DC Swabi bans barbers from ‘un-Islamic’ act of cutting beards

LAHORE: The office of the Deputy Commissioner Swabi has apparently issued a notification warning the district’s barbers to not cut or shape beards into different designs as it is against “Islamic Sharia rules.”

The notification, signed and stamped by an unnamed Additional Deputy Commissioner, reads “Barbers of  district Swabi are hereby strictly warned to not make any sorts of designs on beards as this is against Islamic injunctions, because of which there is a complete ban on fashioning beards into different designs.”

A picture of the notice was posted on the official Facebook page of the DC Swabi, where it gained serious traction on social media. However, after a lot of backlash, the Facebook post was taken down.

The notice also carried apparent warning ending on the lines “the disobedience of this order will result in strict action against the offenders.”

Speaking to Pakistan Today, officials of the DC office in Swabi said that they were not aware of any such notice and speculated that it could only be a fake.

“We were discussing the letter today and concluded that it must be a fake, however, we have no idea why or how such a directive could be given.”

However, they were not able to confirm or deny with certainty whether the notice was real or fake. As to the question of why it had been posted on the DC’s official facebook page along with other notices and achievements, the DC office did not have any answers.

The DC himself was not available for comment when reached.