Benjamin Gilman: “I call up the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 145) condemning the recent order by the Taliban regime of Afghanistan…”

“I call up the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 145) condemning the recent order by the Taliban regime of Afghanistan to require Hindus in Afghanistan to wear symbols identifying them as Hindu, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House. Whereas the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights guarantee the freedom of religion; Whereas on May 22, 2001, the Taliban regime of Afghanistan directed Hindus and other non-Muslims to wear a yellow identity symbol and for Hindu women to fully cover themselves in a veil; Whereas this proposal is reminiscent of the yellow Star of David that Jews were forced to wear in Nazi Germany and Nazi-occupied areas; Whereas Department of State spokesperson Richard Boucher condemned the Taliban action, stating that 'forcing social groups to wear distinctive clothing or identifying marks stigmatizes and isolates those groups and can never, never be justified'; Whereas the Taliban regime recently offended the world by ordering the destruction of all pre-Islamic statues in Afghanistan, among them a pair of 1,600-year-old, 100-foot-tall statues of Buddha that were carved out of a mountainside;”