CD shop owners in the provincial metropolis have been asked to close their businesses. “Three boys claiming to be Lal Masjid representatives came to the Nishtarabad CDs market and asked us to shut our businesses as it was forbidden in Islam,” Nishtarabad Video Centres Union President Sher Dil told Daily Times. Sher Dil said the boys told him, “Maulana Abdul Aziz says all obscene material is coming from Nishtarabad as well as Karkhano Market on Jamrud Road.” “We told them that if they want us to give up this business, then they should provide us with another source of income,” Sher Dil said, “We also asked them to give us Rs 1 million in exchange for wasting Rs 2 million worth of CDs.”
He said the boys demanded a commitment in written towards this end. “On Wednesday morning, Maulana Abdul Aziz, over the phone, invited us to meet him,” he added. He said the union later met city police chief Abdul Majeed Marwat, who assured them of police support. Marwat told Daily Times security had been tightened around the market. The Nishtarabad video market is the biggest in Peshawar and around 1,200 people are engaged in the business. “We don’t produce any kind of obscene material here,” Sher Dil said.