Elders losing to extremists in Pakistan

Pakistani government and military officials vehemently deny such claims.

"There is no court, no police station [run by the Taliban]," says Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, the military's spokesman. "It is absolutely wrong to say that the Taliban are in control."

General Sultan conceded, however, that clerics have now accumulated a dangerous amount of power. "We do agree that religious clerics have certainly gained some kind of strength in the area. They have caused some targeted kinds of killing."

Some area politicians refute this claim, however, attributing the deaths to criminality or old feuds. "I don't think that any religious scholar can incite others to kill, because it is against our faith to kill or harm anyone," says Maulana Merajuddin, a member of the National Assembly from South Waziristan.

If there are disagreements on the rise of the Taliban's institutional power, most observers agree that what is spreading is their mindset, a call for orthodox Islam to bring peace and justice in a land where age-old tribal ways no longer can. It is a distinction recently made by President Pervez Musharraf.

"I would divide them into two parts. First, those Taliban who are involved in militancy here and there [Afghanistan]. They carry out ambushes and detonate mines," he told Khyber TV in May. "But the second part is a mindset of spreading the Taliban culture. For example, kill the barber who shaves beards, ban songs, and break televisions."

The ethos spreads in part by fear, but others are won over by the promise of security and justice. "The people's sympathy are with those who want to keep the land safe from the foreign occupying forces," says Mr. Merajuddin.

Asked whether resentment of the military is growing, Sultan, the military spokesman, said: "It is yes and no. 'Yes' because there are certain people who are resentful, especially those who are siding with the miscreants. It is 'no' because when people meet with us in private, they say that these miscreants need to be eliminated."

The short-term solution, ironically, may in fact lie in old tribal ways.

In mid-May, civilian and military officials proposed a grand jirga along traditional tribal lines, consisting of a cross-section of elders, religious scholars, militants, and the military from Waziristan. Some sources say it was actually the Taliban who demanded it. Whatever the case, it's seen as a sign that both sides realize they have reached an impasse.

"They have come to the conclusion that even if they fight for five years, neither side will get the desired result," says Mr. Yousefzai, the journalist. Jirgas have been called before. But some say this will be different - the first jirga to put the military and militants in one room alongside elders from the region. Short of longer-term solutions, which include development and FATA's integration with the rest of Pakistan, some see this as the only hope.

"Throughout our history, there are many examples where a jirga solved a problem bigger than the current one," says Mr. Sayyat.

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