KHAR, May 5: A group of self-proclaimed mujahideen set up on Saturday morning checkpoints on roads in different parts of the Bajaur Agency and removed tape recorders and audio-cassettes from many vehicles. They also forced people without beard to get off public vehicles, eyewitnesses said.

About 250 masked men brandishing guns set up the checkpoints on main roads in Baddi Saya, Kamar Ser, Umari and Tani areas of Mamond tehsil and stopped buses and vans.

Residents said that it was for the first time that masked men had openly paraded in the area and set up checkposts in the agency, bordering Afghanistan’s Kunar province.

According to them, the armed men removed cassette-players from vehicles and destroyed them on the spot. They also snatched people’s mobile phones.

Zahidullah Khan, a driver, told Dawn that the masked men forced passengers without beard to leave vehicles in Baddi Saya and Umari areas and warned them of ‘strict action’ if they did not grow beard.

He said that a cassette player had been removed from his vehicle, adding that passengers had been asked not to carry mobile phones with built-in cameras.

Local people said that the armed men first paraded in the Baddi Saya area of Mamond tehsil and later proceeded to Inayat Kali, some five kilometres from Khar, the agency headquarters.

In Inayat Kali, residents said a large group of people carrying automatic assault rifles had warned owners of music centres to wind up their business and the owners had started removing CDs and cassettes from their shops.