Taleban move to make Afghan Hindus wear labels

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CNN) -- The ruling Taleban leadership in Afghanistan announced plans on Tuesday to force Hindus to wear identity labels on their clothing to differentiate them from Muslims.

A Taleban spokesman said the order was issued to safeguard the rights of Hindus so that they are not accosted by the religious police who ensure that Afghans adhere to Muslim rules.

News of the edict prompted an angry retort from Hindu India.

"We absolutely deplore such orders which patently discriminate against minorities," 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 Taleban."

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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kandahar said that Mullah Omar, supreme leader of the Taleban government, had yet to approve the order, and it was unclear if it was in fact in effect.

Hindus wary of edict

Journalist Kamal Hyder told CNN that Hindus he had spoken with said they "do not feel discriminated against."

"Most of these Hindus ... told us that they do not see discrimination in their day-to-day life," he said. "They were of course apprehensive about any edict regarding dress code."

Under the edict, Hindu women would be required to veil themselves, as Muslim women do, but Hindus in Kandahar told Hyder that most of the women there do so already "in order to blend in."

"These people have been here for hundreds of years, and most of them were not having any difficulties here," Hyder said.

Hindus said they had heard radio reports about the edict but had not received any information from the Ministry of Virtue and Wisdom about the new rules.

Anar, an Afghan Hindu in Kabul who uses just one name, told The Associated Press he does not want to wear a label identifying him as Hindu.

"It will make us vulnerable and degrade our position in the society," he said.

Campaign against 'un-Islamic' segments

The Taleban, who control 95 percent of Afghanistan, have launched a campaign to crack down on "un-Islamic" segments of their society.

As part of that campaign, the Taleban earlier ordered all Buddhist statutes in the country destroyed, including two ancient stone statues of Buddha carved into a cliff in central Bamiyan.

There are 67 Hindu temples in Kandahar, but only one is functional, local officials have said.

There is no accurate count of how many Hindus live in Afghanistan but they are thought to number in the thousands.