I’ve seen plenty of pictures of Lahore lawyers’ riots today, a response to the new Musharraf’s de jure martial law. It sounds like the Punjabi Musharraf’s claw for power is all about keeping the Taliban, the Supreme Court, and the opposition leaders down. I almost never hear, for example, about how the Baluch insurgents have reacted. They seem to have no voice at all. And I cannot remember the last time I read the word “Pashtunistan” in the Washington Post. I’d love to read a less al-Qaeda-focused or more ethnically nuanced take on what’s going on over there. The only piece I’ve read recently that started to do that was a NYT piece in October; it was like a Pakistani Ethnic & Tribal Politics for Dummies. I’m no cowgirl, but the treatment makes me want to brush up on my Urdu and saddle up for Peshawar.
