Peshawar, Aug 19: Separate teacher training centers will be set up for men and women in a Pakistani province ruled by hardline Islamic parties, a provincial government spokesman has said. An opening date for the training centers in the North West Frontier Province, which borders Afghanistan, has not been set, said provincial information minister Asif Iqbal Daudzai yesterday.

The province is ruled by a six-party coalition of radical religious parties that has already banned playing music on public transportation, prohibited male doctors from treating women patients and restricted men from coaching women athletes or watching their sporting events. The steps are reminiscent of Afghanistan's former Taliban rulers, who outlawed nearly all forms of entertainment, including television, movies and music. The Taliban also banned women from education and work- something the Pakistan province has not done.


Al-Qaeda and Taliban forces fleeing us-led coalition troops in Afghanistan are believed to take refuge in the province's mountainous tribal region. Tribesmen share the Taliban's version of Islam and say it is their duty to give them protection.

President Pervez Musharraf has criticized the provincial government's restrictive rules warning them against the "Talibanization" of parts of Pakistan. Bureau Report