District mayor shot dead in raid on shops

PUL-I-KHUMRI (PAN): The Deh Salah district mayor has been shot dead by a shopkeeper during a raid on cosmetics stores in northwestern Baghlan province, an official said on Sunday.

Abdul Rassoul was gunned down when he was closing cosmetic shops in the district bazaar late on Saturday, the town’s administrative head, Abdul Hanan, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

The killer escaped after the incident, but police had mounted a search for him, the official said, recalling religious scholars had recently issued a fatwa declaring cosmetics sales as un-Islam.

 Women’s beelines in front of such stores led to moral depravity in the local community, he quoted the scholars as saying. The decree prompted the mayor to close down the shops — a move that cost him his death.

Azizullah, a resident of the area, said since cosmetics represented a woman’s needs, all markets had such shops. “The ulema also propagate against the government in mosques.”

mds/mud

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