LAKKI MARWAT, June 16: Shopkeepers selling garments and cosmetics for women have received letters in which they have been warned of dire consequences if they don’t close down their businesses immediately.

A shopkeeper said he had received the letter on Saturday morning containing ‘a word from the Taliban’.

“The visit of women to the cloth market and other business centres is harmful and against the norms and principles of Sharia. This practice is one of the main causes promoting obscenity and vulgarity in the society,” the letter said. It alleged that shops had been turned into brothels where women were being sexually abused.

The letter asked shopkeepers to refrain from selling such items to women and warned that failure to comply with the advice could result in loss of their lives and businesses. Police said they were investigating the case.