Sri Lanka, Director-General of Health Services confirmed.
The new development has pushed the death toll from the virus outbreak to 384.
Department of Government Information said one of the victims is a 63-year-old man from Kotagala area. He had been transferred to the Nuwara-Eliya District Hospital from Kotagala Hospital after testing positive for the virus. He fell victim to acute Covid-19 pneumonia on February 09.
The second victim, identified as a 79-year-old man from Matugama area, had passed away yesterday (February 11) at the Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital. He was transferred from Nagoda General Hospital in Kalutara upon testing positive for novel coronavirus. The cause of death was recorded as Covid-19 pneumonia and kidney failure.
In the meantime, a 69-year-old man who was residing in Kotahena area also died yesterday (February 11). He had been transferred from a private hospital in Colombo to Mulleriyawa Base Hospital. He has succumbed to Covid-19 pneumonia, acute diabetes and high blood pressure.
Another man, aged 59 years, died while receiving treatment at the National Hospital for Respiratory Diseases in Welisara on February 05. The cause of death was reported as lung disease, Covid-19 pneumonia and respiratory failure.
The last victim is reportedly a 49-year-old from Colombo 12 area. He was also under medical care at the National Hospital for Respiratory Diseases in Welisara at the time of his death n January 28. He has fallen victim to Covid-19 pneumonia and lung disease, the Government Information Department said further.
Sri Lanka’s confirmed COVID-19 infections count crossed the 74,000-mark today (February 12) as 412 more persons were tested positive for the virus.
Following the new development, total COVID-19 cases confirmed in the country have soared to 74,056.
The Department of Government said Sri Lanka has registered 940 new infections within the day.
Reportedly, 932 of them have been identified as close contacts of earlier cases linked to the Peliyagoda cluster. Four others were confirmed from the Prison cluster. The remaining four are reportedly arrivals from the United Arab Emirates.
According to the Epidemiology Unit, 773 more persons who were previously infected with the virus were discharged from hospitals today upon returning to health. Thereby, the country’s recoveries tally reached 66,984.
In the meantime, 6,693 active cases are still under medical care at multiple hospitals and treatment centres.
The death toll from the virus outbreak meanwhile stands at 379.
The Attorney General Dappula De Livera has requested for a copy of the final report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry appointed to investigate the Easter Sunday terror attacks.
The Attorney General has requested for a copy of the report from the Secretary to the President in order to consider forwarding charges against the suspects, the AG’s coordinating officer said.
The Presidential Commission of Inquiry appointed to investigate the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks handed over its final report to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on February 01.
Hearings and other procedures of the Presidential Commission officially came to a conclusion on January 27, 2021.
The Commission was appointed by former President Maithripala Sirisena on September 22nd, 2019 to investigate the series of attacks that took place on Easter Sunday same year and to recommend necessary actions.
The commission had recorded evidence from a total of 440 individuals during its term.
The commission was chaired by Court of Appeal Judge, Janak de Silva and included Court of Appeal Judge, Nishshanka Bandula Karunarathna, Retired High Court Judges Nihal Sunil Rajapaksa and A.L. Bandula Kumara Atapattu, former Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, W.M.M.R. Adikari.
Supreme Court has ordered a teacher of a school in Matara to recompense a student who lost the hearing ability after being slapped by him in 2017.
The teacher in question, Jayantha Premakumara Siriwardhane, had been in charge of discipline at Puhuwella Central College in Matara.
He has been ordered to pay a compensation of Rs. 150,000.
Ruling that the incident is a serious violation of fundamental rights of the student, the Supreme Court also ordered the State to pay a compensation of Rs. 500,000 to the 15-year-old.
The aggrieved party had filed a petition with the Supreme Court, seeking a verdict which states fundamental rights of the student were violated by the teacher who slapped him on the 13th of February in 2017, leading to loss of hearing.
History
will one day be witness to the lies, deceit and hypocrisies taking place in the
Halls of the UN and in particular the UNHRC. What Sri Lanka must repeatedly
exert is that all of the resolutions since 2009 claiming to be based on how Sri
Lanka ended the conflict and claiming to have intentionally killed 40,000
people does not make any reference to these allegations but are following
intrusive and non-conflict related demands that violate the UN Charter. All
these nations passing resolution against Sri Lanka must seriously ask
themselves what they did to prevent LTTE committing crimes over 30 years. Why
are these countries suddenly bothered about how the conflict was fought after
LTTE’s defeat this itself is a precedent being created by the UN and will
impact other countries in the future as well.
UK
At
one time UK was the world’s biggest empire, invading and ruling all but 22
countries in the world. UK’s crimes thus constitute that which were committed
in the name of the King/Queen by the UK military who ruled invaded nations,
murdered the natives, destroyed their cultures, livelihoods and plundered their
resources to build their nations back home and are now making money from
displaying stolen artefacts in their museums while their Queen adorns herself
with riches and gems stolen from the former colonies. UK’s rule of Sri Lanka
ended only in 1972 with the Republican Constitution. From 1948 Sri Lanka
accepted Dominion Status, nominal independence as the Queen remained Head of
State and UK Privy Council was the highest court and military presence remained
in Sri Lanka.
The
colonial crimes committed by the British in then Ceylon have never been
acknowledged, accounted or compensated. This is the very country preaching
human rights. The crimes committed by colonial Britain come nowhere near what
they accuse countries off today. The Uva-Wellassa massacre resulted in the UK
Governor Brownrigg declaring to kill anything that moved and that order
included even babies. The scorched-earth policy meant burning everything that
was in sight with aim to start natives to death. These were crimes against
humanity, these were real genocide, not the handful of propaganda filled-
evidence less fairytales hiring witnesses and training them to cry to a camera
taking place today. India that joins the UK in its modern geopolitical bullying
may well like to go through how India suffered under colonial Britain where
British governors publicly said the only good Indian is a dead Indian.
It
was in UK that LTTE opened its first international head quarters in mid 1970s.
It
is also in UK that the white LTTE Australian nurse trained kidnapped Tamil low
caste & poor children as child soldiers to kill and even to commit suicide.
What
more do we need to say about the UK that allows its Parliament to be lit to
remember LTTE dead.
Yet
UK has the audacity to preach human rights not even bothered about filing case
against Adele for her crimes against children!
