Beards in Bajaur...

Ban on beard-shaving extended across Bajaur: Shaving beard to cost Rs 5,000
Daily Times, February 15, 2007

KHAR: The ban on shaving of men’s beards has been extended across Bajaur Agency and violators will have to pay a Rs 5,000 fine, Ghulam Khan, president of the barbers association, said on Wednesday. “It has been unanimously decided that there will be a ban on shaving beards all over Bajaur Agency,” Ghulam Khan told reporters in Khar, regional headquarters of Bajaur Agency. The ban on shaving men’s beards was imposed following distribution of pamphlets from an unidentified militant group on Sunday that the practice was “un-Islamic”. “No excuse will be accepted for violating the ban and violators will have to pay a Rs 5,000 fine,” Ghulam Khan said, adding that the political administration had been informed about the barbers’ decision. “We have to take the threat seriously because no one can guarantee our security if we ignore the warning,” the chief barber added. Meanwhile, some youths have decided to secretly hire a barber to shave their beards every week. “The barber will come to a secret place and shave our beards because we don’t want to grow it,” the youths told Daily Times. staff report