MANSEHRA, Nov 4: A jirga of clerics and elders of all the tribes of Allai area has condemned the threatening letters sent by Taliban to music and video shop owners and barbers and announced their full support for the administration in curbing the tide of Talibanisation in the region.

The Battagram district administration is reported to have held the jirga to mobilise support of local people against the militants who have been threatening the owners of music and video shops and barbers in Allai tehsil asking them to close their businesses.

In the letters pasted outside their shops on Saturday night, the Taliban wrote: “Your business as well as your income from this business are Haram and if you do not give up your profession you will be responsible for the loss of your business and shops.” The word Taliban was written at the end of the letter.Police sources said security had been beefed up in the tehsil and policemen in plain clothes had been deployed in the city.

Clerics, elders and representatives of tribes assured the administration that they would never allow anyone to shatter the peaceful environment of the area.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Azizur Rehman said police would act against such threats with the support of local people as the government had given the barbers and video and music shop owners permission to run their businesses and issued them licences. Following a bomb blast in the office of the Sustainable Participatory Organisation, heavy contingents of police and Frontier Constabulary have been deployed in Battagram and Allai.