Canada
Canada’s
history is just over 151 years created by UK in 1867.
Canada
is a ‘rich’ country today only because it was created after forcibly acquiring
indigenous lands & resources and confining the natives to that of aliens,
discriminating them, making them ill, destroying their livelihoods, denying
them basic human rights, forcibly sterilizing them, sexually assaulting their
children, subjecting them to torture and starvation in ‘residential schools’
and this was how the ‘immigrant invaders’ cleared lands for them to farm, for
them to mine, for them to extract oil and this is how Canada became a rich
nation. Simply saying ‘sorry’ Canada thinks all of its human rights violations,
crimes against humanity can be erased and the obnoxious nature of Canada is such
that it is patronizing other countries while its dark past remains very much
one that continues to subtly carry forward violations to these natives in the
present what was done proudly & openly in the past.
The
author says that the Famous Five” women long celebrated as champions of
women’s rights are having their hero status questioned because of supporting
sterilization of indigenous women. This is no different to how Prabakaran
kidnapped and turned children into LTTE child soldiers.
Canada
is guilty of ‘cultural genocide’ (as referred to by former PM Paul Martin) just
as LTTE and Prabakaran was guilty of the same crime too.
Canada which is today part of a Core-Group against Sri Lanka is
preaching to Sri Lanka about human rights, gender rights and children’s rights.
Canada regarded women as ‘PERSONS’ only in 1929 and ALL WOMEN in Canada was
given to vote ONLY in 1960. Sri Lanka’s women gained right to vote in 1931 and
the very year All Women in Canada got a right to vote, Sri Lanka produced the
Word’ 1stFemale
Prime Minister in July 1960.
The
LTTE lobby in Canada is strong. Toronto holds the largest Tamil speaking
population outside Asia. Canada is very accommodating of international
proscribed terrorist organizations. Prabakaran is a regular feature for window
shoppers. Far more protests by LTTE take place in Canada than the generally
less than 50 persons TNA can muster up with a lunch packet, bus fare and
Rs.5000.
Our
blessings for Tamil Eelam in Toronto and Tamil Heritage Month in January is on
course for that! In which country would the Parliamentary Secretary of Foreign
Affairs an International Human Rights (Deepak Ohrai) lay a wreath for LTTE
dead- we hope he does the same for Osama bin Laden or even Adolf Hitler? Canada
has many LTTE supporters – Bonnie Crombie Mayor of Mississauga, Brampton City
Council Mayor Patrick Brown
The 2 new kids on the bloc
against Sri Lanka are New Macedonia with a history of 30 years and Montenegro
Montenegro
This
Balkan country became independent in only 2006 with a new constitution formed
in 2007. So its history as an independent nation is just 15 years while its
leader Milo Djukanovic had led for 26 years and coined dictator too! Montenegro
is a member of NATO since 2017. Freedom House in its May 2020 political rights
and civil liberties worldwide report declared Montenegro as a hybrid regime and
not a democracy. These are the countries passing resolutions against Sri Lanka!
North
Macedonia is locked between 5 countries – Kosovo and Serbia on the north,
Bulgaria on the east, Greece on the south, and Albania on the west. Its
independent history is just 30 years having split from Yugoslavia in 1991.
66%
are Christians and 33% Muslims.
OHCHR
report on New Macedonia is nothing for the country to boast of either. 900
inmates without identification cards, limited judicial independence,
politicization of the judicial oversight body, 112 persons (26 families)
remained displaced from the 2001 internal armed conflict
Freedom House’s Freedom
in the World 2019 report stated that while the media and
civil society are active, journalists and activists face pressure and
intimidation.”
It is also interesting that while EU countries demanded immediate
release of all IDPs following the end of LTTE – The 2018 Helsinki Committee for Human Rights Annual Report stated,
The provision limiting the freedom of movement of asylum seekers was retained.
Namely, Article 63 prescribes that freedom of movement shall be restricted in
extraordinary circumstances, in order to determine the identity and
citizenship, and establish the facts and circumstances of the asylum requests,
particularly if a risk for escape has been determined, in order to protect the
order and national security or when a foreigner is retained for the purposes of
initiating a procedure for his return or removal.”
Germany
It
is very unfortunate that Germany, one of the most powerful nations in Europe
have chosen to align with this core group given that Germany has been a victim
of the Allies during both World Wars and suffered immense loss of lives and
human rights violations. Germany should remember that immediately following the
defeat of Hitler and NAZI rule the Allies held a Victor’s Tribunal where only
the crimes of Germany and Germans were put on the dock. None of the crimes
committed by the Allies never made it to the court room.
When
Sri Lanka declared all LTTE are Tamils but all Tamils are not LTTE, the Allies
declared all Germans to be NAZIs and they were subject to much humiliation and
torture.
Germany
may well like to go back in time to count how many Germans were expelled from
the European countries they were living in.
3million
Germans died after war ended (2m were women and children 1m were prisoners of
war) – British historian Giles MacDonogh in ‘After the Reich: The Brutal
History of the Allied Occupation” details how Germans and Austrians were
systematically raped and robbed and those Germans who survived were killed in
cold blood or deliberately left to die of disease, cold, malnutrition or
starvation. These statistics come with evidence and proof unlike the UNHRC
fairy tales of ‘genocide’ in Sri Lanka and note how all of the resolutions have
nothing connected to the final phase of the conflict which was supposed to be
the reasons for the resolutions.
How
many Germans remember how the Allies decided to execute captured POWs. There is
also the allegation that the Allies used Germans as human shields forcing them
to walk through minefields.
To
this day US and UK have military presence in Germany because of the status of
forces agreement signed. UK & US occupied Germany even 8 years after the
war ended!
It
would be good for Germany to read how Sri Lanka treated LTTE and how Germany
was treated by the countries that Germany is so pally-pally with today
So
as a victim of UK, US and Allies, it is unfortunate that Germany is part of
this core group because we in Sri Lanka really empathize with all that Germany
and Germans had to undergo during and after the World Wars.
Sri
Lanka is only an observer nation of the UNHRC – why should we travel to UNHRC
annually to be humiliated?
Sri
Lanka should exit from the UNHRC.
Sri
Lanka is a sovereign nation – UK cannot be dictating to Sri Lanka any longer.
