Man gets death threats over a moustache in Pak

People give me a lot of respect. Its my identity, said the 48-year-old grandfather in the northwestern city of Peshawar,when asked why he was prepared to risk everything for his whiskers. I feel happy. When its ordinary,no one gives me any attention. I got used to all the attention and I like it a lot.

For centuries,a luxuriant moustache has been a sign of virility and authority on the Indian sub-continent.

But in Pakistan,Islamist militants try to enforce religious doctrine that a moustache must be trimmed,if not shaved off.

So Afridi went from celebrity to prisoner of Lashkar-e-Islam,then a rival and now an ally of the Taliban in the tribal district of Khyber on the Afghan border.

Im still scared8230; Im in Peshawar to spend Ramzan with my family but most of the time I stay at home and tell people Im in Faisalabad if they want to meet me, he says.