News
Sri Lanka’s mandatory cremation policy is playing politics with the dead-GTF
The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) says that while appreciating Sri Lanka’s relative success in the management of COVID-19, it would like to express its strong condemnation of the mandatory cremation of all bodies suspected to have been infected with coronavirus; it has called upon the leaders of all communities to do all they can to have this irrational and discriminatory government policy reversed.
Excerpts of the GTF statement:
Sri Lanka’s mandatory cremation policy has caused major outrage and trauma for the Muslim and Christian minorities, whose beliefs require dead bodies should be buried. It is the Muslim community that has been disproportionately affected by COVID-19, and to force them to adopt practices that violate their fundamental religious beliefs is cruel and inhumane.
There is no scientific justification for the government to adopt this policy and deny the dead the dignity they deserve in death. In fact, the guidelines from the World Health Organization state that the burial of victims posed no danger to public health, and almost all the countries allow for the burial of COVID-19 victims, making Sri Lanka an outlier among the world nations.
Top government officials changed their original guidelines under pressure from influential Buddhist monks to mandatory cremations. The Supreme Court rejected fundamental rights petitions filed by 14 affected families without giving reasons for its decision. Faced with mounting domestic and international pressure, the government made an extraordinary attempt to fly bodies to Maldives for burial to placate its extremist support base. All these unquestionably indicate the direction Sri Lanka is heading.
The mandatory cremation policy is not an exception, but rather one more fitting element within the broader agenda of the Rajapaksa government. The deplorable initiatives it has taken within a year, such as enacting the autocratic 20th Amendment to the constitution; appointing Presidential Commissions and task forces to scuttle established governance procedures; militarizing top levels of the bureaucracy (including some who are credibly implicated in serious human rights violations), resorting to surveillance, intimidation and detention without charge (a precursor for rampant media self-censorship), and withdrawing from the UNHRC resolution which Sri Lanka pledged for years as its ‘solemn commitment to accountability and reconciliation’ – are indicative of its gradual transition from democratic to an authoritarian regime.
Sri Lanka is also a country that has produced decent and humanitarian citizens and leaders, who stood for diversity, pluralism and human rights of all its peoples. It is time again for those principled citizens to do their part irrespective of their ethnic or political affiliations to prevent Sri Lanka plunging further into the abyss of prejudice and intolerance. The role of the majority community is so crucial to achieve this noble transition in the society.
Sri Lanka’s present hard-line policies on inter-communal tolerance and pluralism will take the country backwards by decades and even sow the seeds for future conflicts. The country’s preparedness to dishonour its firm commitments – whether to India or UNHRC – is likely to pose serious challenges to the international community. Deviating from long held international norms will have economic and other costs to the country on top of the already devastating blows dealt by the pandemic. Lack of collective initiatives and counter actions now will only make the task much harder in the future. The civil society groups and all fair-minded people should seize the moment in the name of humanity, brotherhood and fundamental rights.”
Protesting Development Officers continued their hunger strike near the Presidential Secretariat, Colombo yesterday (01), for the seventh consecutive day.The protesters, who are members of the Lanka School Development Officers’ Association, are demanding that they be absorbed into the teacher service as they have served as teachers in state-run schools for nearly seven years.
Secretary of the Association, Viraj Manaranga, said the protesters were seeking an urgent meeting with the President. He added that a presidential aide had visited the protest site and offered to arrange for a meeting with the President on 03 Feb., but the union insisted on an earlier date. Manaranga warned that failure to grant a meeting could trigger a massive protest in Colombo today (02).
Four officers participating in the hunger strike have been hospitalised due to deteriorating health, while two more joined the fast on Saturday (31).
In a bid to raise awareness of their grievances, on 30 January a delegation of the All Island Development Officers’ Association visited Most Venerable
Warakagoda Sri Gnanarathana Thera, Mahanayake of the Asgiriya Chapter, and subsequently with the Chapter’s Registrar, Ven. Dr. Medagama Dhammananda Thera. The prelates said promises that had been made to them should be fulfilled.
The protest began on 26 January as a satyagraha, after authorities failed to respond to repeated requests to integrate the officers into the teaching service. The escalation into a fast-unto-death underscores the protesters’ frustration over the prolonged delay
by Pradeep Prasanna Samarakoon
The long-vacant post of Auditor General would be filled on 03 Feb., after months of controversy and delays, Minister of Transport, Highways and Urban Development Bimal Rathnayake said on Friday (31) in Kandy.
The Constitutional Council met at the Parliamentary complex on Friday to discuss the appointment but failed to reach a decision on a suitable candidate. The President had previously proposed four names on four separate occasions, all of which were rejected. The Council is now set to consider the fifth nominee.
The post has remained vacant since April 2025, following the retirement of Chulanta Wickramaratne, who served as the 41st Auditor General. More than 10 months have passed without a permanent appointment.
Sources said a female officer in the Auditor General’s Department has been nominated again, though her previous recommendation was rejected due to some allegations against her.
Meanwhile, senior audit officer Dharmapala Gammanpila, with 31 years of service and the department’s most senior official, has received backing from the Mahanayake Theras of the three Nikayas, the Maha Sangha, and several civil society groups for appointment as the 42nd Auditor General.
Sources noted that the three civil society representatives on the Constitutional Council will play a crucial role in the final decision.
by Chaminda Silva and SK Samaranayake
Two 18-year-old youth were arrested by the Southern Division of the Western Province Crime Division on 31 January for allegedly aiding and abetting two murders carried out in Dehiwala and Kohuwala. ICE (crystal meth) was found in their possession at the time of arrest.
The suspects are residents of Mount Lavinia and Boralesgamuwa, according to the police. They are accused of having helped carry out a murder at a hotel in the Dehiwala Police Division on 9 January, 2026, and an attack on a person travelling in a three-wheeler at Bodhiyawatta, Kohuwala, on 12 December, 2025.
Police said the charges included sending photographs of the victims to a criminal living overseas.
Investigations revealed that the youth had acted under the direction of a criminal known as Sando.
Under the guidance of Janaka Kumara, Director of the Southern Division of the Western Province Crime Division, investigations are being led by Police Inspector Hemanta Kumara, assisted by Sub-Inspectors Prasanna Gunathilaka and Prasanna (40248), and Constables Chaminda (72987), Anil (79598), Kumar (88762), and Senanayake (19363), who are continuing the probe.
by Norman Palihawadane and Chaminda Silva
Showers expected in the Northern, North-central, Eastern, Western, Uva, Sabaragamuwa, Southern and Central provinces
Development Officers threaten to intensify their protest
Auditor General to be appointed tomorrow
Two arrested for aiding and abetting murder
CID summons former First Lady again
Remembering Upali Wijewardene, founder of Upali Group of Companies
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
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