Taliban Wants To Enforce Dress Code For Non-Muslims
ISLAMABAD, May 21 (News Agencies) - Afghanistan's Taliban regime was considering a separate dress code for the minorities to distinguish them from Muslims, a report said.
Maulawi Mohammad Wali, in charge of the ministry for fostering virtue and suppressing vice was quoted as telling the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) that non-Muslims should wear a dress that can identify them easily.
His ministry was seeking a fatwa, or religious edict, for that purpose from Islamic scholars, the Pakistan-based private news agency said.
Wali denied reports from New Delhi that the Taliban had already issued a new decree imposing fresh restrictions on Hindus living in Afghanistan, AIP said.
"Once we receive the Fatwa, we will formulate a law and implement it across the country," he added.
Under the proposed legislation non-Muslim Afghan citizens would have a distinct badge or stitch a cloth of specified color onto their dress to identify their religion, he said.
The aim was to spare non-Muslims, particularly Hindus and Sikhs, when religious police squads force people to close their shops at the time of prayers and herd them to mosques, AIP said.
Wali said the Taliban had assigned the yellow color for Hindus living in the militia's southern stronghold of Kandahar a few years ago but its implementation remained partial.
"We now want to prepare a uniform policy so that distinction between Muslims and non-Muslims becomes easy in all Afghan cities," he said.
He said non-Muslims had "no right" to worship in open areas, but should do so at places assigned for this purpose.
Saying that his ministry was bringing the people to the right path, he defended the Taliban regime's ban on music and restrictions on Muslims not to trim their beards.
AIP said he dismissed the possibility of any relaxation of the tough Taliban rules.
"Our policies are in accordance with Islamic tenets," he was quoted as saying.
