Sunday, May 27, 2007

Pakistan: "Millitants" threaten music shops

No ring tones or hash for you!

PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- Pro-Taliban militants have warned music and video shops as well as clandestine hashish and alcohol outlets in a northwest Pakistan town to close down, local residents said Saturday.

The threat came in pamphlets distributed in Darra Adam Khel town, some 25 kilometers (15 miles) from Peshawar, the main town in North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan.

At least 10 music shops in the region have suffered grenade attacks by militants over the past eight months. The latest threats also warned shopkeepers to stop downloading songs as mobile telephone ringtones.

"The Taliban have set July 1 as a deadline to abandon all un-Islamic business in the area," local resident Murtza Khan said. "All the music shops in this area are closing now," shopkeeper Jan Alam said.