M A I N   N E W S

‘Taliban must rescind edict’

New Delhi, May 23
India today termed as “reprehensible” attempts by the Taliban to justify on religious grounds its decree imposing separate dress code for Hindus in Afghanistan and said international pressure must be brought on it to rescind such discriminatory orders.

Strongly condemning the enforcing of distinctive clothing and distinguishing marks for persons of religious minorities, an External Affairs Ministry spokesman said: “We believe such edicts have no place in society and have been rightly deplored by the international community.”

He said it was another example of Taliban’s “obscurantist and racist ideology, which is alien to Afghan tradition”.

India believed that any attempt to justify such edicts on religious grounds were reprehensible, he said and stressed international pressure be brought to bear on the Taliban to rescind such discriminatory orders and allow all communities to live in dignity and peace.

Under the Taliban decree, Hindu women have to wear a yellow cloth and Hindu household should hang a 2-metre yellow cloth outside for easy identification. The decree prohibits Hindus from living in the same house with Muslims, bars Hindus from constructing new prayer houses or places of worship and asks Hindu men to desist wearing turbans.

Indian organisations, too, have expressed outrage at the Taliban’s edicts against the minority Hindu community living in Afghanistan and urged the UN to intervene in the matter to ensure that no harm comes to it.

In a memorandum addressed to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the All-India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) called the Taliban’s orders a shocking reminder of the ‘Hitlerite rules’ identifying and targeting minorities.

A delegation of AIDWA led by its General Secretary Brinda Karat met UNIC Director Feodor Starcevic here today and handed him the memorandum to be forwarded to the UN Secretary-General.

“As a women’s organisation, we are particularly concerned at the specific threat held out to Hindu women to wear veils or face arrest. We fear that this will lead to a campaign of terror against them,” the memorandum said.

Stating that they felt frustrated that there were no ways open to ensure the security of their sisters in Afghanistan, the AIDWA members told the UN official that “we, therefore, turn to you to take appropriate action.” PTI, UNI

Afghan Sikhs pass through the Pakistani border village of Torkham aboard a truck as they leave Aghanistan in this 1995 photograph. Afghanistan's Taliban rulers demanded on Tuesday that the country's non-Muslim minorities wear a distinctive badge on their clothes when they go out of doors.   — Reuters

Afghan Hindu leaders unfazed

Kabul, May 23
Afghan Hindu leaders today said they were unconcerned about a new Taliban edict forcing them to wear yellow stickers reminiscent of the detested badge for Jews in Nazi Germany. The order by the fundamentalist Islamic regime against the tiny Hindu community has sparked international outrage.

But Hindu leaders said they were happy to carry an identifying mark that would spare them harassment by the Taliban’s notorious religious police over Hindus’ failure to attend Islamic prayers. AFP