Pakistan refugee camps bring relief from Taliban beard fetish

BBC:

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But some have found freedom to pursue their profession only after arriving in camps set up to provide people fleeing the fighting food and shelter.

These people are the barbers who were banned from shaving off people's beards by the Taliban.

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Shaukat Ali came to the camp from Mingora.

On Sunday he shaved his first client for eight months.

He says that there were about 100 barber shops in Mingora and they all were ordered by the Taliban to immediately stop shaving off beards as it was un-Islamic.

Since that order, the barbers stopped shaving off beards and only trim hair.

"I am really pleased that I shaved someone's beard off. I am really lucky because I am one of the few people in the camp that can earn some money," Shaukat Ali says.

Another barber, Farman Ali, used to have a shop but now he is happy just to have a chair in the open.

"The Taliban threatened to attack the barber shops and their houses if they kept shaving customers' beards. Before the Taliban came along with their restrictions I used to do 15 to 20 shaves a day so as soon as they took over I saw my income plummet," says Farman Ali.

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The anti shaving fetish is just one of the weird religious beliefs of the Taliban. What makes it more perverse is requiring people who disagree with them not to shave either. This kind of despotic nonsense is beginning to create resistance to the religious bigot Taliban.