Word: tribalism
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...Still, the heartland in Sindh remains a solid base of support. Despite the socialist platform of both Bhutto and her father, both are beneficiaries of an almost feudal system in Sindh, where landlords and tribal leaders dictate how their people vote. In keeping with this tradition, many of these voters don't question Benazir's judgment in cutting deals with Musharraf, or anything else. "If Benazir got a horse, and told people to vote for the horse," says 27-year-old Larkana shopkeeper Muhammad Ali Sheikh, "we would line up to vote for the horse...
...waged wars and insurgencies against the central government for decades. Politicians, the generals asserted, represented feuding ethnic interests. In Burma's last election - back in 1990 - as many as 20 ethnically based political parties contested the polls. Who better than the military to keep peace between all these fractious tribal groups...
...Laden's declaration that Musharraf is an infidel who has spilled Muslim blood further cements his illegitimacy in the eyes of the militants leading an insurgency in the mountainous tribal areas between Pakistan and Afghanistan. They may care little for the intricate political maneuverings of courts and lawyers far away in the capital, but if martial law were to be established, it wouldn't just be war against Musharraf, but jihad against the entire government. And if the Pakistani state found itself at war with a significant section of its own people, its effectiveness as an ally...
...intelligence that first detected an increased "intensity" in telephone and electronic communications between Europe and tribal areas of Pakistan starting a year ago, according to the German official. Then, last October, a U.S. agency spotted coded communications between the aliases "Muaz," "Zafer" and "Abdul Malik," apparently based in Germany, and sources in Pakistan. U.S. officials passed on copies of those messages, apparently gleaned from private Internet chat rooms, to German officials. The messages were in code, but contained some decipherable details including a discussion of hydrogen peroxide, which can be used to make a bomb in high enough concentrations...
Whether or not the tribes who followed Sattar will remain working with the U.S. military in the wake of his death remains unclear. Sattar's brother, Ahmed Abu Risha, is poised to take over leadership of Sattar's movement. But his ability to hold tribal factions together is uncertain, and military officials may have to win loyalties all over again...