The Northern Provincial Council's education minister, K Sarveswaran defended his refusal to hoist the Sri Lankan flag stating it was not acceptable to all communities.
Asked by The Hindu about his refusal to hoist the flag last month whilst at a public event in Vavuniya, Mr Sarveswaran was quoted by the paper as saying, "the national flag was not accepted across sections of people and the issue of designing a national flag acceptable to all 'also forms part of any debate to resolve the ethnic conflict'."
He did not "disrespect" the flag he added.
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