Afghanistan 13 Months Ago! - Taliban: Hindus must wear identity labels

May 22 — The Taliban, one of the world's most isolated and controversial regimes, is considering a proposal to make Hindus wear identity labels to separate them from the majority Muslim population in Afghanistan.

The hard-line regime, which enforces its own strict interpretation of Islam, has already faced harsh criticism and international isolation for its treatment of women and, more recently, for its destruction of two giant Buddha statues dating back to the 5th century. A Taliban Foreign Ministry official told ABCNEWS.com the regime was considering a new policy that would require Afghan Hindus to wear identity tags. It would also require Hindu women to cover their faces in public like other Afghan women instead of just wearing head scarfs.

In a telephone interview from Kabul, the Afghan capital, Sayed Rahmatullah Hashimi said the proposal had not been made into law yet and was still being considered.

For the policy to be made official, it would have to be approved by the reclusive Taliban supreme leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar.

There were no details on what sort of identification Hindus would have to wear and no date had been set for implementation, Hashimi said.

The proposal has been widely condemned by Hindu groups and Jews, who faced similar marginalization by the Nazis.

Although Muslims form the overwhelming majority of Afghanistan's population, there are several thousand Hindus and a small Sikh minority in Afghanistan. Most minorities are traders who tend to live in close-knit pockets across the Central Asian state.

While Sikh men are easily distinguishable by their unique turbans, Hashimi said that if the new policy was implemented, it would apply to the Sikh community as well.

Hashimi said the identification of Hindus was a proposal aimed at protecting both Hindu and Muslim Afghans.

"This is being considered because there are a number of items that are illegal for Afghan Muslims — like shaving their beards, watching TV and having idols at home. The same things are allowed for the Hindu community. If the Taliban asks them to wear badges, it is to be on the safe side so that Hindus can be recognized," he said.

"This is not a discrimination against our Hindu brothers," he added. "It's for their security."

Comprised of Afghans trained in religious schools in neighboring Pakistan along with former Islamic fighters or mujahadeen (holy warriors) who fought the Soviet occupation, the Taliban follows a narrow interpretation of Islam aimed at recreating what they call the "most pure Islamic state."

But many Islamic scholars accuse the Taliban of abusing Islam's tolerant tradition for their own ends.

In Hindu-dominated India, angry protesters took to the streets in the central Indian city of Bhopal, brandishing a bearded effigy of a Taliban soldier and chanting, "Taliban, die."

In the capital, New Delhi, a spokesman for the Shiv Sena, a hard-line Hindu group, warned the new policy would incite violent public reactions across the subcontinent.

"These are fundamentalist people, make no mistake about it," said Mukund Mody, founder of Overseas Friends of the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party). "I wouldn't call it a discrimination, I call it an atrocity."

For many Westerners, images of a minority population wearing identification badges on their clothing called to mind the start of the Nazi pogrom against Jews.

"Oh my God, we have learned nothing from history," said Abraham H. Foxman National Director of the Anti-Defamation League and a Holocaust survivor himself. "This is going back to the Holocaust when Jews were separated with yellow stars [of David]. … That led to 6 million dead. One would hope that we had learned from history."

Mody called for international condemnation of the new policy. "The world was slow to respond to Nazism then, it's even slower to respond to this now because these unfortunate people are from a different hemisphere. It's difficult to get the West to respond until the fire reaches their corridor."

The practice of forcing minorities to wear distinctive clothing goes back to the Middle Ages, when Jews in several European countries were forced to wear mandated headgear and clothing to separate them from other residents.

But it reached a crescendo in Nazi Germany, when policies such as identification badges gradually led to the Holocaust.

For Foxman, the resonances were especially disturbing. "Back then, it was a marking for death," he said. "I hope the world will wake up. It starts with monuments, now it's marking people, what could be next?"

Foxman was referring to Taliban's destruction of two giant Buddha statues in the Bamiyan province in March.

The Taliban's demolition of the statues, one of which was once the world's tallest standing Buddha statue, drew harsh criticism from the international community. The statues were considered both religious symbols and archaeological treasures.

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

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

The order, reminiscent of Nazi Germany's rule forcing Jews to wear a Star of David, brought more criticism upon the group which is already isolated for its harsh brand of Islam and treatment of women.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the order was "the latest in a long list of outrageous oppressions. Forcing social groups to wear distinctive clothing or identifying marks stigmatizes and isolates those groups and can never, never be justified."

"One would hope that we have learned from history," said Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League and a Holocaust survivor.

In India, where Hindus are in the majority, thousands marched through Bhopal carrying an effigy of a Taliban soldier and shouting "Taliban, die!" About 500 Hindus live in the Afghan capital of Kabul. There are no reliable figures for those outside the capital.

"Once Hindu homes, Hindu women are identified, it is easy to rob their houses and harass the women," said Abhimanyu Gulati of India's Shiv Sena Hindu group.

The dress code is the latest example of the Taliban's determination to impose its extreme interpretation of Islam on the nearly 95% of the country that it controls.

It recently ordered the destruction of all of the country's statues, including two ancient Buddhas, and closed down a 120-bed Italian-run hospital because it allowed men and women to eat in the same room. The Taliban bars women from most jobs and education; requires men to wear beards and pray five times a day; and bans all forms of light entertainment.

If the Bush Administration had plans to invade Afghanistan, more power to them for having had the foresight - I know, it was the oil pipeline, but only the talibunnies were stupid enough to pass up tons of cash to keep their benighted system going.

Just a reminder of why we fought in Afghanistan and why the Liberation of that Mountain Kingdom has been a great and good thing, despite all the naysayers and whiners.

The Hindus now are free of identity labels, but they're ready to make Americans carry biometric identity labels, sounds like this thing backfired to me.

"they're ready to make Americans carry biometric identity labels, "

Who is "they" - hindus or the NWO?

It's being considered as part of our new national ID card system. Our fearless leaders want biometric info in our new drivers licenses or state ID cards. Tampering with them or ATTEMPTING TO READ WHAT INFO IS ON THEM is punishable with prison and a $20,000 fine.

Sort of like a credit card.

Wait til the HMO's want to implant a realtime monitoring chip to check your vital signs, balanced diet, caffeine, caloric and beer intake.

Yes, well it seems to boil down to Islamic World Order vs the NewWorldOrder, doesn't it.

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