Having exited the EU, UK is on its own and desperate to secure ties for its
existence.
If
Sri Lanka decides to exit the Commonwealth, many other Commonwealth nations
will be inspired to do the same and UK will find itself a toothless lion!
SINGAPORE: UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) head Navi Pillay’s current campaign against Sri Lanka over alleged human rights violations – along with similar campaigns against Libya and Syria earlier – could jeopardize the cause of human rights around the world, analysts say.
Pillay released a report in February calling for an international investigation into alleged war crimes when the Sri Lankan armed forces crushed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in a final battle in May 2009.
Sri Lanka’s Permanent Envoy in Geneva conveying the Sri Lankan Government’s response to Pillay’s report stated that the UN High Commissioner’s recommendations, reflect the preconceived, politicized and prejudicial agenda which she has relentlessly pursued with regard to Sri Lanka,” and in a 18-page document pinpointed her double standards accusing her of giving scant or no regard to the domestic processes ongoing in Sri Lanka.”
The Sri Lanka government has also criticized the report for arriving at conclusions in a selective and arbitrary manner” and ignoring requests from the Sri Lankan government to provide factual evidence to substantiate allegations and to refrain from making general comments.ADVERTISING
Sri Lanka’s criticism of Pillay is not new. But, commentaries in both mainstream and online media in Sri Lanka indicate a hardening of attitudes in the island state against Pillay’s perceived bias and alleged abuse of power as head of UNHRC. She is said to have got away with it in the international media because the western media apparently tended to believe – and continue to – most of the propaganda put out by the LTTE supporters in the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora over the past 30 years.
At the twenty-fifth session of the UNHRC from March 3 to 28 in Geneva, Pillay’s report is due to be officially tabled, and she has refused to entertain a request from the Sri Lankan government that its response to the report be attached as an appendix. The United States has indicated – supported by EU and India – that they may table a resolution at the meeting to establish an independent international investigation into alleged war crimes and human rights violations in Sri Lanka, which the government is sure to reject.
How many of the bullying countries accusing Sri Lanka of crimes against humanity and war crimes have clean hands or a flawless record?” asks Senaka Weeraratne, a Sri Lankan lawyer and international affairs analyst.
What we see today in western dominated international organizations such as the United Nations related bodies such as the UNHRC, ICC and the like are proceedings conducted on an Inquisitorial footing i.e. witch hunts aimed at devastating the target country or individual usually of non–European descent thereby perverting the course of justice. No quarter is given to the other party until it submits to the political will of the bullying nations,” argues Weeraratne.
It is a shameless display of brute power making a mockery of institutional rules and procedures. The targeted country is assumed to be guilty right from the start ruling out any mitigating circumstances. It is virtually a re-enactment of the Inquisition under the auspices of the United Nations rather than the Catholic Church as in the days gone by.”
It is not only Sri Lankans that are complaining about the UNHRC and Pillay’s tactics. Anti-war activists in the West and supporters of the former Libyan regime and that of Syria have also pointed out how these UN agencies, and particularly UNHRC under Pillay, are practicing double standards to promote Western imperial designs.
(Continueed tomorrow)
Kalinga Seneviratne is IDN Special Correspondent for Asia-Pacific. He teaches international communications at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. [IDN-InDepthNews – March 3, 2014]
UNO has failed in the mission expected of it, by those who originally set it up as an International Organisation after the bitter experience of the World Wars. UNO was expected to be independent, strictly above any influence by any one of its member states or another, to maintain peace in the world and avoid conflicts among Nations.
Though
UNO was seen to be losing its independence for some time, it became
evident since Ban Ki Moon became its Secretary General. Since
then UNO is a powerless institution, unable to protect its member
Sovereign States from being subjected to undue interference by bigger
Member States, while others were used as tools of the economical heavy
weights of the West.
The
USA waged war against Iraq and ended up hanging its President Sadam
Hussain despite the UNO. Libya was incessantly bombed and its Leader
Colonel Gaddafi was hunted like a criminal and assassinated. But these
International outlaws” with their military power have become today’s
defenders of human rights.
The
USA punished countries by declaring trade sanctions ,without any
consultations with the UNO. Half a million children died as a result in Iraq.
When the then US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was asked Whether
the sacrifice was worth it she said, the choice was difficult but the sacrifice
was worth it. That is the mentality of these defenders of human rights
presenting themselves at the UNHuman Rights Council Sessions in Geneva to
accuse Sri Lanka for violation of human rights.
The
USA carried out violations of human rights everywhere in the world, in
Guantanamo, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya. But the USA never came before
the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, accused for its crimes
committed against humanity. Therefore the UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights should be ashamed of accusing Sri Lanka for violation of
human rights based on a report-Darusman Report, which has no right to be
presented as an official Document.
It
is with this background that the credibility of the UN Human Rights
Commissioner, and the UN Human Rights Commission should be
evaluated. In reality the UN HRC in Geneva has lost its credibility as a
Sister Organisation of UNO to the extent one does not know who really runs it.
The last President of the USA Mr. Donal Trump called it a cesspit. But the USA
cannot go behind the fact that it was they who made that of it.
But
from the gathering of large numbers of the Tamil Diaspora in Geneva
during the UN Human Rights Council Sessions and the main subject taken for
discussion being Sri Lanka, it appears as if the whole UNHRCouncil
Session in Geneva is organised for the Tamil Diaspora. Behind all this
there is surely a greater role being played out by those interested for
political leadership of the world.
But
normally the role of the UNHRCommission in Geneva is to settle problems
without harassment of Sovereign States, being careful not to put
minority Communities against the majority Community in any one Sovereign State.
But it is the just the opposite that is taking place.
Sri Lanka and the successive High Commissioners for Human
Rights of UN in Geneva.
Sri
Lanka had no problem with the UNHCHR in Geneva when the people of the three
Communities- the Sinhla, Tamil and Muslim of Sri Lanka were suffering
for 30 years under a ruthless terrorism commenced by a group of Tamil Youth.
