May 30, 2001
Page B2
P urttani!
(Ety* Jíortlaub OObseruer
Metro/Religion
M N aM M M M
Afghan Hindus Required to Wear Identity Labels
K A BU L, Afghanistan (A P )— A f­
ghan H indus expressed dism ay and
sadness last w eek at new requirements
from the Taliban leadership that they
w ear a yellow piece o f cloth on their
shut pockets to set them apart from
Muslims.
“W ho know s who is close toG od?”
asked Gandar, a 32-year-old Hindu
pharm acy ow ner in the Afghan capital
Kabul. "W e feel part o f the same body,
the sam e house, the same room, like a
fam ily... W hy should w e have a mark?”
The Taliban, who control 95 percent
o f this drought-stricken, w ar-tom na­
tion o f 21 million people, defended
theirrulm g W ednesday. They insisted
it was meant to protect Hindus from
religious police who patrol the streets
enforcing the T aliban's version o t Is­
lamic law.
“This is not any kind o f discrim ina­
tion." said Mohammed Suhail Shaheen,
deputy head o f the Afghan Embassy
in Pakistan. “They (the Hindus) can
carry out their rituals as before... They
will enjoy full rights.”
Muslim men — required by the
Taliban to keep their beards — som e­
times claim they’re Hindu i fanes ted tor
shaving, Shaheen said. Conversely,
clean-shaven Hindus are sometim es
arrested erroneously, he added.
The new order also requires Hindu
women for the first time to cover them ­
selves head-to-toe in a garm ent called
a burqa, ju st as M uslim w omen have
been forced to do in Afghanistan.
The plan — rem iniscent o f a Nazi
policy in the 1930s and 40s that re­
quired European Jews to wear yellow
Stars o f David — has been criticized
internationally as a hum an rights vio­
lation. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi
Annan appealed to the Taliban to re­
ject the decision, his spokesm an said.
Hindus in A fghanistan have not
been the target o f persecution and
have generally been allow ed to prac­
tice their religion freely. However, over
decades o f war, the num ber ofH indus
has dwindled from a high o f about
50,000 during the 1970s to 500 in the
capital and small pockets elsewhere.
The new restrictions m ake many
Hindus feel dangerously singled out.
“W e don’t feel safe with this,” said
Balbir, a Hindu spice dealer in Kabul.
He said the mark could cause “security
problem s” for him w hen he travels to
the countryside.
“This is discrimination. W e are
Afghans. I was bom in Afghanistan.
We gave our sons to the arm y to fight.
We prayed for the dead together with
our Muslim brothers,” said Balbir, who
like many Afghans goes by one name.
M oon Singh, 18-year-old Sikh
shopow ner, supported the new m ea­
sure. “Som etim es the religious police
beat them (the Hindus) and say ‘W hy
aren ’t you in the mosque praying’
because they look like M uslim s,” he
said. A fghanistan’s Sikhs and Hindus
are closely linked, sharing tem ples in
the capital. Sikh men are not subject to
the new ruling because their style o f
turbans and beards makes them easily
distinguishable from Muslims.
The ruling was initially approved by
A fghanistan’s senior council o f Is­
lamic scholars, or ulema.
The M inistry for the Prom otion o f
V irtue and Prevention o f Vice, which
runs the religious police, then speci­
fied that the label should be a yellow
cloth, said Abdul A nnan Himat, head
o f the T aliban ’s Bakhtar news agency.
The head o f die religious police,
M ohammed Wali, told the AP on Tues­
day that die p lan would be imp lemented
soon. The decision outraged Hindu-
dominated India. “W e believe such
edicts have no place in civilized soci­
ety,” Raminder Jassal, an Indian For­
e ig n M in istry sp o k e s m a n , sa id
W ednesday.
