ABSTRACT
Power structures inside the FATA were certainly in flux, and as the slaughter of the pro-government Maliks continued, local dissent was being supressed as part of the ‘Talibanization’ of the tribal agencies. This colloquialism referred to armed group coercion of the local populace in order to seize resources and impose a draconian vision of justice under Islamic law, resulting in the creation of: ‘microemirates modelled after the (Afghan) Taliban’s regime in Afghanistan in some territories in which [Taliban] are present’.3 It was a trend that the Pakistani state publicly denied was happening, and that its strategy of deal making seemingly ignored.4
