United News of India said it had obtained a copy of a decree ordering Hindus, estimated to number about 1,000, to identify themselves by wearing their religion's traditional colour, saffron. Muslims constitute about 12 percent of India's population of more than a billion. Church leaders said the Taliban's dress prescription for non-Muslims violated basic human rights. Many Hindus had left Afghanistan in the past few years because of increasing atrocities against them, the bishops said. The church has been campaigning for action against militant Hindu organisations following a series of attacks on chapels and missionaries across India.
Christians make up just over two percent of India's population.