Taliban Says Hindus To Wear Labels
WASHINGTON, May 22 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - In order to
safeguard
the rights of Hindus in Afghanistan, the ruling Taliban leadership
announced plans on Tuesday to order Hindus to wear identity labels on
their
clothing to differentiate them from Muslims.
Abdul Hanan Hemat, a senior spokesman for the Taliban Information
Ministry
said that the demand was only to save the Hindus from harassment
during
regular spot-checks when police herd Muslims into mosques to check
whether
their beards meet strict requirements.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kandahar said that it is unclear
whether
the order was in fact in effect because Mullah Omar, supreme leader of
the
Taliban government, had yet to approve it.
The proposed label is a yellow sticker that would be placed on the
inside
of pockets of Hindus in order to differentiate them from the majority
Muslim population.
"It is only to differentiate between Muslims and non-Muslims. The
Hindus
should put a yellow piece of cloth the size of a thumb inside their
pockets," Hemat told reporters.
He was quoting the Abdul Wali, chief of the religious police,
officially
known as the Minister for Fostering Virtue and Suppressing Vice.
"This is only a demand from the Hindu community," Hemat, who also
heads the
official Bakhtar news agency, said. The demand was only aimed at
Hindus as
Sikhs were recognizable from their beards and turbans, he added.
He said that Hindus could flash their stickers to mobile religious
police
squads patrolling Kabul and other major cities to ensure women are
fully
covered from head to toe by the traditional burqa garment and that men
attend prayer meetings and do not trim their beards.
The spokesman denied reports that the Taliban's movement had ordered
the
Hindus to raise yellow flags on their rooftops.
Journalist Kamal Hyder said that according to Hindus he had spoken
with,
they "do not feel discriminated against."
"Most of these Hindus ... told us that they do not see discrimination
in
their day-to-day life," Hyder said, but "They were of course
apprehensive
about any edict regarding dress code."
"These people have been here for hundreds of years, and most of them
were
not having any difficulties here," added Hyder.
Hindus said that they had not received any information about the new
rules
from the Ministry of Virtue and Wisdom, but they had heard about the
edict
in the radio.
However, the news of the edict prompted an angry retort from Hindu
India.
"We absolutely deplore such orders which patently discriminate against
minorities," the Press Trust of India quoted an unnamed Indian foreign
ministry official as saying.
"It is further evidence of the backward and unacceptable ideological
underpinning of the Taliban."
Some Afghan Hindus do not feel comfortable wearing a label identifying
them
as Hindus, fearing it would degrade their position in society.
Local officials have said that there are 67 Hindu temples in Kandahar,
but
only one is functional. Predominantly a Sunni Muslim country,
Afghanistan
has a small Hindu and Sikh minority.
It officially has no Christians as the Taliban, which controls most of
the
country, have ruled that any Afghan converting to Christianity would
be
sentenced to death.
I find it interesting and even humorous that the Hindus of India are
complaining about this when the Hindu religion supports the Caste
System in
which people are divided into 5 categories, the highest being the
Brahmin
(priest class) and the lowest being the Avarna
(outcasts/untouchables).
Here are just three quotes relating to the Avarna from one of the
books of
the Hindu religion:
"Candalas must live out of the town, and their clothes must be the
mantles
of the deceased." -- Visnusmrti 16:14.
"These (castes) should live near mounds, trees, and cremation-grounds,
in
mountains and in groves, recognizable and making a living by their own
innate activities. But the dwellings of 'Fierce' Untouchables
(candala) and
'Dog-cookers' (svapaca) should be outside the village; they must use
discarded bowls, and dogs and donkeys should be their wealth. Their
clothing should be the clothes of the dead, and their food should be
in
broken dishes; their ornaments should be made of black iron, and they
should wander constantly. A man who carries out his duties should not
seek
contact with them; they should do business with one another and marry
with
those who are like them. Their food, dependent upon others, should be
given
to them in abroken dish, and they should not walk about in villages
and
cities at night." -- Manusmrti 10:50-54.
"If one who (being a member of the Candala or some other outcaste)
must not
be touched, intentionally defiles by his touch one who (as a member of
a
twice-born caste) may be touched (by other twice-born persons only),
he (or
she) shall be put to death. If a woman in her courses (touches such a
person), she shall be lashed with a whip." -- Visnusmrti 5:104-5.
It seems as if the Hindus should be flocking to Afghanistan in groups
of
thousands instead of protesting this possible ruling of the Taliban.
Alhamdulillah! Look at how easily a people of false deen are exposed
for
their hypocrisy, ignorance, and arrogance.
May Allah open our hearts and minds to see the truth, and may Allah give us the courage to stick to the truth and the righteuos, aameen.