ISLAMIC AFGHANISTAN ORDERS NON MUSLIM WEAR YELLOW TAGS
ISLAMABAD 23 May (IPS) The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) emulated Adolph Hitler of Germany by ordering non-Muslims, particularly the Hindus, to wear an identity label, eventually a yellow sari for women and shirt for men, on their clothing to distinguish them from Muslims.
Mohammed Wali, the IEA religious police Minister said though an exact date was not set, but the new law will make it mandatory for Hindu women to veil themselves just like Muslim women of Afghanistan.
Mollah Mohammad Omar, the Supreme Leader the IEA must approve all edicts, and it was not known if he had approved the new policy yet.
The planned move, reminiscent of the yellow Star of David that Jews were forced to wear in Nazi Germany, prompted reactions worldwide, but particularly in India, where Hindus dominate.
"We absolutely deplore such orders which patently discriminate against minorities'', Mr. Raminder Singh Jassal, an Indian foreign ministry spokesman, told reporters in New Delhi.
"It is further evidence of the backward and unacceptable ideological underpinning of the Taleban'', he observed.
The National Volunteers Corps, a fundamentalist movement that is the ideological parent of India's ruling Hindu nationalist party, condemned the Taliban.
"It is in line with the Taleban's interpretation of Islam, a religion which divides humanity into two: the believers and the infidels'', said Baburao Vaidya, a spokesman for the corps. "We criticise the very fundamentals of Islamic tenets'', he told The Associated Press.
In recent years, many Hindus and other members of religious minorities have left Afghanistan because of Taleban policies.
The decision could further isolate the orthodox Islamic militia, already under fire from the West for alleged discriminatory policies toward ethnic and religious minorities, human rights abuses and poor treatment of women.
Wali said the latest Taleban move is in line with Islam. "Religious minorities living in an Islamic state must be identified'', the minister said.
There are at least 5,000 Hindus living in Kabul. Thousands of other Hindus live in other Afghan cities, but there are no reliable figures on exactly how many.
The new law will be meant for only Hindus because there are no Christians or Jews in Afghanistan and Sikhs can be easily recognised by their turbans, Wali said.
However, It was unclear whether foreigners living in Afghanistan would be required to wear the identity label.
But Maulawi Abdul Wali stressed that "non-Muslims like Hindus" would have to wear distinctive dress so they can be easily identified.
"Non-Muslims should have a distinctive mark in their dress so that they can be identified. We have asked for a fatwa (religious decree) from ulema (Islamic scholars) for full implementation of this," he said. "When a fatwa comes, a complete law will be made."
Munawaar Hasan, general secretary of a major Islamic political party in neighbouring Pakistan called "Jamaat-e-Islami", or Islamic Party, said the move seems aimed to give protection to Hindus.
"The Taleban should win praise for this step'', he said, adding that providing protection to religious minorities is a must in any Islamic country and this step seems in line with this concept.'
Under the Taleban version of Islam, women are bared from most jobs and education, men are required to wear beards and pray five times a day and all forms of entertainment, including television and music, are outlawed.
The Taleban drew worldwide criticism when in March they destroyed two ancient statues of Buddha in central Bamiyan, calling it their religious duty.
The decision drew a sharp commentary from the US-based Free Afghan Radio AAR, blaming the "dement" move on the "western and Pakistani Taleban apologists in Islamabad, New York and Washington who still demand "engagement" and "reconstruction" with narco-terrorists.
"For several generations, Hindus, Sikhs and even Jewish families have lived in harmony with Muslim Afghans. Their rights were respected and they feel as much an Afghan as a Hazara, Pashtun, Tajik or Uzbek born and raised in that country. To make them wear an identity patch or ribbon is an insult to humanity and decency. This is not an Afghan action, and the Taliban, by no means; represent traditional and real Afghan values. For the news media to call them "Afghan Taliban" is also an insult and a misrepresentation of a group of thugs that have turned Afghanistan into a wasteland, given a bad name to Islam and Pashtun traditions, abused the noble Afghan nation, committed atrocities and forced displacements, destroyed our cultural heritage, violated our women's rights, and sold the country to terrorists and drug Mafiosi", AAR said.
A hardening of the Taleban was not unexpected as it resumes its annual summer battles with the Northern Alliance. This month they had rejected a U.N. call for a ceasefire to get humanitarian aid to the hundreds of thousands of Afghans displaced by fighting and the worst drought in three decades.
Despite controlling more than 90 per cent of the nation’s territory, the IEA is recognised only by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirate, with Islamabad thought to be the regime’s main military supporter.
The IEA face U.N. sanctions for giving protection to Saudi billionaire Osama bin Laden, wanted by Washington for allegedly running a global terrorist network.
The Taleban deny the charge and say the United States has no evidence against him.
Afghan legendary warlord Ahmad Shah Mas’ood accuses Pakistan of providing Taleban with military intelligence, weapons and officers.
"Taliban supporter, Fazlu-Rahman of Pakistan's JUI faction recently promised to send an extra 4,500 madrassah-trained fighters to assist the Taleban's ISI-run war-machinery. It is also reported that the famous Ossama Bin Laden is busy recruiting for the Taleban army to finish off the resistance by this Fall. If these actions and initiatives were to succeed, and the foreign-backed Taleban gain total control over the country, attempts to counter the Taleban wave or roll it back will be incrementally more difficult. Rahman, Bin laden and M. Omar's ISI patrons know it well. And let's not be fooled by those simple-minded "experts" who advocate a reversal of the situation AFTER a complete Taliban victory! "let them win and then we will take care of it," they claim. But they do not say how, with what and with whom? Surely the ISI would like us to believe that line, which is being trumpeted occasionally by some Islamabad-connected Afghans in the Rome/Loya Jirga and other Afghan circles trying to find a solution", AAR charged. ENDS TALEBAN TAGGING 23501