Yesterday I went to the southern edge of Paktika Province, along the Pakistan - really Waziristan - border, to attend a shura of village elders. Traditionally the elders attained their position because of their wisdom or valiant deeds. After the Taliban systematically assassinated numerous tribal elders in order to eliminate rivals, that ceased to be always true. Most of the elders nowadays get the position because they're really old. At least they look pretty old. Or maybe it's the turbans; I'm not sure how you get the job. Anyway, these elders came, made some speeches, got into a major argument and agreed to meet next week, then they all prayed and left.
Other titles considered for this post:
Shura 'Nuff
Shuras I'm Sitting Here
No comments:
Post a Comment