U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said
the requirem ent would be a “grave
violation o f human rights and recall
som e o f the m ost deplorable acts o f
discrimination in history ”
Allen Temple Hosts Appreciation Celebration
The Allen Temple Christian
Methodist Episcopal Church,
4236 N.E. 8th Ave., will hold
an appreciation celebration
for Rev. Dr. Leroy Haynes
Jr. and Rev. Helen Hayes,
.
honoring their commitment and
dedicated service to the Allen
Temple famtly and to the met-
“If You Aspire to Make Music”
Renaissance Academy
Is A Must
❖ ❖ ❖ Summer Camp 2001 ❖ ❖ ❖
Learn guitar ♦♦♦ Play African Drums!
Learn Sound Technology!
Sing in a choir! Learn Keyboard!
❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖
♦♦♦
July 5-31, 2001
Monday- Friday 8am-Noon
Grades 4-8 cost: $150
Limited financial assistance available
Location: Irvington Covenant Church 4046 NE MLK JR. Blvd
Call Now 503- 287-5226
_________olor* tp q p h p c a t th p He
N o also
r t h teaches
l i e h t f i at
il m
in i North
st
the
lightful minister. Her compas-
ropolitan community.
Portland
Bible
College.
sion
for the lost and hurting is
The festivities begin with a
Rev.
Helen
Haynes
is
a
de-
exhibited
in her ministry.
musical on Friday, June 1 at 7
p m. and culminate on Sun­
day, June 3 at 4 p.m.
he church will be
ending its c o n fe r
ence year at the end
of this month with pastors of
the Oregon Washington and
Alaska District receiving new
appointments.
Allen Temple will not know
until such tim e if P asto r
Haynes will remain, or if he
will be given another appoint­
ment.
Therefore, each year be­
fore the annual conference,
church leaders do not pass up
the opportunity to give him
and his spouse their thanks.
When Pastor Haynes is not
te ac h in g , co u n se lin g and
preaching the Good news of
The Gospel, he is teaching at
conference meetings through­
out the United States, or shar­
ing his vision of the drug abuse
program he founded to restore
addictive persons, codependents
or families.
Rev. Dr. Leroy Haynes Jr. and his wife, Rev. Helen Haynes.
T
African Americans
Every
Voice;
in World War II
JUNE 1 7 -2 5
Vancouver, Washington
I
CONVENTION SITE
Maranatha Church, 4222 NE 12th
PORTLAND, OREGON
Empowering Seminars 10 am
Evening Service 7 pm
Bishop A. A. Wells
Presiding Bishop F G P C
• Dynamic Keynote Speakers
• Anointed Music Ministry
Join us on Thursday, June 7 as the
students in the Center for Columbia
River History’s Vancouver African
American History Project present a
program based on their research of
the history of African Americans in
Vancouver from 1941 to 1948.
Project P articipants, 1-r: Keri Conw ay, C arlos Delcid,
M ary Byrd, C hristal Jenkins, Jasm ine Sim m ons
Lift E very Voice includes:
BISHOP G. G. BLOOMER
Durham , NC
BISHOP M .ROGERS
Portsmouth. VA
EVANGELIST BRENDA TODD
Tulsa, OK
♦ posterboard exhibits and presentations by the students
♦ an interactive discussion involving students, coordinators, advisory board
members, oral history narrators and the audience
FREE
Thursday, June 7, 2001 - 7:00 p.m.
Vancouver Community Library
1007 East Mill Plain Boulevard
RHONDA MCLEMORE
Anointed Ministry of Music
M IN. SHAWN MCLEMORE
Anointed Music Ministry
FULL GOSPEL PENTECOSTAL CHURCH INTERNATIONAL
HEADQUARTERS: 1032 N. Sumner Portland. OR 97217, Phone (503) 287-2223
For more information:
360 992-1821
www.ccrh.org
Co-sponsOrs for this project ^re the C enter for C olum bia River H istory's Jam es B. C astles Endow m ent, the
V ancouver N ational Historic Reserve Trust, Portland State U niversity, SW IFT , C lark C ollege, G ifford Pinchot
N ational Forest, V ancouver Branch N A A C P 1139, M cLoughlin H eights C hurch o f God an d th e V ancouver
C om m unity Library
I