Police have seized from a shop in Kurunegala 11 pairs of foreign-made shoes with the Buddhist Dharma Chakra printed on their soles. These Italian-manufactured shoes had the symbol printed on four places on each sole.We seriously condemn this act of insulting not only the religion of the land but our Jathika Chinthanaya (national ideology) as well in a Sinhalese Buddhist country.

How would the society react if they have found a crescent and star engrossed in the sole of shoes in a Muslim country?

What would be the reaction if somebody engross the cross in the sole of shoes in Italy or a Scandinavian country?

Would they treat is lightly?

So why should we take this case lightly?

Shouldn’t the culprits be given the maximum possible punishment for this disrespect of religion?
This is not the first time that anti-Buddhist elements made attempts to denigrate the Buddha and Buddhism. A couple of years ago, police raided some commercial establishments in the South and seized music CDs insulting the Enlightened One. Even some hotel managements were found to have insulted the Buddha by using his image in the most inappropriate manner to attract tourists