Christians have fled their homes in North Western Pakistan after receiving letters threatening to shut churches and ordering them to convert to Islam within 10 days, a rights activist said today.

The unsigned letters were distributed this week in the town of Charsadda where Pakistan’s interior minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao last month escaped a suicide attack that killed 28 people. Shahbaz Bhatti, head of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance claimed militants trying to impose Taliban-style social strictures were responsible for the letters. He said several families among the 500 or so Christians in the town had already migrated to other places and others are contemplating doing the same. Mr Bhatti appealed for President General Pervez Musharraf to take strong and immediate measures for the safety of the minority group. “These extremists are asking us to change our religion. We will not do it, even if we have to die,” he said.

Police said yesterday that they had stepped up security at churches in Charsadda.

Copies of the handwritten letter, sent to churches and homes, did not say what consequences the Christians might face if they did not comply with the ultimatum, which expires on May 17.