Fears are being expressed that Taliban may be about to spread their tentacles on to the entire Pakistan. The threat has been made real due to the abject surrender of PPP government in Islamabad and the ANP government in Peshawar. They not only signed the Sharia deal by going against their election manifestos but the latter has even gone to the extent of defending the act with full vigor. The MMA had failed to do the sort of harm in their five-year rule under Musharraf that ANP has done in barely 12 months. ANP says it surrendered because it had lost more than 135 leaders at the hands of Taliban. If that were the main factor behind the deal, it would have been better for them to resign. But they preferred to bury their decades-old party principles for the sake of power. The deal has emboldened the Taliban who now demand its replication everywhere else in Pakistan. Reports of Taliban rising in southern Punjab and Sufi Muhammad's open declaration that he considers judicial and political system of the state to be 'un-Islamic' has not ruffled any feathers in the PPP or ANP. Only MQM has singled itself out, stood up and refused to be part of this abject surrender. No wonder Talibanization in Pakistan is gaining momentum day by day. -GULSHER PANHWER, Dadu, via e-mail, April 20.