BurqaTaliban active in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province have announced that all females in the area are expected to wear burqas.  A local official has told a Catholic-run all-girls public school that its students and female teachers should comply, even though it is unclear whether non-Muslims are included in the edict.

Christians in the Afghan-border region 120 miles north of Peshawar say that extremists from the Taliban movement, which ruled most of Afghanistan from 1995 to 2001, have targeted them in recent months.

Extremists in Swat have conducted a campaign of Islamization in the district against all things deemed un-Islamic since early July, when a government crackdown on militants at the Lal Masjid mosque in Islamabad triggered violent reactions nationwide.

"Due to continuous threatening letters from the Taliban directing female staff and students to wear burqas … the Executive District Officer has instructed [them] to comply with the orders," the Daily Mashriq article stated.

The order to cover up under the full-body robe that leaves only the hands and eyes visible may affect Christians at the Catholic-run Public High School in Sangota.

The school was shut for a week earlier this month after Muslim extremists sent a threatening note, accusing teachers of converting Muslim students to Christianity.

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