PTI

Islamabad, Apr 30: Bollywood divas Kareena Kapoor and Katrina Kaif are back on billboards in Pakistan's troubled North West Frontier Province after the ouster of the previous hardline regime in the recent elections.

Such billboards were removed during the tenure of the hardline Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal government, which termed the display of women's images as ''un-Islamic''.

With the new provincial government headed by the secular Awami National Party in place, billboards have been reinstalled at prominent junctions in Peshawar with the Bollywood actresses smiling down at Pushtuns who love music and dance.

Along with the Indian divas, cutouts of prominent Pakistani models too are up on the billboards.

Besides banning such billboards, the MMA government had shut down cinema houses and the famous cultural hall, Nishtar hall, bringing all such activities to a grinding halt.

CD shops and cyber cafes were bombed by pro-Taliban militants and their owners took up other trades.

While most residents have welcomed the change, conservative forces are still opposing the installation of the billboards.

''Most of these boards have been put up outside girls' schools and women's colleges, which would certainly promote vulgarity in our society. We should discourage it. The government should also take measures to stop the practice,'' Ameenullah, a resident of Peshawar, told a newspaper.

But university student Baryal Khan was happy to see the billboards back. ''This will help portray a soft image of the NWFP to the world,'' he said.