At gunpoint, Taliban enforce dress code in Peshawar

Afghanistan Sun (IANS) Wednesday 20th May, 2009

The Taliban have imposed a dress code for men in this provincial capital, notwithstanding the Pakistani army's successes in its actions against the Taliban in other parts of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

From Wednesday, as directed by their superiors, employees of the privately held National Jubilee Insurance (NJI) took the lead provided by their counterparts in the banking sector and began reporting to work in the traditional 'shalwar-kameez' in place of the shirt and trouser that they normally wore.

This follows the thrashing of a medical representative by the Taliban and a warning to employees of banks to switch to traditional outfits.

'The situation shows the level of scare among the people serving or residing in the city and the presence of Taliban and their activities despite law enforcement agencies' claims of strict security measures,' The News said Wednesday.

It also said the majority of NJO employees were uncomfortable with their new outfits since they had been used to the shirt-pant combination from their school days.

'The Taliban threats have now compelled them to put on the 'shalwar-kameez',' the newspaper added.

Bank employees, as also the staff of other organisations and institutions here, have also switched over to the traditional outfits.

After beating the medical representative with rifle butts and rendering him unconscious, the Taliban left a letter in his pocket reading, 'This was a message and the next time those not abiding our instructions and wearing un-Islamic dress would be slaughtered.'

The incident occurred in the busy Dabgari Gardens neighbourhood where hundreds of doctors have their clinics that are visited by thousands of people every day.

A police station is situated close by but no one dared to intervene while the medical representative was being thrashed.

Before this incident, a group of men identifying themselves as the Taliban had entered the branch of a private bank in the Ramdas neighbourhood and warned the staff against wearing Western attire.

The security forces had gone into action April 26 after the Taliban violated a controversial peace accord with the NWFP government and moved south from their Swat headquarters to occupy the Buner district that is just 100 km from Islamabad.

The operations had initially begun in Lower Dir, the home district of Taliban-backed radical cleric Sufi Mohammad who had brokered the peace accord, and later spread to Buner and Swat.

Some 1,000 militants have far been killed in the operations, which have seen nearly 1.5 million civilians fleeing the fighting. The Pakistani government has released Rs.1 billion for their relief and appealed for massive internal assistance in the effort.