The terrorists massacred men women and children, sliced open the stomachs
of pregnant women, snached children from the arms of mothers and smashed them
on the ground, set claymore bombs in buses and marketplaces killing
many innocent people, stopped a bus carrying a group of young Buddhist
monks and massacred all of them. On a full moon day when the Buddhists
pilgrims were making their prayer at the Sacred Bo tree the terrorists attacked
them killing them all, the terrorists bombed the most sacred Temple of the
Tooth.
The
Tamils who had migrated to Western Countries-USA, Canada,UK,Netherlands, France
collected funds for the terrorist war in Sri Lanka and bought arms and
ammunition. The Tamil diaspora as they were called forming a considerable
voting population in those respective countries became the Tamil
terrorist lobby able to influence the politicians of those countries,
putting them against the Government of Sri Lanka.
It’s
the Tamil terrorist Lobby that changed the Western political attitude
towards Sri Lanka, the UN and the UN High Commissioners for Human Rights
followed suit taking a sympathetic view of terrorism in Sri Lanka; who
they interpreted were in fact not their terrorists but terrorists of Sri
Lanka !!!.
Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
from 2004 to 2008 was a Judge of the Supreme Court of Canada. There was a
significant number of Tamil voters in Canada who formed a
strong Tamil terrorist lobby, working for the terrorists. Hence we
had the UN Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva showing sympathy
towards the terrorists, and against the Government of Sri
Lanka. She preferred to hear what the Tamil terrorist lobby had to
say rather than listen to the Government of Sri Lanka, which for her was
the aggressor violating the human rights of the Tamil terrorists and the
Tamils.
The
worst situation arose with the new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
who followed Louise Arbour. She was Navi Pillai- 2008 to 2014,
a Judge of the High Court of South Africa. She was a Tamil like the
terrorists. In South Africa; as a Tamil, she was a victim of
apartheid. Therefore, she was sympathetic towards the Tamil terrorists in Sri,
Lanka. She may have thought the Sinhala Government of Sri Lanka was like the
apartheid regime of South Afrika. She took every action possible to help the
terrorists. What better way could be there than to accuse the Armed Forces
readying to eliminate terrorism in Sri Lanka for violation of human
rights and for war crimes in addition.
In
UNHCHR Navi Pillai”s search for some material to take the heat away from
the terrorists and turn tables on the Armed Forces of Sri lanka,
Ban Ki Moon the Secretary General of UN handed over to her the strictly private
report which he had got a committee he had appointed with
Darusman as its head to prepare on terrorism in Sri Lanka for his private
information. It was a report prepared at the UN Head Quarters collecting
information through emails, telephone messages and such other unreliable
sources. It was an imagined story of what may probably be going on
in Sri Lanka during the military operations against
terrorism.
However,
this was a”god sent” to Navi Pillai who immediately made it an official
document”. Its non validity as a legal or official document is evident from the
stipulation in it that the names of those who provided evidence to prepare the
report should not be revealed for 20 years and that the evidence cannot be
challenged. No sane person could normally make such a document official. But
Navi Pillai in her search to clear the terrorists, and accuse the
Armed Forces would stop at nothing. It is this bogus ad hoc report that states
during the last phase of the war 40,000 civilians were killed by the Armed
Forces.
This
was an unbelievable statement that was repeated by Navi Pillai and shamelessly
repeated by the UN Highcommissioner for Human Right who followed Navi
Pillai, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein. Not only was it produced as an official
document but was handed over to a British TV Channel which
even produced a film with it giving wide publicity to a completely false
story of war against terrorism in Sri Lanka based on the Darusman
Report, showing film footage of how the Armed Forces of the
Government were treating the war prisoners, and how civilians have been
killed in large numbers
********
On this false propaganda being carried out against the
Government Armed Forces, the respected British Parliamentarian Lord
Naseby vehemently
disagreed with the claims set forth in the Darusman Report. He maintained there
was no governmental intent to kill Tamil civilians and disputed the estimate of
40,000 civilian deaths in the Report.
And he
provided evidence supporting his position: an unpublished report from the
United Nations Country Team, and dispatches from the British Defence
attaché at the time, Lieutenant Colonel Anton Gash; which stated that
from August 2008 up to 13 May 2009, the number of civilians killed was 7,721.
The war ended six days later, so it cannot possibly have got up to 40,000.
He added that Gordon Weiss, the former UN Spokesman, estimated 7,000 civilian
deaths in 2009, a number which aligns with that concluded by the Sri Lankan
government’s census department, as well as the estimates of then-US Ambassador
Blake and UK Major General John Holmes.
Sri Lanka
Armed Forces are a well disciplined dedicated Force, which went to fight
against terrorism and not against Tamil Civilians. On this Lord Neseby has
asserted : that above all, all the people I have cited state that there
was no policy to kill civilians—in fact, the opposite.”
To this
end, he explained the process he went through to attain dispatches sent during
the last few months of the war from British Defence attaché, Lieutenant Colonel
Anton Gash, who Naseby claimed said to him in January 2009 that he was
surprised at the controlled discipline and success of the Sri Lankan Army and
in particular the care that it was taking to encourage civilians to escape and
how well they were looked after, and that certainly there was no policy to kill
civilians.
Both
the UN High Commissioners for Human Rights Louise Arbour and Navi Pillai
were Judges with a legal background therefore whatever sentiments
they have towards the Tamil as voters in Canada or as being racial equals in
the latter case of Navi Pillai, they should have viewed the situation in
Sri Lanka during the military offencive against terrorism, more objectively
without being biased. But they failed in that, and the result is more
and more aggressive and damaging reports against the Government of Sri Lanka
being produced for each Geneva UN Human Rights Council Sessions every
year.
It
is almost as if the UN Human Rights Commission exists only to produce a report
on the Sri Lanka government Armed Force, as it is the only Armed Force
which has committed violation against human rights in a terrorist
war.
The worst of it is that all those reports of UN High Commissioners
for Human Rights are produced to satisfy the Tamil diaspora and to
accuse the Government of Sri Lanka and its Armed Forces. No
accusations have been levelled against the terrorists for the atrocities
committed by them. Not only the UNHigh Commissioner, but also those member
states that present resolutions against the Government and its Armed
Forcesand, those member states that vote against the Government of
Sri lanka supporting those resolutions by USA etc., are doing wrong
acting insensitive to the suffering that people of Sri Lanka went through 30
long years subjected to live in constant fear of unknown forms of
terrorist attacks resulting in horrible deaths and mutilation.
