Taliban rulers in Afghanistan have announced a plan for non-Muslims to wear distinctive badges, possibly yellow pieces of cloth, to identify them as belonging to religious minorities.
Taliban rulers in Afghanistan have announced a plan for non-Muslims to wear distinctive badges, possibly yellow pieces of cloth, to identify them as belonging to religious minorities.
“This decision is in line with Islam,” said Mohammed Wali to The Times, a London newspaper. Wali, head of the Taliban’s religious police, said the new law is intended only for Hindus because the small Sikh minority is instantly identifiable and there are few Christians or Jews.
Although issued May 22, a date has not been set for the law to take effect. The plan, which will also require Hindu women to cover their faces with a veil like Muslim women, has yet to be approved by Mohammad Omar, the Taliban’s supreme leader.
John Graz, Public Affairs and Religious Liberty director for the Seventh-day Adventist Church worldwide, says the move is troubling. “The Taliban is convinced that a strict implementation of the Islamic law will solve the problems facing their country,” says Graz. “Within this logic, the basic human rights of their people, including religious freedom, can be forgotten. For many, life is becoming a nightmare.” Graz says he hopes this latest religious law will not be implemented.
The Taliban says the identifying mark for non-Muslims is necessary so that religious police will be able to grant exemptions from the otherwise strictly enforced Islamic law. Some 90 percent of Afghanistan is controlled by the Taliban, which has continued to press for international recognition since coming to power in 1996 with the capture of the capital city, Kabul.
