KARACHI, June 14: Police and other-law enforcement agencies cordoned off the casualty ward of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where an emergency was declared after the bomb blast in front of the US Consulate-General.

The dead and injured were brought to the hospital by Edhi ambulances. Doctors were also called to deal with the emergency.

Police were deployed at the main entrance of the casualty ward and they were stopping people from entering the ward. The situation became worse when the Sindh Home Secretary, Brig Mukhtar Ahmed, with IG Sindh Syed Kamal Shah, visited the hospital to see those who were injured in the bomb blast.

Police gave protocol to the home secretary at the casualty ward, and the relatives of the dead and injured were stopped outside the ward. The relatives came to the hospital to recognize their near and dear ones. The IG, Syed Kamal Shah, ordered his sub-ordinates to clear the casualty ward of people except the staff. The Town police officer of Clifton, Munir Shaikh, following the IG’s instructions, pushed visitors outside the casualty ward.

Leaders of the Pakistan People’s Party, Nisar Ahmed Khuhro and Muzaffar Ali Shujra, were also pushed aside. But when they introduced themselves to Mr Shaikh, he apologized to them and requested them to leave the ward.

Journalists were also asked to leave the ward. When they argued that they were on their professional duty, police said the IG had ordered that outsiders should not be allowed there, and if they did not leave the casualty ward voluntarily, they would be forced out.

The home secretary and the IG stayed there for half an hour and while they were leaving the ward, the home secretary’s car was brought to the slope of the casualty ward to give him protocol. Usually, ambulance drivers are not allowed to park their ambulances on the slope.

Policemen had formed a human chain by holding one another’s hands to stop people from coming close to the home secretary and the IG.

Family members and relations of the dead and injured were not allowed inside the casualty ward and they waited outside till the home secretary and the IG stayed there.

However, doctors attended to patients in the casualty ward from where most of them were gradually shifted to other wards. Some of the injured were discharged from the hospital.