A group of Buddhist monks and their supporters staged a protest opposite the Presidential Secretariat demanding the government to proceed with the policy of cremations for COVID19-related dead bodies.

The Buddhist monks blamed that the government had failed to communicate its official position to those who were agitating for burial rights.

"The government was elected to power by the majority Sinhala-Buddhist community. But the same goverment appointed a Muslim as the Minister of Justice and he is now pushing for the Shariah law in Sri Lanka. The government must know that even Ali Sabry did not vote for Gotabhaya Rajapaksa," a protesting monk told Sugeshwara Bandara, the Private Secretary to the President.

"There must be only one law in the country. That was why the majority Sinhala-Buddhists voted for the President. It is the absence of one law that led to the emergence of the likes of Zaharan," he also added.

However, the Ministry of Health yesterday issued a statement that the policy of cremations for COVID19-related bodies would continue.