fractious

パキスタンで１０月９日，１４歳の少女 マララ・ユサフザイさんが頭部に銃撃を受けて重傷を負う事件が起きました。彼女は勇気あるタリバン批判で知られており，タリバン側が報復措置として犯行に及んだとみられています。BBCから抜粋。

Even if Malala Yousafzai survives, life is not going to be the same for her and her family. No place in Pakistan is safe for people targeted by militant groups. She may have to live under state security or in asylum abroad. In either case, her life and her ability to campaign for girls' education in north-western Pakistan will be severely limited.

Malala Yousafzai rose to fame because of her innocent but courageous desire to attend school, which translated into a one-girl campaign of resistance when Taliban captured Swat valley in 2009 and ordered girls' schools closed. Several hundred in Swat and neighbouring Bajaur and Mohmand were destroyed. Only a few in urban areas have been rebuilt.

The government's inability to rebuild is matched by its ambivalence towards the Taliban, which has enabled them to carry out acts of sabotage with impunity. The question is, will it change now? The attempt on Malala Yousafzai's life has shocked and angered the nation, and reports from parliament suggest a wider anti-Taliban consensus might be in the works - something Pakistan's fractious politicians have rarely achieved before.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19901277

fractiousは「ケンカ好きの，簡単にキレる」という意味から，「手に負えない，〜を受け入れない」という比喩的な意味があります。ここは後者でしょう。（EnDough）