Taliban Measure Will Require Hindus to Wear Identity Labels

The ruling Taliban said Tuesday that it will require Hindus to wear identity labels on their clothing to distinguish them from Muslims, a proposal sharply denounced by India and the United States.

The Taliban said the measure--which would also require Hindu women to be veiled for the first time--was aimed at keeping non-Muslims from being harassed by religious police enforcing Islamic law.

Hindus in Afghanistan have not been the target of persecution and have been allowed to practice their religion without interference, even using music, which is otherwise banned. However, over decades of war, the number of Hindus has dwindled from a high of about 50,000 during the 1970s to 500 in Kabul, the capital, and small pockets elsewhere.

The Taliban’s reclusive supreme leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, must still approve the law as he does all edicts. The head of the religious police, Mullah Mohammed Wali, said it would be implemented soon.

The proposal--reminiscent of Nazi policies forcing Jews in Europe to wear a yellow Star ofDavid--brought quick condemnation from Washington.

A U.S. State Department spokesman called the requirement “the latest in a long list of outrageous oppressions” by the Taliban.

“We want to make quite clear that forcing social groups to wear distinctive clothing or identifying marks stigmatizes and isolates those groups and can never, never be justified,” spokesman Richard Boucher said in Washington.

Hindu-dominated India also denounced the measures. Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman R. S. Jassal told reporters in New Delhi, “We absolutely deplore such orders which patently discriminate against minorities.”