Terrorism
in Sri Lanka created fear, damage, and untold human suffering amoung its
people, It is unfortunate that these people in Western countries or others do
not try to understand the terrible fear in which the people lived
under terrorism. Both parents from the same home did not take the same
transport any time so that if one would be killed in a terrorist attack , the
other would survive to look after the children
Zaid Raad Al-Hussein was the next UNHigh Commissioner
for Human Rights from 2014 to 2018. He was a Prince and a Diplomat and he had no
special connection to the Tamil Community like Louise Arbour or Navi
Pillai. But he did his job as the previous UN High Commissioners for Human
Rights bringing out an equally repressive strongly worded report against
the Government of Sri Lanka and its Armed Forces. These reports were of
course prepared by the Office of the UN Human Rights Commission. Probably a
copy and paste document with additional material each time to make
it worse than the previous.
The
false Darusmn report is still the basic document on which the Office of
the UNHRC prepares the damning” report on Sri Lanka.. The Government of Sri
Lanka had submitted a more reliable report- The Paranagama Commission
Report, prepared by a Commission Led by a retired Judge Maxwell
Paranagama appointed by the Government to Investigate into missing Persons. But
unfortunately it had not been read by the UNHCHR Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein.
If
he had read it he would have had second thoughts about relying on the Darusman
Report to accuse Sri Lanka and its Armed Forces for violation of Human
Rights.The Paranagama Commission report had challenged the Darusman report and
stated that the number of civilians that may have died at the last phase of the
military operations is definitely not 40000 civilians, but 7721
civilian.
As
a Diplomat and a Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al-Zeid having no interest
either in the terrorists or the Tamil Diaspora unlike the previous
UN High Commissioners Louise Arbour and Navi Pillai, he should have atleast
consulted the Government of Sri Lanka on the Report he was to present at the
Geneva HR Council Sessions. But unfortunately it is not the way these High
Commissioners set about doing the work, though that seems more fair and
reasonable.
Mme Michelle Bachelet New UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights
This
time the UN Human Rights Council Sessions in Geneva begins with a new
Government in Sri Lanka and a new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mme
Michelle Bachelet. Perhaps we could expect from her a different approach
to Sri Lanka which had unfortunately eliminated terrorism in its own
territory and earned the wrath of the West just for that, and now
being accused regularly at each UN HR Council Sessions in Geneva for violation
of human rights in the course of elimination of terrorism.
We
could expect a different approach by the UN High Commissioner Michelle
Bachalet because unlike the Previous UN High Commissioners for Human
Rights she has more political experience having been a member of
the Party Socialist of Chili and Twice the President of Chili. While the
people of Sri Lanka went through thirty years of bitter suffering
under a ruthless terrorism, Mme Bachelet has the memories of
the difficult times Chili went through under the Dictator Pinochet
and his military rule, and the sad memories of her Father Alberto Bachelet who
worked for Salvador Allande and later imprisoned and tortured by the Dictator.
She is also aware that Slvadore Allende we all respect and honour was killed by
the CIA.
But
can we expect Mme Michelle Bachelet not to rely on a report prepared by some
members of her Office and put before her for her signature, or will she
look at the situation differently by getting herself informed both about
terrorists, and the Government of Sri Lanka. And how the Armed Forces of
the Government fought the war against terrorism, by reading the Darusman
Report and also the reports submitted by the Government-Paranagama
Commission Report, because there are two sides to a story” she should know
before accusing any one of the parties ?
The
present report on Sri Lanka she is to present at the next UNHRCouncil
Session is devastating. But do those who accuse the Sri Lanka Armed
Forces know what the Armed Forces went through in eliminating a
ruthless terrorism, to bring peace and security to the people of all
Communities in Sri Lanka, to allow them to live normal lives
?
The
report put before her may have been written perhaps by the same person or
the group of them in the Office of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, who also
prepared the previous reports, for Mme Louise Arbour, Navi Pillai. and
Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein
To
write such a report against the Armed Forces of Sri Lanka one should
have personal direct experience of the inhuman unkindest
criminal actions of the Armed Forces of Sri Lanka, if there had been
any. One cannot imagine such an Armed Force to have built such
hatred to civilians, merely by reading the false Darusman report.
There must be something wrong with those in the Office of the UNHRCouncil to
write such a report without getting to know bothe the terrorist side of
the story and that of the Armed Forces.
The
Sri Lanka Armed Forces are not as the UNHRC portrays it in the report she is to
present.. The Children of the Tamil civilians in the North of Sri Lanka
were forcibly taken away from the families by the terrorists to be
child soldiers. Poor Tamil men, women and children were herded away like cattle
to be kept as human shields among guns and cannons of the
terrorists. They lived in utter misery, under
unimaginable sanitary conditions, in fear of death in some form or
another at any time.
It
was almost towards the end of the war against terrorism. A sudden move
against the terrorists by the armed forces or a firing against Armed forces by
the terrorists would have resulted in the death of many of these Tamil
civilians held by the terrorists as human shields. The armed forces were aware
of this. The Soldiers are also human beings, who had nothing against the
Tamil civilians. Therefore the Armed Forces had to move cautiously, in
order not to put the lives of the Tamil civilians in danger,
hence they carried small arms.
Contrary to what the Tamil diaspora, and the report writers of the
Office of the UN Human Rights Council make out, the Armed Forces of Sri
Lanka was a humanitarian Armed Force fighting against terrorists . At a
given moment before the final assault against the terrorists the Armed Forces
decided to evacuate the Tamil Civilians serving as a human shield for the
terrorists. And the Armed Forces risked their lives in a most
daring rescue operation perhaps carried out for the first time by an Armed
Force in the World, bringing away to safety 295,000 Tamil civilians
held by the terrorists as a human shield.
The
Cardinal is quite openly playing politics. He plan to sit on
judgement to determine the list of accused, if the accusers earmarked by the
Cardinal are not listed, he will reject the Report outright. He is
behaving like King Kekille. The Attorney General is determined to
bring in the case substantiated by Rule of Law within the Evidence Ordinance.
