By bearded men with daggers who ask women found in the marketplace,“Who wants to be beheaded first?” "Female shoppers still elusive in Swat," by Iqbal Khattak for the [1] Daily Times, March 17:

MINGORA: It has been more than a month since the government and the Tehreek Nifaz-e-Shariat Muhammadi (TNSM) signed a peace deal in Swat but the shopkeepers at Cheena Market, once the busiest in Mingora city, are still waiting for female shoppers.

The Swat-based Taliban had banned females from going to markets and schools for education. However, girls are back in schools after Taliban leader Fazlullah agreed to a peace bid by his father-in-law, TNSM’s chief Sufi Muhammad but women are still avoiding going to bazaars.

“Business has still not returned to normal despite a marked change in the situation,” a shopkeeper, Ikramullah Khan, told Daily Times.

The reason for women staying away from the once popular place is obvious – threats from the Taliban.

On March 8, a bearded man, who the shopkeepers believed to be a Taliban, pulled out a dagger in a shop and said, “Who wants to be beheaded first?”

The incident was enough to frighten the women and prevent them from going to the markets.

“I used to make a good profit when the Taliban had not banned women from going to markets,” a shopkeeper said.[...]

Earlier in January, Taliban had banned women from markets in Mingora. The Taliban have ordered the killing of women seen in market areas...