PESHAWAR: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari arrived in Peshawar on Thursday and visited earthquake survivors in the provincial capital's Lady Reading Hospital.

Bilawal, who was accompanied by Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, Senator Sherry Rehman and local PPP officials, also inquired about the well-being of the hospital administration.

The PPP chairman is also expected to hold a press conference at the residence of PPP Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's General Secretary Humayun Khan later during the day.

Party members took to social media to share photos of the chairman greeting patients in their hospital beds, and also autographing casts.

All roads leading to the hospital were closed for security reasons, infuriating the relatives and attendants of quake affectees.

Some relatives of the earthquake victims, who are under treatment at the hospital, and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) activists' protested against Bilawal's arrival and the difficulties faced by them as a result of his visit.

PPP Senator Sherry Rehman who accompanied Bilawal, wrote on social media that the party has been gathering tents and warm clothes for Peshawar survivors and the truck containing relief goods will leave Islamabad tonight.

It is pertinent to note here that on Tuesday, a day after the quake, a senior doctor at LRH while talking to Dawn Newspaper expressed serious reservations over politicians and VIP's visits at the facility after the calamity saying it hampers treatment of injured.

"It only adds to the trouble of the patients, who require prompt treatment for their rapid recovery,” the senior doctor had said.

A massive 7.5 magnitude earthquake which hit northern Afghanistan and Pakistan on Monday. The initial quake — which struck the country at 2:09pm Monday — was followed by several aftershocks, measuring as high as magnitude 4.8, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

Related: Over 200 dead as 7.5 magnitude earthquake jolts Pakistan

According to recent figures compiled by National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), at least 272 people have been killed killed while 1909 were injured as a result of the deadly quake, with 225 deaths and 1706 casualties recorded only from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

The PPP had 'launched' Bilawal into politics in its Oct 18 rally in Karachi last year. Prior to that on October 6 2014, Bilawal had asked Altaf to rein in his “namaloom afraad” (unidentified men) otherwise there would be serious consequences if anything happened to PPP workers.

Bilawal left for Dubai after the rally with amid rumours of friction between him and father Zardari.

Related: Bilawal banished

Upon his return to Karachi in June, a PPP insider had told Dawn.com that party co-chairman Zardari had told a group of party men after the rally that the PPP’s relations with the MQM soured because of Bilawal's indiscreet statements, and that he had advised his son to have a temporary break from politics.

Read: Zardari cautions military establishment for 'stepping out of domain'

Bilawal's father, former president and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari, left Pakistan for Dubai on June 2,4 nearly a week after issuing a hard-hitting speech in which he lashed out at the military establishment for "overstepping".

Zardari has been in Dubai since, and is managing party affairs from outside the country.

Read editorial: PPP in Dubai

Bilawal has become more 'active' in Sindh politics of late and held a number of meetings with PPP leaders in an attempt to reorganise the party, especially in Punjab.

Earlier in August he had visited flood-hit areas of Sindh's Sukkur and Khairpur districts.

He has made an important decision to end the reconciliation policy with the ruling PML-N, after holding consultations with senior party leaders.

Also read: Bilawal’s choices