Opinion
Unrealities of call for Covid-related burials

London protester’s carrion call
By ROHANA R. WASALA
Jehan Perera has proffered unsolicited advice to the government (‘Religious clergy take stand for religious right to burial’/The Island/December 29, 2020) seeking to force its capitulation to foreign interventionist forces, through false propaganda. The same article appeared simultaneously on the organization’s website under the title: ‘Government to take a stand for religious right to burial’. The charge implied by this title (i.e., indecisiveness in allowing burial of Corona-dead Muslims) against the government is baseless.
It was in March (nine months ago) if my memory doesn’t fail me, that the Director of Health Services (DHS), the duly appointed Competent Authority in the Covid-19 containment situation, issued a special gazette notification decreeing that bodies of persons who die of the disease be cremated. That decision was taken by the Competent Authority based on the advice of experts, not directly by the government which had delegated the power to do so to that official. Muslims’ (or anyone else’s for that matter) right to burial has never been denied, and is not being challenged in any way. But that right cannot be exercised in this national emergency. It is only because of the strict health guidelines laid down on a cold scientific basis that cremation has been made mandatory.
Religious sentiments are common to all. Buddhists, Hindus, Catholics, and others are also affected by the same painful restrictions in the performance of religious rituals, and in the choice of the proper mode of disposal of the bodies of their near and dear ones dead from the corona infection. If our local experts say there is no alternative to cremating bodies to prevent the virus from contaminating the soil or the water resources of the country, then that has to be accepted in the best interest of all. The WHO periodically issues certain broad health guidelines, but common sense tells us that they need to be adapted to suit the specific local conditions that exist in each country. It is absolutely wrong to cry out to the world that the government is trampling on the right of Muslims to bury their dead.
The government is not neglecting its duty out of a sense of complacency (‘a kind of self-satisfaction’) as JP seems to suggest. Only those without an iota of humane concern for the wellbeing of all Sri Lankans, can discount or totally ignore the prodigious amount of work that our health workers and the security personnel (the latter looking after the logistics aspect of the massive operation) do, and the tremendous personal sacrifices they make in helping the nation to survive the catastrophic corona pandemic. If the present administration was as dysfunctional as the cursed yahapalanaya that JP supported, could this sort of efficient mobilization of the nation be realized? There is no need for me to refute his false allegations of delays in decision making regarding the artificial burial-cremation issue or in ordering suitable vaccines (several of which, globally, are still being tested); the government has already taken the necessary steps in obtaining them at the earliest possible.
JP drags in the (recent Mahara) ‘prison riots’ in order to highlight them as ‘a harbinger of what can happen in the larger society, if a large section of the people feel they are being trapped and marginalized to suffer the consequences’. The implied allegation that Muslims (because the prison population cannot be described as ‘a large section of the people’) ‘are being trapped and marginalized’ is entirely baseless. There is congestion in prisons. That is a longstanding problem that must be fixed. The incidents are under investigation. JP’s concern is not with the welfare of the prisoners (most of them drug addicts under detention) or the difficulties the prison and security forces personnel experience in dealing with groups of drugged inmates fighting among themselves, while others were trying to break the gates to escape.
He asserts that ‘among these worst affected sections of the population, it appears that the Muslim community has been disproportionately affected by the Covid infection’, thereby falsely suggesting that, like the prison population, the Muslims are being confined to cramped conditions, enabling the rapid spread of the deadly infection. JP who knows how abominably some innocent but ill-informed and irresponsible Muslims behaved towards the health workers who were doing their level best to help them, while taking the risk of exposing themselves and their loved ones back home to the virus through contact transmission. Ten times more non-Muslims also live in congested areas, not out of choice, but for lack of better places to live (in spite of the fact that Muslims, according to JP’s opinion, as a traditionally trading community, tend to live more in urban settings than the Sinhalese and Tamils, being basically agrarian communities, who possess lands and live in more spacious environments).
But JP goes on to distort facts to project the few deliberately non-cooperative Muslims as victims of alleged governmental insensitivity to their religious feelings: ‘They are afraid that if they are confirmed as Covid patients, both they and their relatives will be at risk of being forcibly cremated if they fail to recover from the coronavirus infection, which goes against fundamental Islamic tenets.’ Won’t these Muslims listen to reason, if their educated leaders explain to them that if cremation is what the health authorities order in this hopefully temporary situation, that is the law, and that it must be obeyed without questioning.
