[nomadking]

This might well be the only country in the world where this could happen. Even the Taliban allowed people to have their own beliefs. It comes to something when it could be said that the Taliban are more tolerant about something than the Government of this country.

Link

Hindus in Afghanistan have not been the target of persecution and have generally been allowed to practice their religion freely. However, over decades of war, the number of Hindus has dwindled from a high of about 50,000 during the 1970s to 500 in the capital and small pockets elsewhere.

The head of the religious police, Mohammed Wali, said on Tuesday that the plan would be implemented soon.

Shaheen said that the main purpose for the measure was to keep Hindus from being stopped by religious police and to prevent Muslims from claiming they are Hindu when violating religious laws.

Muslim men are required to wear beards in Afghanistan, and they sometimes claim they're Hindu when arrested for shaving, Shaheen said. Conversely, clean-shaven Hindus are sometimes arrested erroneously, he added. Also — until this ruling — Hindu women in Afghanistan were not forced to wear the head-to-toe covering called a burqa as Muslim women are.