The Maldives authorities are working to arrange the burial of Sri Lankan Muslims who died of the COVID-19 virus in Sri Lanka on one of its islands, Sun news reported. The Sri Lankan government had asked the Maldives’ assistance in this regard following controversy over the cremation of Muslims. 

The Government of Sri Lanka has the policy that whoever dies of the COVID-19 virus will have to be cremated irrespective of religion. The Muslim community in Sri Lanka has been protesting against the policy for weeks. 

“The Maldives has stepped in to facilitate this process because they are broken up into islands and don’t face the same issues as us. The Maldives Government has offered to bury the dead bodies in one of their islands,” said the Sri Lankan deputy direct general of public health as reported in Daily Mirror. 

Maldives foreign ministry confirmed that its President Mahommaf Solih had received a letter from the Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksha requesting assistance in the burial of its muslims victims. 

President Solih has been holding discussions with state institutions, the report claimed. Earlier a report in Sri Lankan daily claimed the Maldives foreign ministry had offered to bury Muslim Sri Lankan deceased in the Maldives.