The dangerous implication of what JP writes is not hard to guess: at least some Muslims may try to hide Covid patients and deaths from the authorities, and put paid to all the latter’s endeavours to contain the spread of the virulent virus. JP even refers to the Minister of Justice having raised concerns about mandatory cremation of bodies of Muslims who have died of Covid-19. In this situation sensible people listen to doctors and scientists, rather than politicians. The local experts who know what is best for Sri Lanka in the current situation say that cremation guarantees the total destruction of the virus, and that burial doesn’t, and that therefore the first (cremation) is the only option for the country.
JP tries to bolster his arguments by quoting BBS General Secretary Ven. Galabodaaththe Gnanasara Thera: ‘The fact that the religious belief of the Muslim community is being violated has led the leader of the nationalist Bodhu Bala Sena, the Buddhist prelate Ven Galagodaaththe Gnanasara to speak up for the religious right of the Muslims to be buried even in cases of Covid deaths.’ JP butters him up as a ‘Buddhist prelate’; the monk is no prelate (no Nayake); he is just an ordinary monk, who has nevertheless achieved some success in waking up the Nayake monks at least to a sitting up position, prising open their eyes to the existential threats currently posed by religious fundamentalists of both varieties to the Buddha Sasana. Originally, he was vehemently against burial, because that is contrary to expert advice and is in contravention of the DHS’s ruling.
As a Buddhist monk he is suggesting this out of compassion for innocent Muslims who are upset (out of ignorance) about having, for this while, to burn the bodies of their relatives dead from corona. He must be thinking of some way to stop Islamic religious extremists from gaining a firmer foothold within the Muslim polity by exploiting this highly sensitive burial issue. Ven. Gnanasara, remained apolitical, whatever critics might say, until Ven. Ratana’s fast in Sri Dalada Maligawa precincts, something that the Most Ven. Mahanayakes censured in no uncertain terms, and Ven Gnanasara himself criticised. The BBS secretary may be launching a preemptive strike at Ven. Ratana, who is going to parliament as the national list MP from the AJBP.
About a fortnight ago, Ven. Gnanasara told the media how NGOs were creating global hatred and ill-will against Buddhist monks, based on the false allegation that it was they who were demanding the cremation of bodies of Muslim dead, out of spite. In a video of a protest rally held in London on December 13, 2020 against Sri Lanka’s (health-authorities-imposed) Corona-related temporary burial ban, a female demonstrator, speaking in Sinhala, is heard loudly demanding that our President should reject offhand what she mocks as the ‘legal advice of the bald-headed uncles dressed in yellow robes’ (sivuru porawagath thatta mamalage neethi upades piliganta epa). BBS General Secretary Ven. Gnanasara Thera played a fragment of the woman’s denunciatory harangue containing this remark from his phone at a short news briefing on December 22, 2020. The phrase ‘thatta mamala’ is an utterly disrespectful way to refer to Buddhist monks that only an ignorant insensitive uncultured person could use. It is deeply offensive to all Buddhists, especially to Sinhalese Buddhists, who treat monks with reverence whatever criticisms are justly or unjustly made about them. Obviously, the woman is an uncouth non-Buddhist Sinhala speaker. She says: ‘We don’t want any religious frictions. We want to live in peace, without having to burn our children, these people, like animals. Mr President, please (mediate in this matter and) arrange for us to bury (our dead). We have no use for the yellow-robed thatta uncles’ advice’. She hardly conceals her callous disregard of the feelings of fellow Sri Lankans who make no issue of cremating their dead relatives in the present circumstances in the interest of public health.
The monks have repeatedly made it clear that they, like the rest of the people of Sri Lanka and the government, are not concerned about whether dead bodies are buried or cremated, or about whether one method is of greater merit than the other, except that in the deadly Corona pandemic situation, the mode of disposal of corpses of Corona dead should be done according to the strict instructions of the authorised health experts, who, invariably take into consideration the global guidelines issued by the World Health Organization (WHO). The wording of the WHO guidelines shows that they are not expected to be followed blindly by every country; they need to be modified primarily to suit the local physical conditions, and only secondarily to the religious sensitivities of the people. It is common sense that religious sensitivities are common to all communities, and that these must be inter-communally respected without discrimination.
