New Delhi, May 20
The tiny Hindu population in Afghanistan has been asked by the fundamentalist Taliban regime to wear yellow cloth to identify themselves and follow the Shariat or face prosecution.

In a recent decree, a separate dress-code has been fixed for Muslims and non-Muslims (Hindus), and a Hindu household is required to put a two metre yellow cloth on his house so that the identity is known.

According to the decree, a copy of which was made available to UNI, Hindus and Muslims cannot live in the same house. Hindus, living in such a house, have been asked to leave within three days and vice versa. Any violation invite prosecution.

Heads of Hindu places of worship have been asked to prepare a list of such places/houses where Hindus and Muslims are living together.

Hindus cannot build new prayer houses. They have been asked to conduct prayers in existing ones. Places of worship once destroyed cannot be rebuilt.

Hindu men cannot wear turbans, while Hindu women should wrap their body with a big yellow 'chadder' with two small holes near theeyes.

Hindu women can go to markets but they should wear an iron necklace and their body should be wrapped in yellow 'chadder.'

No Hindu can keep arms.

Over the past few years, Hindu and Sikh Afghans have watched helplessly as their homes, businesses and places of worship have been destroyed.

As minorities in a fundamentalist Islamic country, Hindus are in deep trouble. Temples and Hindu property are looted and burnt in Kabul, Kandahar and Jalalabad.

The once-thriving Hindu community in Afghanistan, which numbered about 50,000, has now dwindled to about 50 in some parts.

Many Hindus have escaped to India, the US and Germany.

Indians have lived in Afghanistan for thousands of years. in Kandahar, 5,000 Hindus lived at one time.

Afghanistan was originally a Hindu country and 99 per cent of the Hindu Afghans were born there. A statue of Buddha stood in Kabul for more than 2,000 years and a mountain is named Asha Mai, after a Hindu goddess.

The Hindus were mostly prosperous merchants dealing in clothes, dry fruits, pharmaceuticals, currency exchange, and Indian tea and spices.

Some Hindus had been so powerful that they had even controlled the exchange market.

However, now thousands of Hindus live in slums. Hindus have become easy targets mainly because they have done economically well.

After the Taliban regime took over, many Hindus fled to India , some even via Pakistan.

Those who did not leave early, have got stuck. Either they have to flee, mostly via Pakistan, which is very difficult, or accept their fate. They cannnot get visas and fly to Delhi.

The alternate route through Pakistan is also impossible because Pakistan does not issue transit visas to people unless they already have visas to India.

Some Hindus and Sikhs, who managed to reach India during the past few years, have settled in satellite townships around Delhi and in Punjab.

However, many well-to-do Afghan families live in the capital's upmarket localities.

The year 980 CE marks the beginning of the Muslim invasion into India when Subuktagin attacked Raja Jaya Pal in Afghanistan.

In 980 CE Afghanistan was a land of Hindus and Buddhists. The name''Afghanistan'' comes from ''Upa-Gana-stan'' which in Sanskrit means the place inhabited by allied tribes.

This is believed to be the place Gandhar from where Gandhari of the Mahabharata came from whose king was Shakuni. The Pakthoons are descendants of the Paktha tribe mentioned in Vedic literature.

Till the year 980 CE, this area was a Hindu majority area, till Subuktagin from Ghazni invaded it and isplaced the ruling Hindu king--Jaya Pal.

The recent destruction of Bamiyan Buddhas and the reported smuggling out for selling of priceless artefacts are a new-foundiconoclasm of the Taliban--a sign of desperation rather thanreligioius zeal.

The gigantic Bamiyan Buddhas, having survived at least two major attempts by invadors in the past 1000 years, finally succumbedto Taliban. UNI