The Islamist extremists stormed shops in Wana, the main town of the lawless South Waziristan tribal region, which borders Afghanistan, and made a bonfire of the cloth in a public area near the bazaar. - File Photo

PESHAWAR, Pakistan: A Taliban group in Pakistan on Tuesday burned a huge quantity of cloth taken from shopkeepers, saying it was too thin to be made into suitably modest garments, officials said.

The Islamist extremists stormed shops in Wana, the main town of the lawless South Waziristan tribal region, which borders Afghanistan, and made a bonfire of the cloth in a public area near the bazaar.

Shopkeeper Rahimullah Khan told AFP that at least eight armed men burst into his premises and took away bundles of raw cloth that they said was too thin to make respectable clothing.

“They said it was un-Islamic to wear clothes that don't properly cover the human body,” Khan said.

A local official in Wana who declined to be named said the perpetrators were local Taliban, adding that shop owners calculated thousands of metres of material had been destroyed.

“The men confiscated big bundles of raw cloth which they declared was too thin to wear from dozens of shopkeepers in the main bazaar and burnt them,” he told AFP.

“They had warned shopkeepers almost a week ago to stop selling un-Islamic cloth. Today, the militants stormed the shops and confiscated the rolls.”

Taliban militants in Pakistan have often targeted shops selling music and films that they say break Islamic moral codes.

Pakistan's military launched a major offensive in South Warizistan, part of the federally-administered tribal area, in 2009 to tackle Taliban and al Qaeda linked groups.

Also in South Warizistan on Tuesday, one soldier was killed and another one injured when a remote-controlled bomb exploded by a road, the military said.

Pakistan's seven tribal districts bordering Afghanistan are rife with a homegrown insurgency.

Must Read

Opinion

Editorial

The ban question
Updated 02 Dec, 2024

The ban question

Parties that want PTI to be banned don't seem to realise they're veering away from the very ‘democratic’ credentials they claim to possess.
5G charade
Updated 02 Dec, 2024

5G charade

What use is faster internet when the state is determined to police every byte of data its citizens consume?
Syria offensive
Updated 02 Dec, 2024

Syria offensive

If Al Qaeda’s ideological allies establish a strong foothold in Syria, it will fuel transnational terrorism.
Flying ban reversal
Updated 01 Dec, 2024

Flying ban reversal

Only the naive can expect the reinstatement of European operations to help restore PIA’s profitability.
Kurram conflict
01 Dec, 2024

Kurram conflict

DESPITE a ceasefire being in place, violence has continued in Kurram tribal district. The latest round of bloodshed...
World AIDS Day
01 Dec, 2024

World AIDS Day

IT is a travesty that, decades after HIV/AIDS first perplexed medics, awareness about the disease remains low in...