QUETTA: A notification urging barber shops to avoid any designs while shaping beards in Dalbandin city of Balochistan’s Chagai district has been withdrawn.
Earlier, a senior administration official had sent out a notification warning barber shops to avoid any designs while shaping beards or else face strict action.
The notification was titled “Immediate ban on designed beards”, and says that “in accordance with Sunnah lifestyle of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), the barbershop owners are being strictly instructed against styling their customers’ beards with designs.”
“There is a complete ban on this act and if anyone is found violating it, they will have to face strict legal action,” the notification, drafted on January 29, warns.
Copies of the notification were subsequently dispatched to police, Levies and other district administration officials.
This decree sparked a debate on the social media where most people sounded concerned about it.
In 2008, the then Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Maulvi Umar had warned people in Bajaur tribal region to grow beards within two months or face consequences.
A similar notification was issued in June 2017, banning designed beards in Balochistan’s Kharan district.