Islamabad:
Pro-Taliban militants in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province have warned female teachers and students to wear veils and take along male relatives while going school or face action.
"A dozen armed militants who visited the Government Girls' Primary School at Achini near NWFP capital Peshawar on Wednesday asked the women to wear veils," a resident of the area said.
The militants also warned men in the area to wear caps or face action, he added.
"They also fired on a boy who was not wearing a cap and tried to flee, but he luckily escaped," he said. The female teachers informed officials of the education department about the incident and said they would not attend duties in such situations. The teachers also demanded protection.
Suspected militants also sent threatening letters several times to people of the area asking them to spend a year with a Tablighi Jamaat but the people said they were poor and had to work to earn a livelihood, the resident of the area told the Dawn newspaper.
"They again contacted the people, especially the well-off, to pay donations to them ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 100,000 and collected huge amounts from the people," the man said.
An official said Achini village was close to Bara sub-district of the Khyber tribal region and militants were openly roaming in that area but not entering Peshawar.