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Carnage in Pakistan school as Taliban attack kills 160

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Imran Khan condemns attack on army school in Pakistan

NEW DELHI: As PM Narendra Modi led the nation in condemning the Taliban attack on a Peshawar school, the question is if this is the Pakistan army's turnaround moment. Will the deaths of innocent children convince the Pak army to stop supporting terror as a political tool?Tweeting as the attack unfolded in Peshawar, Modi described it as “a senseless act of unspeakable brutality". “My heart goes out to everyone who lost their loved ones today." Through the day, the trending hashtag on Twitter was #indiawithpakistan. Despite the public solidarity, there's little expectation that Pakistan will end its strategic relationship with terror.Hafiz Mohammed Saeed-run JuD 's Falah-e-Insaniyat foundation was seen helping out at the site of the attack, signaling the high acceptability of terror groups like LeT (JuD is its parent body). Politicians like Imran Khan hesitated to call out Taliban by name in their condemnation.While the Peshawar incident is the worst attack against children since the 2004 Beslan massacre, Pak-backed Taliban last week attacked a Kabul French school killing five. A 15-year-old suicide bomber from Miramshah, Pakistan, carried out the strike.The litmus test, says Sushant Sareen of IDSA, will be in the army's narrative now. “If it's a call to revisit policies, there may be a chance of a paradigm shift. If blame is apportioned to outside countries, it'll be business as usual."Former spy chief, Vikram Sood, says the Pak army may use this incident to say they're the only institution that should be supported as Pakistan is in danger. This, he said, was the line taken by US secretary of state John Kerry. He had described the Pak army as a “unifying force“.G Parthasarathy, former envoy to Pakistan, said these were “wages of sin." He linked Tuesday's attack to the release of Taliban leader Latif Mehsud by the US last week. This came soon after Pakistan army killed al-Qaida's Adnan Shukrijumah, on US's most-wanted list.Mehsud was second in command to Hakimullah Mehsud, Taliban chief killed in a drone attack in 2013. After that Taliban control shifted to Mullah Fazlullah, who took the outfit to new lows of barbarity.The Pakistan army's anti-Taliban operation in North Waziristan has missed the Haqqani network leadership. Similarly, Hafiz Saeed held a huge rally when the Pakistan army chief was in the US. For a paradigm shift in Pakistan, all of this must change.