A local court on Saturday declared eight former and sitting Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) union council nazims and councilors as proclaimed offenders for smashing multinational companiesÂ’ billboards carrying photos of women and destroying cable connections three years ago after the formation of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal government in NWFP.None of the accused, who include former UC nazim Tariq Mateen, naib nazim Sirajuddin, Jamshid Munir, sitting nazim Dost Muhammad Khan, councilor Niaz Ali, UC nazim Khalid Gul Mohmand, Rahmat Saeed and Maulana Masih Gul, appeared in court and Magistrate Ihsanul Haq , under section 512 of the Criminal Procedure Code, declared the eight proclaimed offenders for not appearing.
On May 23, 2003, Gulbahar Police Station charged JI nazims and councilors with damaging multinational companies’ billboards displaying women’s photos and cable network supply lines during their protest against obscenity on GT Road Peshawar. The police also charged the JI activists under Section 7 of the Anti-terrorism Act, but the NWFP prosecution department later dropped the charges of terrorism. After the incident and threats from local government officials, multinational companies removed pictures of women from their billboards across the city of Peshawar. The officials claimed that the Taliban, whose influence is growing in the North West Frontier province, consider the depiction of uncovered women un-Islamic. They said, “These multinational companies want to promote obscenity, lewdness and vulgarity.”