Unlike in any other terrorist attack in Sri Lanka, the Easter attack incident
had three inquiries, viz. Parliamentary Select Committee, Presidential
Commission and the investigations of the CID. A case of this
magnitude cannot be brought before the court, simply to seek popularity or
satisfy certain groups, which will result in negative results. We have
witnessed several such cases via FCID by the former regime.
As
a religious leader it is a shame that the Cardinal is angry and wish to
punish suspected criminals regardless of availability of evidence.
If a copy of this Report is given to the Cardinal, than the President would be
creating a precedent for future outcomes.
The
government is handling an extremely complicated issue within the legal
framework of the country. Sri Lanka had so many terrorists attacks,
including bomb attacks on religious venues. The Easter Attack is no
exception.
The
Cardinal need to be patient without acting with a high-hand. The
government will follow the established local and international norms to book
the culprits.
19. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room
for God’s wrath, for it is written: It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says
the Lord.
Dhammapada 3-5
‘‘Look how he abused me and beat me,
How he threw me down and robbed me.”
Live with such thoughts and you live in hate…
Abandon such thoughts and live in love.
In this world
Hate never yet dispelled hate.
Only love dispels hate.
This is the law,
Ancient and inexhaustible.
The Quran, verse 16:26
If you take revenge, then do so only in proportion to the
wrong done to you. But if you bear it patiently, that is indeed best for
those who are patient.
I am fond of pigs,” Winston Churchill once said. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.”
Maybe they are right to do so. A new study has discovered another intellectual skill the animals can master: playing video games.
Scientists said the ability of four pigs — called Hamlet, Omelette, Ebony and Ivory — to play a basic game similar to the classic Pong revealed cognitive skills not before seen in swine.
Ebony the micro pig puts her best trotter first
Dr Candace Croney, from Purdue University in Indiana, said the project had changed her view of the animals. When I started this study, I didn’t know much about pigs and what I did know was negative,” she said. I thought that, frankly, they were dumb and dirty animals.”
The research, published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, involved training the pigs on apparatus normally used to test the intellect of monkeys. They had to move a joystick to direct a cursor on a screen to hit a wall.
What it’s testing is whether an animal can make a connection between the joystick and what it is doing — poised in space and time on a computer screen,” said Croney. Nothing in their natural world prepared them for this.”
Yet they could do it — and Ivory was the star pupil. He was the pig you could count on to get any task done quickly, and done well,” said Croney. He had around an 80 per cent success rate. It was not all about results, though. Omelette was slower, but worked hard and was really sensitive.”
Croney and her colleagues quickly realised that the comparison with monkeys’ skills was unfair — not because they were cleverer, but because monkeys do not have trotters. Without opposable thumbs, they had to move the joystick with their snouts — which meant they could not watch the screen and operate the game at the same time.
Dr Candace Croney with Omlette, the poorest porcine gamer
Worse, with a snout designed for rooting, side-to-side motions were hard. If the wall” was on the left or right of the screen, their success rate dropped, and they had to iterate by tacking up and down.
Croney confesses she did not always maintain a strict scientific detachment. In particular, she noted that human contact worked better than treats to motivate the animals. One of the biggest motivators were belly scratches. If they were frustrated, we would give them a break and they would flop over and we would scratch them. Then they would go back to the task.”
Croney says the findings show that we should take the intellectual needs of pigs far more seriously when considering their welfare. Afterwards, all except Omelette, who died, were rehomed — and Croney kept in touch.
Hamlet lived out his years on a farm. When I went back to visit him, he not only recognised me, he barked, raced towards me, sat and then rolled over so I could scratch his belly.”
Animal kingdom’s cleverest
Crows Researchers at the University of Washington captured crows while wearing a caveman mask. Later the crows attacked anyone in the mask.
Dolphins In Mississippi’s Institute for Marine Mammal Studies, scientists trained dolphins to clear rubbish out of a pool by giving them a fish when they collected some litter.
Chimpanzees Santino the chimp, who lived in a Swedish zoo, built up a stash of rocks at night so he could throw them at visitors the next day.
Colombo, February 11 (Daily Mirror) – Despite Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday claiming in Parliament that burial of COVID-19 victims would be permitted, senior Health and government officials were unaware till late last evening of any such decision which would change an existing gazette notification, which made cremation mandatory for all Coronavirus victims.
Prime Minister Rajapaksa, in Parliament yesterday in a vague statement said burials would be permitted when SJB MP S. M. Marikkar questioned as to whether cremations had to continue after State Minister Dr. Sudarshani Fernandopulle said the previous day that the virus could not spread through water.
However, when contacted, a senior Health Ministry official said that up to last evening, they had received no instructions from the Director General of Health or the Health Secretary to reverse the cremation only policy and even Ministry officials were made aware of this new decision only through Parliament.
A senior government official said that in recent days there had been no discussions held to discuss the burial issue and this matter came to light once again only after Dr. Fernandopulle commented the previous day saying that the virus could not spread through water. Even after her statement, the Expert Committee and Health officials had not gathered to discuss the matter and it was only mentioned in Parliament by the Prime Minister yesterday.
The official said for burials to be permitted the Director General of Health Services had to issue a gazette notification, reversing the earlier decision. Several attempts to contact the Director General of Health services last evening failed.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is expected to arrive in the country soon on an official visit, in a statement on his twitter account last night said he welcomed Prime Minister Rajapaksa’s assurance given in Parliament, which would allow Muslims to bury those who died of the virus. (Jamila Husain)
In a statement made during today’s Parliamentary session, Labour Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva stated that the current government would continue to fight for the rights of estate workers, even if it calls for the introduction of new laws and/or regulations.
Speaking in relation to the recent increase of the daily wage of an estate worker, the Labour Minister emphasized the fact that the decision was handed over to the Wages Board only because a Collective Agreement could not be reached.
Min. Nimal Siripala added that estates owned by the Janatha Estates Development Board (JEDB) will undoubtedly pay the newly implemented wage of Rs. 1000. In the event they are unable to do so, the minister stated that they are willing to obtain the necessary funds from the Treasury, in order to pay the wages of these estate workers.
Moreover, the minister noted that private plantations who are unable or unwilling to do honour the decisions reached at the wages board will be asked to hand over the estates back to the Government.
Archbishop of Colombo His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith says he is ready to seek International Criminal Court (ICC) probe if the law is not properly enforced against those who are responsible for the Easter Sunday terror attacks in 2019 which claimed the lives of more than 260 persons.
