Word: pakistani
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...past, Pakistani religious parties seldom grabbed more than five percent of the vote. The country's intelligentsia likes to claim this is because, once all the hollering dies down and ballots are cast, Pakistanis are moderate, secular folk. In fact, most Pakistanis are poor, unschooled people who traditionally vote as their feudal squires command?or suffer their wrath. With the two big parties in retreat, the hard-line religious coalition is leading a whole lot of voters to the booths. Polls indicate that the MMA could win 30 to 50 of the 270 National Assembly seats. (Another 70 seats...
...brethren, in contrast, are unquestionably flamboyant. Maulana Fazlur Rehman wears robes of golden thread and was dubbed "Maulana Diesel" after allegations were made?though never proven?that he was involved in a fuel scam. Maulana Samiul Haq earned the nickname "Sandwich Sammy" after being photographed (presumably by Pakistani intelligence officers) in an inventive position with several bedmates. "We have our differences, some of them centuries-old," concedes Ahmed, "But we have enough in common...
...stronghold lies in the tribal band along the Afghan border. Its Baluch and Pashtun supporters are ethnically and ideologically tied to the former Taliban rulers in Afghanistan, thus their anti-Americanism. The region is where Pakistani and U.S. intelligence officers believe many al-Qaeda fighters, possibly even Osama bin Laden, may be holed up. Guns are in plentiful supply. Basha Kamal from Khana-Khel village, in the hills behind the turquoise Indus River, slaps his hip and says: "Of course I carry an automatic pistol. That doesn't mean I'm a terrorist." He adds, "But I refuse...
...attacks left both countries searching for a response. India has, in a sense, given the militants cover to claim their motive as redress for earlier mistreatment, without mentioning Kashmir. New Delhi insisted this was a terrorist canard?the latest investigations suggest the temple assailants, both Pakistani, had probably arrived by train from Jammu and Kashmir that same afternoon?but it still clouds the picture of the country's enemies and leaves the door open to additional attacks, and potential retaliation. Furthermore, it puts Vajpayee in an increasingly tight spot between the international community and the hard-core elements...
...Pakistan, of course, denied any involvement in the temple attack, but leaders in Islamabad may have welcomed the distraction from problematic upcoming parliamentary elections. The week's events reinforced the notion that India and Pakistan now have common enemies, among them the Pakistani-trained militants who are as offended by India's attempts to impose itself in Kashmir as they are by Islamabad's entreaties to the Western world. And yet both countries continue to blame each other at every possible opportunity, knee-jerk responses that would be tediously predictable if the potential implications weren't so terrifying. The worry...