COLOMBO : With the wide powers vested in President Gotabaya Rajapaksa following the enactment of the 20th Amendment, Leader of the Muslim Congress and former minister Rishad Bathiudeen sought the interference of the chief executive to stop cremating the Covid infected human remains.
Bathiudeen, who is currently in the remand prison had come to the parliament on a special permission granted by its Speaker.He was speaking at the parliament on Tuesday during the health ministry votes.
Quoting the Sri Lanka constitution, the former minister said sovereignty belongs to the people. Similarly, Chapter 4 (d) states that the fundamental rights of the people is guaranteed by the Constitution and it must be respected. Freedom of expression and religion for every citizen is guaranteed through Chapter 10. Chapter 12 (2) also states that a person should not be deprived of his rights on the grounds of caste, religion, language, race, gender or political affiliation.
According to health reports, he said that a dead person will not transmit his Covid virus to others. With the cremation regulaton in force, Bathiuudeen said that people are afraid to die lest they be burnt.
“ Our people are not afraid of Covid-19. They are afraid to go to the hospital. Because they are afraid that if they die, their body will be burnt.”he added
“ I have been imprisoned without reasonable charges. I have been imprisoned for the reason that I had facilitated displaced people to cast their votes.
“ These displaced people were expelled in 1990 from their ancestral homes, they have been going to their own places to vote for the last 30 years, and this time they have only exaggerated the fact that they went there and voted, and imprisoned me today because I was previously the minister in charge of it.
The whole operations were carried out with the prior permission of the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesoinghe and the Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera, he said.
“ I stand charged on unreasonable grounds but I have faith in the judiciary which will treat all people alike before law and hope justice will be meted out to me ,” he concluded his five minute speech.