He made this remark in response to questions raised during a media briefing held at the Archbishop’s House in Colombo this morning (February 11).
The Cardinal went on to say, I hope our leaders will not allow that to happen.”
Speaking further, the Cardinal said he has requested President Gotabaya Rajapaksa for access to the report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) on Easter Sunday bombings. He, however, noted that he is yet to receive a copy of the report.
The PCoI to investigate the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks handed over its final report to the President on February 01.
Hearings and other procedures of the Presidential Commission officially concluded on January 27.
The Commission was appointed by former President Maithripala Sirisena on September 22nd, 2019 to investigate the coordinated series of attacks that took place on Easter Sunday same year and to recommend necessary actions.
The Cardinal says he has requested the panel of the PCoI to look into the individuals who were behind the terror attacks, in addition to probing those who failed to prevent carnage. I hope the Commission would respond positively to the request,” he added.
Sri Lanka has reported 04 more coronavirus related deaths, the Director-General of Health Services confirmed today (February 11).
As per the Department of Government Information, one male patient and three female patients are among the victims.
The new deaths bring the number of COVID-19 related deaths witnessed in Sri Lanka to 379 in total.
01. The deceased is an 83-year-old male from Colombo 05. He died on 09.02.2021 while undergoing treatments at General Hospital Colombo. The cause of death is mentioned as COVID-19 pneumonia, acute diabetes, high blood pressure, and Parkinson‘s disease.
02. The deceased is a 70-year-old female from Kotahena. She died on 08.02.2021 on admission to General Hospital, Colombo. The cause of death is mentioned as COVID-19 pneumonia, high blood pressure, heart disease, and anemia.
03. The deceased is a 42-year-old female from Colombo 13. She died on 10.02.2021 while undergoing treatments at General Hospital Colombo. The cause of death is mentioned as acute lung cancer with COVID-19, asthma, high blood pressure, and acute diabetes.
04. The deceased is a 64-year-old female from Udathalawinna. She died on 02.02.2021 while undergoing treatments at General Hospital Kandy. The cause of death is mentioned as blood poisoning shock with COVID-19 pneumonia and heart failure.
Attorney General Dappula de Livera today (February 11) requested the Chief Justice to appoint a trial-at-bar to try former Minister Ravi Karunanayake, former CBSL governor Arjuna Mahendran, Perpetual Treasuries Limited owner Arjun Aloysius and 8 others over the Bond Scam involving Treasury Bond Auction of March 2016.
The request came after the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) informed the court that investigations into the Rs. 51.98 billion financial irregularities in the 2nd Central Bank bond issue against 11 suspects named in the case have been concluded.
Coordinating Officer of Attorney General, State Counsel Nishara Jayaratne announced this a short while ago.
On 21stApril
2019 – 10 years of peace without a single bombing incident since defeat of LTTE
was shattered. The multiple attacks that took place on Easter Sunday has put
even LTTE to shame. LTTE at no time in its 30 years of terror was able to carry
out multiple attacks with such precision as what took place on 21/4. A lot of
planning, a lot of training & a lot of people had to have been involved
either directly or indirectly in this mass murder. While all attention has been
focused primarily on the state apparatus and its loopholes that could not
prevent these acts of murder, we are yet to be told who are the real kingpins
in this plot are, we do not care whether those involved are ministers, former
ministers, lawyers, religious leaders – we want to know why this mass murder
was planned and by whom. This to us is more important than the yahapalana
dimwits who had no courage to take action despite warnings given and foolishly
believed some small fracas was being planned instead of multiple mass murders.
The venues for the attacks were
Churches and Hotels.
Why
specific churches? Why specific hotels? Who decided these targets? How did
Indian intel know so much information?
Why
Easter Sunday?
Who
decided this? Was it a single person’s decision or multiple people? We want to
know who were involved.
Are
they all Sri Lankans? Are they foreigners or are they a mix? We want their
names.
The attackers were all Muslims
Who
led them to extremism? Why?
What
were their objective and is this project still alive? This is the most
important question!
Who
were they liaising with and for how many years has this been planned?
Were
there any foreign elements involved (individuals, agencies, governments etc)
Who
were the locals roped in & were they involved because of money given to
them or did they too share the same objectives?
Who
funded them – indoctrination, families etc – what is the story behind the
Muslim family nexus involved in this mass murder – so many families appear to
be involved.
Were madrassas involved?
If
so which ones and where and have these been closed down and all linked to them
investigated?
Have the banks that held
deposits of the monies channeled to these terrorists and their helpers been
investigated?
Banks
must be told to have a better network to question large funds of money
deposited to accounts.
Banks
are not shy to question ordinary people for even Rs.5000 deposits, why are they
not questioning sudden large deposits?
Who are the lawyers involved in
the Easter Sunday attack and why?
Who
are the influential players who tried to and continue to try to free these
arrested lawyers linked to a mass murder? Why would they want to align with
terrorists? How many lawyers or persons in the legal industry are camouflaging
their objectives which are similar to these Islamic mass killers? Are they
waiting for special orders?
Who are the media personnel,
academics, professionals & even police, politicians & public officials
linked to this nexus?
Have
the authorities combed the area of Sainnamaridu and evaluated the radicalism in
these areas – why is this happening, how is it happening and who is allowing
such to happen and how can it be stopped and why is it not being stopped?
How did so many swords end up
across mosques and in Muslim homes.
Who
planted them and what was the reason behind this?
Are
mosques under radar too. Are preachers also under intel radar. All of the
suicide bombers visited mosques and drew strength from fulfilling their mission
for a greater good which is what some hateful group of people had drilled into
their minds. Who are these people teaching others to hate and take that hate to
the level of killing people in the name of their religion? All these people
must be identified and action taken against them.
How did so much of money end up
in homes of people barely able to earn a living?
How
is so much black money floating around a segment of people?
Why
are witnesses suddenly been targeted?
Has the state investigated the
expose by Risham Marush?
how free is police and armed
forces from creeping radicalism of not only Islamic fundamentalism but new
faith-cults too!
