Sri Lanka to ban cow slaughter, beef imports to be allowed

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa-led Sri Lanka government has decided to ban slaughtering of cows across the island nation.

On Tuesday, the PM told the ruling party Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP)’s parliamentary group that the government would legislate against cattle slaughter soon.

He said it was a proposal mooted a long time ago, but could not be made into law.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

According to the reports, the proposal was not objected to by any of the ruling party member. However, there would be no ban on beef imports as a redress to meat-eaters.

Rajapaksa has taken this decision in his capacity of the Minister of Buddha Sasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs.

In Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka, about 99 per cent people are meat-eaters. But the majority Hindus and Buddhists do not eat beef.

Rajapaksa's party the SLPP came to power with a two-thirds majority in the parliamentary elections held last month. The party's support base is Sinhalese Buddhist. They also happen to be the majority ethnic group in Sri Lanka. They make up 70 per cent of the country's population. Most of the Sinhalese Buddhists do not eat beef.

The influential Buddhist monks of the country have been pressuring successive governments to ban cow slaughter and they have the backing of some Hindu groups.

Sri Lanka saw anti-beef protests in 2018 with members of a Hindu outfit called "Seva Senai" took to the roads of Jaffna. They said Sri Lanka is a land of Hindus and Buddhists. The protests were held days before Ramzan.

In 2013, a Buddhist monk set himself on fire protesting against cow slaughter. In the same year, Sinhalese Buddhist groups had launched a campaign opposing halal certification.

(With inputs from agencies)