Monsters in power

The mass-murder of at least 132 people, mostly children, in a school in Pakistan by the Pakistani Taliban underlines that the incompetently played geopolitical games of Islamabad have come back to haunt it in the most terrible way.  The lifting of the moratorium on the death penalty as announced by Nawaz Sharif will have no discernible effect.
It largely began with military dictator Muhammad Zia ul-Haq, a favourite of the Reagan administration, who sought for legitimacy to politicise religion to bolster his own credibility.  This 'Islamisation' of society was a betrayal of the secular vision of Mohammed Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan and led to a proliferation of extremist madrassahs (Islamic schools) across the country.  This set up part one of the tragedy.  Even after ul-Haq's death in a mysterious plane crash (along with several of his top military officials plus tow US diplomats), his efforts were not reversed.
Then, when the Moscow-backed government in Kabul fell to warlords, Pakistan's security services feared New Delhi could make inroads into influence in Afghanistan.  Thus they created the Taliban, the extremists technically answerable to Islamabad - it was only with extreme reluctance that they gave up the Taliban in 2001.  But like Dr Frankenstein and the Monster, that was not the end of it.  Angry at his creator, the Monster tormented the doctor to the end of his days.  Thus the Taliban did not disintegrate but profitted from the US being distracted by the latter's Arabian Dream/Nightmare in Iraq, extending its tentacles to both sides of the Hindu Kush.  The Pakistan Taliban and their attack on this school is a direct result of ul-Haq's disastrous short-termism and the security services in Pakistan creating the Taliban in the first place.  Unfortunately, most of these officials will never face punishment, judicial or employment-wise and that means there will be more tragedies like these to come.