The militant Islamic group Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) has sent three letters to the elders of the village of Sheikhan demanding that the elders execute a woman accused of "ill character." According to the letters, if the elders do not kill the woman themselves, the militants asked for her to be handed over to them so that they can "take care of her."

The letters accused the woman of "immoral behavior" and were sent through a prayer leader. The “immoral behavior” cited in the letters consisted of the fact that the woman answered the door when her husband, who is a government employee, was away at work.

“I have eight children and am at least 45 years old. I’m no longer a girl, but even then they have been after me since the past few months,” the woman said.

"I am not a woman of bad character, but these militants are creating trouble for us, and we suspect the involvement of our neighbors in this. My husband has already vowed to resist any such attempt to hand me over to Lashkar-e-Islam," she added.

The woman in question said her family is too poor to abandon their home in the village and move away to a city like Peshawar or some other area.

The elders handed over the letters to the woman’s husband and have refused the order to kill the woman, saying about the militants, "We will not kill people for them." However, they feat that the militants are well aware of where the woman lives

The woman’s 15-year-old son, who saw the letters, reported that they were written in Urdu and contained a telephone number. He added they were sent by the militant commander of Khyber Agency, Faqir Muhammad.

“We cannot talk to anyone about it as it is a great shame for the entire family for a woman to be accused of having a bad character. But we are equally worried that our house could be attacked and my mother could be killed or taken away by militants,” he said.