Supermadam Muniyappar Temple and Point Pedro Shiva Temple in Jaffna were sealed yesterday after authorities claimed they were “failing to comply with COVID-19 guidelines.”
After an outdoor festival at Supermadam Muniyappar Temple, a complaint was lodged with health medical officers, stating the temple was not following guidelines.
Replying to the complaint, Point Pedro police and a Health Medical Officer sealed the temple doors for 14 days.
A similar notice was issued to the Shiva Temple in Point Pedro, forcing the temple to close until 21 August.
Sri Lanka’s militarised response to the pandemic has been heavily criticized. Earlier this week, Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged international partners to suspend engagement with Sri Lankan Police. In a report, they highlighted that “Sri Lanka’s police are increasingly killing and abusing people under cover of the Covid-19 pandemic measures.” The report catalogued a series of cases where the police abused their powers by beating civilians to death and performed “invasive body searches of female suspects.”
Read more here: Human Rights Watch urges international partners to suspend engagement with Sri Lanka's police
Last year, Boram Jang, Legal Advisor at the International Commission of Jurists Asia & the Pacific Programme, criticized Sri Lanka’s militarized covid-19 response, stating;
“The manner in which the Sri Lankan Government and the military have handled the recent outbreak among the workers has been deeply troubling… [the] absence of judicial oversight is in clear violation of basic COVID-19 regulations adhered by the Government. At the heart of all these problems lies a heavily militarised and politicised COVID-19 response.”
Read more here: 'We are bracing ourselves' – Fears over Sri Lanka’s rising coronavirus cases and its militarised response
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