A Pakistani father has told how he faces death threats and has been driven into hiding – because of his 30ins moustache.

Islamist extremists were so infuriated by Malik Amir Mohammad Khan Afridi’s facial hair they kidnapped the businessman and held him in a cave for a month until he shaved.

But despite his clash with the militants over his prized whiskers – said to signify virility and prosperity – the father-of-ten, from Peshawar, Pakistan, has now grown it back, vowing never to be bowed by the thugs again.

Mr Afridi said: ‘I don’t like smoking. I’m not fond of snuff, or drinking. This is the only choice in my life. I’d even sacrifice food, but not the moustache. It’s my life. It’s not part of my life. It is my life.

‘People give me a lot of respect. It’s my identity.’

He now spends 30 minutes a day caressing and trimming the moustache. The costs of coconut oil and soap used to maintain it comes to an eye-watering £100 a month.

But despite the cost, the death threats, the constant fear of attack and having to spend long periods away from his family, it is all worth it, he insists.

He has now been forced to leave his family for long periods of time and move south to Faisalabad where he feels safer.

He told The Independent: ‘I want to live, that is why I want to get out of Pakistan.

‘My first choice would be an Islamic country such as Dubai.

‘But I also willing to go to countries such as the US, Canada or Britain. I would like to appeal to the British government to help me.’