The Sri Lankan government will not be regulating the sale of Buddhist flags in the country, said a cabinet minister, after the seizure of thousands of flags this week.
Strict new conditions are to be imposed on the sale of flags, such as the order of the colours that appear said Public Administration Minister Karu Jayasuriya.
“There is a standardised version of the Buddhist flag but some people have begun to modify it and sell it,” said the minister. His comments come as some 55,000 Buddhist flags were seized by the Sri Lankan government as they displayed the wrong sequence of colours.
Conditions will also be imposed on the sale of “atapirikara”, or “eight monastic requisites” in Sinhala, a collection of items that are given to Buddhist monks. Calls for regulating the sale of alms bowls were already present from 2006, when the government pledged to take action on the issue.
Two separate gazette notifications are to be issued and registration with Ministry of Buddha Sasana required, with those that do not conform facing legal action warned Mr Jayasuriya.
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