If
these are linked to global destabilizing projects and those roped in are to be
served as brainwashed foot soldiers, we are sitting on a volcano that might
erupt until a secret and subtle investigation is done identifying the Islamic
& faith-cults trying to indoctrinate or penetrate into our police &
armed forces and the players tasked to do the job. It is wiser to act with
caution given that we have the example of Easter Sunday to prevent another mass
murder taking place.
The
yahapalana coterie of inept leaders and their police stooges had all the
information necessary to take action, but they did not primarily due to
communication errors an simply a don’t-care attitude for others. While, they
are certainly to be faulted and held to account, this bunch were not the evil
players that had been plotting and planning the mass murder. The focus of
attention on yahapalana failures to prevent should not hide or divert the
People’s demand to know who were the Muslims & even Non-Muslims involved in
the planning and execution of the mass murder and those involved in trying to
safeguard and release the one’s arrested for it. We believe this bunch of
people to be far more dangerous than the negligent yahapalana coterie.
The
inability to identify the one’s who plotted and planned Easter Sunday holds the
fear that another similar attack can and will happen. We know that there is one
Sara suddenly gone missing. We also know that a large number of purchases of
white clothes were being made. This clearly identifies a future attack to be on
a Buddhist place of worship.
Therefore,
money and influence should not hide the evil minds at large, many who are
pretending to be moderates, pretend to be what they are not, positioning themselves
and their stooges for the waiting game! Until such time that the state can
provide us the answers, the people have every right to look upon people with
caution for no one wants to have to experience the agony of what took place on
Easter Sunday. Simply camouflaging that by showing a stigma story to divert
attention away from focusing on going after the real culprits is not done.
It’s
almost 2 years now and we are yet to know or be told who planned Easter Sunday,
why and every evil person involved in this mass murder.
Colombo, February 10: The Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa told parliament on Wednesday, that government would allow the burial of those who had died of COVID, thus ending a 10-month long controversy over the disposal of the bodies of those who had died of COVID-19.
Responding to a question posed by opposition Samagi Jana Balwegaya (SJB) MP, S.M Marikkar, the Prime Minister said that burials would be permitted.” But he gave no idea as to when the ban will be formally lifted.
Marikkar had pointed to an earlier statement made by Minister Sudharshini Fernandopulle that Covid-19 could not be transmitted via ground water and asked why, in the light of that statement, burials were not being allowed.
Muslims, for whom cremation is haram” (forbidden or sinful), were distressed over the ban and were agitating to get the order reversed. The government’s contention was that burial of COVID 19 dead would contaminate ground water. The Muslims’ refutation of this with scientific arguments fell on deaf ears.
UNHRC Session
The sudden change in government’s policy now has led to speculation that the March session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and the visit of the Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on February 22 and 23, have brought it about.
With a hostile resolution against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC looking increasingly likely, despite on-going talks on a consensual” resolution, the Lankan government could have thought it prudent to give in on the Muslims’ demand at least.
Pakistan PM’s Visit
Secondly, it would have been considered appropriate to concede this demand ahead of the visit by the Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan due on February 22 and 23. Sri Lanka needs Pakistan’s help to get enough votes in the 47-member UNHRC to defeat the West-led Core Group’s hostile resolution against the country. Sri Lanka could count on Pakistan’s support at the UNHRC if it made this concession to the Muslims.
Stinging UN Experts’ Report
In January, UN human rights experts had urged the Sri Lankan government to end its policy of forced cremation of COVID-19 victims, saying it ran contrary to the beliefs of Muslims and other minorities in the country and could foment existing prejudices, intolerance and violence.
The UN Experts were: Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Ahmed Shaheed, Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues Fernand de Varennes, Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Peaceful Assembly and Association Clément Nyaletsossi Voule, and Special Rapporteur on the Right of Everyone to the Enjoyment of the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health Ms. Tlaleng Mofokeng.
The Experts said: Imposition of cremation as the only option for handling the bodies confirmed or suspected of COVID-19 amounts to a human rights violation. There has been no established medical or scientific evidence in Sri Lanka or other countries that burial of dead bodies leads to increased risk of spreading communicable diseases such as COVID-19,” said the experts.
All of the bodies were cremated according to the fourth amendment of the Provisional Clinical Practice Guidelines on COVID-19 suspected and confirmed patients issued on 31 March 2020.”
The decision to make cremation mandatory followed alleged expert advice, including that by the chief epidemiologist who claimed that burials could contaminate ground drinking water. However, the World Health Organization has reiterated there is no evidence to suggest that cremation prevents the spread of the disease, while the College of Community Physicians of Sri Lanka and the Sri Lanka Medical Association issued statements recently clarifying that there has been no proof that burial of COVID-19 dead bodies constitutes a public health hazard.”
While we must be alert to the serious public health challenges posed by the pandemic, COVID-19 measures must respect and protect the dignity of the dead, their cultural and religious traditions or beliefs, and their families throughout.”
We deplore the implementation of such public health decisions based on discrimination, aggressive nationalism and ethnocentrism amounting to persecution of Muslims and other minorities in the country.”
Such hostility against the minorities exacerbates existing prejudices, inter-communal tensions and religious intolerance, sowing fear and distrust while inciting further hatred and violence.
We are equally concerned that such a policy deters the poor and the most vulnerable from accessing public healthcare over fears of discrimination,” the experts said, adding this would further negatively impact the public health measures to contain the pandemic. Information received by the experts indicates that cremation often takes place immediately upon the notification of the test results without granting family members reasonable time or the opportunity to cross check or receive the final test results.”
There have been several cases of cremations based on erroneous information about COVID-19 test results.”
The President and Prime Minister had instructed the health authorities to explore options for burials in Sri Lanka.
However, we are concerned to learn that the recommendation to include both cremation and burial options for the disposal of bodies of COVID-19 victims by a panel of experts appointed by the State Minister for Primary Health Services, Pandemics and COVID Prevention was reportedly disregarded by the Government.”
We strongly urge the Government of Sri Lanka to stop the forced cremation of COVID-19 bodies, to take all necessary measures to combat disinformation, hate speech and stigmatization of the Muslims and other minorities as a vector of the pandemic; and to provide remedy and ensure accountability for cremations that were carried out by error.”
According to media reports, more than 150 bodies of Muslim victims of COVID-19 had been cremated. This list includes Sheyk, a boy only a few days old.
