Afghanistan's Taliban rulers today ordered the country's non-Muslim minorities to wear a distinctive badgewhen they go outside.
The Taliban-controlled Voice of Shariat radio, monitored in Islamabad, quoted religious police chief Mr Maulawi Abdul Wali as saying the order had been issued in the light of a
fatwa
or religious decree given by Islamic scholars.
"The ulema [scholars] issued a fatwathat the non-Muslim population of the country should have a distinctive mark such as a piece of cloth attached to their pockets so they should be differentiated from others," it quoted Mr Wali as saying.
"This decision is in accordance with the Sharia [Islamic law]," said Mr Wali, who heads the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
The United States immediately condemned the order. US State Department spokesman Mr Richard Boucher told a news conference that it was "the latest in a long list of outrageous repressions . . . forcing social groups to wear distinctive clothing or identifying marks stigmatises and isolates those groups and can never, never be justified."