HARIPUR, June 9: Hundreds of video rental shop owners of the city have complained of a slump in their business after the passage of Shariat Bill recently by the provincial assembly.

An official told Dawn on Monday that the police had seized dozens of CDs and video cassettes and fined over 100 shopkeepers on charges of keeping obscene material.

The district police officer, he said, had reportedly summoned the  video shopowners to his office, asking them to either destroy all obscene material or abandon the business.

The DPO had also directed them to remove posters of actresses from their outlets, sources said. “The police even stopped us from selling and renting out  regular Indian and Pakistani movies videos,” said a shopkeeper.

SHO city police station Naqibullah Khan denied any new ban on obscene materials. He said that since a ban already existed  on obscene movies, the authorities had only ordered strict action to keep a check on obscenity.