Anti-Sri Lanka agents abroad and anti-national forces at home have launched a carefully calculated propaganda blitzkrieg whose barely concealed target is the present government, although it is overtly based on the false allegation that Buddhist monks are demanding the cremation of bodies of Muslims who have died of Covid-19 spitefully disregarding their surviving relatives’ religious sensitivities. Nothing is further from the truth than this charge against Buddhist monks.
Opinion
Resolution of grief, not retribution

Ahamed Kathrada, friend and advisor to Nelson Mandela said of Robben Island, where Mandela was imprisoned for close to 30 years, that “While we will not forget the brutality of apartheid, we will not want Robben Island to be a monument to our hardship and suffering.”
Similarly, we do not want our beloved country to be a monument to our suffering. As Kathrada said, we want our country to be a symbol of the triumph of the human spirit against the forces of evil, a triumph of courage and determination over human frailty and weakness. Managing the painful history of this country should be focused on achieving this objective.
Emotions, such as sadness, worry, anger and in some cases, hatred, festering in our society over the past forty years appear now to be reaching boiling point.
Considering my professional background and knowledge of the mind, I am not surprised by that.
Violence is wrong no matter which side it comes from and regardless of its source. However, the bitter truth that emerges when examining the history of the past forty years, even when looking at it from the best possible angle, is that the foundation of the immoral, illegal and violent politics established took root in Sri Lanka, after 1977.
Actions and counteractions of the negative political culture including violence then established, brought nothing but destruction to Sri Lanka.
The bitter truth is that our collective conscience, sensitivities and actions as a nation, are shaped and coloured by this ongoing aggression and violence that equally affected both the South and the North.
The specific period of terror of 1987 – 1989 was focused mainly in the South. Accepting the fact that the majority of those who suffered during this period were Sinhala Buddhists is merely stating the reality; it is not approaching the problem from a narrow, racist or religious perspective.
It should also be added that I myself was a victim of that terror.
The Sinhala Buddhist culture has a distinctive tradition process for alleviating the grief due to a death by holding awake: sharing the pain of loss with those closest to you, and engaging in religious activities specifically in remembrance of the dead person, a sequence of events including offering alms, that provides time to heal.
It is this cultural heritage of managing loss and grief that was taken away from those who lost their lives and their loved ones in 1987- 89. It is only those who have faced such unfortunate experiences who know the compulsion and pain left by that void, where there was no time to process loss and grief. It is time for introspection – for genuine reflection.
With this background as our legacy over multiple generations, we need to pay greater attention to guarding ourselves against the potential response of “identification with the aggressor.” Identification with the aggressor is an involuntary or sub-conscious psychological defence mechanism and a reaction to trauma where the victim who underwent the trauma identifies with and mimics the behaviour of the person who carries out the violence, as a psychological coping mechanism.
Such responses can be seen in, for example, children undergoing abuse, or young people undergoing ragging. The usual reaction one would expect is for the victim to refrain from abuse or ragging. However, contrary to that expectation, research has revealed that the victim displays behaviour similar to that of the person who abused or ragged him/her.
A clear understanding of how is this concept likely to impact the current political climate is critical at this juncture.
Wielding immense political power, politically less experienced and matured social strata may unknowingly become prone to treating their opponents in the same way that the oppressors of the past victimised them. Therefore, the leadership should be sensitive to the potential of former victims almost unknowingly impose past sufferings on current opponents. It is the responsibility of politically enlightened social strata to identify and prevent that situation in advance. It is a moral obligation of all political parties not just the ruling party.
I would like to share a personal experience in this context. Assistant superintended Senaka de Silva was the man who brutally tortured me at the torture camp at Chitra Road, Gampaha, run alongside the Batalanda torture camp.
After my release, I was working as the Head of the Emergency Treatment Unit at the Sri Jayewardenepura Hospital, when the former ASP de Silva brought his niece there for treatment, unaware that I worked there. He was disconcerted to see me and immediately turned back and walked away. I sent the security officer to bring that child back, admitted her to the hospital and did my best to treat her. The thought process and action that I followed that day is what I adhere to date as well. At the time I was only a specialist in family medicine, today, as a professor of psychiatry, I see these events from a much broader point of view.
