AN investigation has been launched into Hindu cremations being carried out on open waste ground in Hafeera despite a ban imposed last year.
The Southern Municipal Council, at its meeting yesterday, threw out a proposal by former chairman and current MP Ahmed Al Ansari to temporarily lift the ban provided an agreement is reached to shift the traditional ritual to an electric crematorium within a year.
Council chairman Bader Al Tamimi showed clippings from the GDN asking people to attend cremation ceremonies at the Hafeera landfill site despite the ban.
He asked how officials and security guards in Hafeera, aware of the ban, were allowing people entry without checking the necessary documents – and failing to recognise that bodies are not “waste”.
The GDN reported in October that the council defended its decision to ban the cremations in Bahrain after a clarification was sought by the UN.
The world body contacted the Foreign Ministry, saying the ban, reported in the GDN in March, amounted to restricting religious freedom.
For more than two decades cremations were being carried out in Hafeera but the council halted the practice over health and environment concerns – insisting they should instead be carried out at a medical waste disposal facility in Awali.
“A violation of the ban has to be investigated aimed at identifying people who have allowed the practice to continue in Hafeera despite the ban; the situation demands administrative and legal action,” said Mr Al Tamimi, who is also the area councillor for Hafeera and the facility in Awali.
“Besides the municipal officials, only employees of Bahrain’s two cleaning companies with special passes are allowed entry into the Hafeera site.
“The ban – taken after a conclusive review with Hindu religious leaders in Bahrain and abroad – has to be implemented in line with international health and environmental conditions.
“There were concerns from the Hindu religious community in Bahrain that the electric ovens were expensive, and people from poor backgrounds could not afford the cost of cremation.
“But top Hindu community leaders own thriving business and can afford to pay BD400 as charity towards cremation ceremonies.”
The council chairman pointed out that even burial ceremonies in other religions and beliefs were expensive.
“But the ritual is being carried out and even the poor pay or others do it for them as charity cases – the same goes for condolence majlises that also cost much over three days.
“So why do we need to shift back to an old-fashioned technique that is being phased out in India and accept it here just because someone doesn’t want to pay?”
Mr Al Ansari told the GDN in November the UN had suggested that both methods be allowed in Bahrain, letting Hindus choose.
The council addressed the UN concerns through the Foreign Ministry.
Mr Al Ansari also revealed documents proving that the Hindu community accepted the concept of an electric crematorium, but raised concerns over funding.
Sri Krishna Hindu Temple head Shastri Vijaykumar Balkrishna Mukhiya told the GDN last March that using incinerators for the cremations did not breach religious beliefs and could be adopted.
At least two Hindu cremations are carried out in Bahrain every week.
mohammed@gdn.com.bh
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