DAYLIGHT was fading in a village on the outskirts of Bireuen. The locals, mostly men, had gathered at a community religious center. The women had gathered in a separate room, in the Qu'ran recital hall. That day, they had again experienced the bitterness of war, surrounded by the firing of rifles and the smell of ammunition that began with the declaration of the military emergency in Aceh a month ago.

Those who were sat down wearily were b