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Taleban orders Hindus to identify themselves
©Washington Post © St. Petersburg Times, published May 23, 2001 NEW DELHI -- Afghanistan's Islamic rulers decreed Tuesday that all non-Muslims must wear distinctive marks on their clothing to set them apart from the country's Muslim majority. Religious groups and several foreign governments immediately condemned the order by the ruling Taleban movement, and some observers compared it to the Nazis' treatment of European Jews six decades ago. Under Nazi rule, Jews in Germany, Poland and Austria were forced to wear yellow Stars of David to distinguish them from the rest of society. The United States called the decree "the latest in a long list of outrageous repressions" by the Taleban. "Forcing social groups to wear distinctive clothing or identifying marks stigmatizes and isolates those groups and can never, never be justified," the State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher, said in Washington. Non-Muslims make up a tiny proportion of Afghanistan's 25-million people. The largest group, Hindus, is estimated at 500. Maulawi Abdul Wali, chief of the Taleban's religious police, said the order was issued after a fatwa, or religious decree, was handed down by Islamic scholars, according to a broadcast by the Taleban-controlled Voice of Shariat radio that was monitored by news services. "The (scholars) issued a fatwa that the non-Muslim population of the country should have a distinctive mark such as a piece of cloth attached to their pockets so they should be differentiated from others," Wali was quoted as saying. The Taleban's Bakhtar news agency said the measure was intended "to prevent disturbance to non-Muslim citizens." The Taleban decree reportedly also said that non-Muslims will be given three days to leave any housing they share with Muslims and that they must follow Islamic law or face punishment. Wali said the order would effectively apply only to Hindus because there are no Christians or Jews in Afghanistan, and most Sikh men can be easily recognized by their turbans and beards. The Taleban frequently has drawn sharp criticism from abroad for the rules imposed by its leaders in the name of Islam. Women are barred from work and school and may not leave home unless veiled from head to foot; men are required to wear long beards and pray in mosques five times a day. If the Taleban is now preparing to crack down on religious minorities, it would be another indication that the regime, isolated by international financial sanctions and accused of fomenting terrorism, is becoming even more conservative and prepared to further defy world opinion. Two months ago, the Taleban shocked the world by demolishing two famous, centuries-old carvings of Buddha in the name of Islamic purity. In India, a Hindu-majority country, reports had circulated since Monday that the Taleban would require Afghan Hindus to wear yellow clothing. "We absolutely deplore such orders," said Raminder Singh Jassal, chief spokesman for India's Foreign Ministry. "This is further evidence of the backward and unacceptable ideological underpinnings of the Taleban and justifies actions that the international community have taken in imposing sanctions."
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