ISLAMABAD: Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani in a letter to chief ministers of Punjab, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) proposed Friday a division of the families of Quetta blast among the three provinces to educate the school going children of the affected families.

“I proposed each province to take responsibility of educating at least one school going child of the martyr’s family in one of the leading schools, colleges or universities in your respective province,” said Rabbani in his letter.

“This will guarantee value education to the children and will help in filling the intellectual vacuum created in the province of Balochistan,” the chairman wrote in his letter to Shahbaz Sharif, Pervez Khattak, and Murad Ali Shah, maintaining that it would send message of brotherhood to the people of the province.

“Words cannot express the magnitude of the Quetta tragedy”, Rabbani added.

Rabbani termed the incident to be a loss not only to the province but also to the federation.

At least 70 people were killed and over 100 injured after a suicide bomber struck the emergency ward of Quetta's Civil Hospital, where scores of people had gathered to mourn the death of Balochistan Bar Association (BBA) president Bilal Anwar Kasi in a gun attack earlier in the day.

Witnesses present at the hospital at the time of the attack recall complete chaos at the site, with bodies lying on the ground amidst pools of blood and debris.

The attack was claimed by Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan splinter group Jamaatul Ahrar and the militant Islamic State group, but Balochistan Chief Minster Sanaullah Zehri hinted at the involvement of Indian spy agency Research and Analysis Wing.