Islamabad, Apr. 20 : With the Taliban establishing total control over the Swat Valley following inking a deal with the government to implement Islamic law in the whole region, fears have heightened that Islamabad could be the next target of the insurgents.

A report in the Washington Post suggests that the Taliban has arrived on the doors of the country's capital, and is on the lookout for a right opportunity to strike.

The Tehreek Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) chief Sufi Muhammad's call of not allowing any appeals to state courts under the system of sharia, certainly proves that the Islamist group along with the extremists are aiming to implement religious regulations across Pakistan, the report stated.

Muhammad, defying the constitution and federal judiciary of the country, had said that "un-Islamic laws and customs will be abolished" in the country, suggesting that the government's approval to implement sharia in the Valley would pave the way to it being installed in other regions too.

Academicians in Pakistan also believe that it was a blunder on part of the government to allow the radicals have their own way in the Valley.

"The government made a big mistake to give these guys legal cover for their agenda. Now they are going to be battle-ready to struggle for the soul of Pakistan," a professor of Security Studies at Quaid-i-Azam University, Rifaat Hussain said.

Hussain feared that there will be a sudden surge in suicide bombings in the country, which has already become a daily phenomenon.

However, political leaders of the Valley believe that the government had no other choice rather to give in to the demands of the radicals, as the military offensive carried out against the Taliban in the tribal region did not see much success.

"We really had no other choice. We had no power to crush the militants, and people were desperate for peace," a Awami National Party (ANP) legislator from Swat, Jafar Shah said.

"Now people are calling us Taliban without beards, but it was the only option available," he added.

"In Swat they got their system imposed at gunpoint, and now they are ready to Taliban-ize the whole country," the exiled head of the Muttahida Qaumi Majlis party, Altaf Hussain said.

The Taliban has also made it intentions quite clear.

"When we achieve our goals in one place, we need to struggle for it in other areas. Sharia does not permit us to lay down our arms if the government continues anti-Muslim policies," Taliban spokesperson Muslim Khan had warned last week.

With the Taliban announcing that the outfit would certainly start its struggle to establish Islamic law in other parts of the country, it seems that it is only a matter of time before Pakistan is transformed from a `troubled state' to a `failed state'. (ANI)