The force of emotions arising due to pain or injustice can be destructive to society, but it is also possible to divert it into a force for good. For example, the lack of any post-election violence at the Presidential elections of 2024 indicated a commendable positive direction in social movements. Similarly, the dialogue arising around the Batalanda torture camp, too, should be constructive and forward thinking, so that we shall never again see such an immoral political culture in Sri Lanka.
Ahamed Kathrada, friend and advisor to Nelson Mandela said of Robben Island, where Mandela was imprisoned for close to 30 years, that “While we will not forget the brutality of apartheid, we will not want Robben Island to be a monument to our hardship and suffering.”
Similarly, we do not want our beloved country to be a monument to our suffering. As Kathrada said, we want our country to be a symbol of the triumph of the human spirit against the forces of evil, a triumph of courage and determination over human frailty and weakness. Managing the painful history of this country should be focused on achieving this objective.
This does not mean that we have to essentially follow the South African model of truth commission for reconciliation but we do it in a culturally sensitive way that suits us.
As a Nation we all need to understand that situations arise neither to laugh nor to weep, but to learn from past experience.
(The author of this article became a JVP activist as a student in 1977. He was the Secretary of the Human Rights organisation of Sri Lanka in late 1970s and early 1980s. He was known as the personal physician to the late leader of the JVP Rohana Wijeweera.
He was arrested and imprisoned in 1983, but later released without any charge. He was abducted in broard daylight on the 19 July 1988, held in captivity and tortured. He was released in 1990.
An internationally renowned academic, he is an Emeritus Professor of Global Mental Health at Kings College London and Emeritus Professor Keele University. He is also the Director, Institute for Research and Development in Health and Social care and the Chairman of the National Institute of Fundamental Studies.)
by Professor Athula Sumathipala
Opinion
Haphazard demolition in Nugegoda and deathtraps

The proposed expansion of the Kelani Valley railway line has prompted the squatters to demolish the buildings and the above photograph depicts the ad-hoc manner in which a building in the heart of Nugegoda town (No 39 Poorwarama Road) has been haphazardly demolished posing a risk to the general public. Residents say that the live electric wire has not been disconnected and the half-demolished structure is on the verge of collapse, causing inevitable fatal damages.
Over to the Railway Department, Kotte Municipality Ceylon Electricity Board and the Nugegoda Police.
Athula Ranasinghe,
Nugegoda.
Opinion
Aviation and doctors on Strike

On July 19, 1989, United Airlines Flight 232 departed Denver, Colorado for Chicago, Illinois. The forecast weather was fine. Unfortunately, engine no. 2 – the middle engine in the tail of the three-engined McDonnell Douglas DC 10 – suffered an explosive failure of the fan disk, resulting in all three hydraulic system lines to the aircraft’s control surfaces being severed. This rendered the DC-10 uncontrollable except by the highly unorthodox use of differential thrust on the remaining two serviceable engines mounted on the wings.
Consequently, the aircraft was forced to divert to Sioux City, Iowa to attempt an emergency crash landing. But the crew lost control at the last moment and the airplane crashed. Out of a total of 296 passengers and crew, 185 survived.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) declared after an investigation that besides the skill of the operating crew, one significant factor in the survival rate was that hospitals in proximity to the airport were experiencing a change of shifts and therefore able to co-opt the outgoing and incoming shift workers to take over the additional workload of attending to crash victims.
One wonders what would have happened if an overflying aircraft diverted to MRIA-Mattala, BIA-Colombo, Colombo International Airport Ratmalana (CIAR) or Palaly Airport, KKS during the doctors’ strike in the 24 hours starting March 12, 2025? Would the authorities have been able to cope? International airlines (over a hundred a day) are paying in dollars to overfly and file Sri Lankan airports as en route alternates (diversion airports).
Doctors in hospitals in the vicinity of the above-named international airports cannot be allowed to go on strike, and their services deemed essential. Even scheduled flights to those airports could be involved in an accident, with injured passengers at risk of not receiving prompt medical attention.
The civil aviation regulator in this country seems to be sitting fat, dumb, and happy, as we say in aviation.
Guwan Seeya
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