LAHORE: PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari visited Jinnah Hospital here on Tuesday to inquire after those injured in the Gulshan-i-Iqbal Park blast and promised them his party would join efforts to root out terrorism from the country.

Arriving here from Rahim Yar Khan along with Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, Bilawal spent more than an hour with the injured.

“Bilawal got very emotional while listening to the woeful tales of injured children. With tears in his eyes he told the injured and their attendants that he can feel their pain more than anyone else as he had lost his mother to terrorism,” PPP Punjab President Manzoor Wattoo, who was accompanying Bilawal, told Dawn.

“I can feel your pain. During this testing time, do not consider yourself alone. The whole nation shares your grief and we will avenge the blood of innocent people, especially children,” Bilawal told the wounded, adding terrorists were enemies of Pakistan, Islam and humanity.

Sitting close to an injured girl, Bilawal asked her if she needed anything. “Kill terrorists,” was her reply, which brought tears to Bilawal’s eyes.

“I am your brother and my mother also lost her life to terrorism. We will not spare terrorists and do our best to end this menace,” he told her.

Talking to mothers of the injured children, he said: “We will fight together to end terrorism so that our children live in a peaceful Pakistan. Together we will defeat terrorism with the support of brave mothers like you,” he asserted.

Bilawal asked Chief Minister Shah to arrange for shifting one of the injured girls to Karachi so that she could be treated close to her home. He appreciated doctors and nurses who discharged their duties round the clock to treat the injured. On his direction, the Sindh chief minister announced Rs500,000 and Rs300,000 for the victims and injured, respectively.

Senator Aitzaz Ahsan, Tanveer Ashraf Kaira, Faisal Mir and Jahan Ara also accompanied Bilawal to the hospital.

Talking to reporters, Chief Minister Shah said the operation in Punjab should be held across the board.

BATON CHARGE: Some PPP workers suffered minor injuries when police allegedly used baton charge to stop them from entering Jinnah Hospital to welcome their leader Bilawal.

“Four party office-bearers, including myself, Dr Khayam, Advocate Muhammad Zaigham and Ahsan Rizvi, suffered injuries when police baton-charged workers to disperse them,” Sohail Malik told Dawn.

He claimed that first the Model Town superintendent of police (SP) misbehaved with them and later ordered baton-charge on them. “My three colleagues and I suffered injuries and on Wednesday (today) we will move a petition in court to have a case registered against the policemen responsible,” he said, adding the SP did so to please Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

Lahore police chief retired Capt Amin Wains told Dawn policemen did not use violence on the PPP workers.

“The PPP workers were stopped from entering the hospital because of security for the Sindh chief minister and Bilawal Bhutto,” he said, adding legal action would be initiated if the PPP filed an application.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2016