COVID-19 burials at Iranaithivu is an ‘ultimate manifestation of racism, hatred and xenophobia’: Wigneswaran
Parliamentarian and former Northern Provincial Council Chief Minister Justice CV Wigneswaran has condemned the government’s decision to bury the COVID-19 victims on Iranaithivu Island as an “ultimate manifestation of racism, hatred and xenophobia”.
He responded to a question from a journalist about the government’s decision.
He responded as follows:
Surely the Government could have picked up an area close to Medamulana to bury them? Why in Iranaitivu? I have been to Iranaitivu. I know the sufferings of the Catholic Tamils of that area. Specially the widows. In fact my Party has done a project to help those affected in that area. They are coming out of the most difficult phase of their lifetime only now. Why there? The occupants there are not Muslims. They are Tamil Catholics. Why this curious selection in an area where no Muslims nor Sinhalese live.
As my fellow Tamil and Muslim parliamentarians have said, it is aimed at creating bitterness between the Tamil people and the Muslim people on the one hand, and the government’s attitude of taking pleasure in hurting the Tamil and Muslim communities on the other.
What my friend Rauff Hakeem commented is completely true: “There is no end to their sadistic pleasure in harassing a hopelessly traumatized community. Pathetic racism prevails!”
The expert panel had said that Covid-19 victims could be buried in their graveyards following quarantine rule. But on the contrary, the decision of the government to bury the bodies in Iranaithivu is vicious.
Therefore, the government should immediately rescind its decision and allow the Muslim people to bury their COVID 19 victims in the graveyards.
This act is an ultimate manifestation of racism, hatred and xenophobia. The government is breeding racism and hatred into the society, and thus creating the conditions for a Rwanda-style genocide against the Tamil and Muslim people in the future. The international community should take note of this. In particular, countries bringing forward a resolution on Sri Lanka in the UN Human Rights Council should take this into account.