RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan was denied entry into Combined Military Hospital (CMH) because of Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif’s visit to the hospital.
Mr Khan, who was accompanied by Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Sadaqat Abbasi and Amir Kiani, had arrived in the city to enquire about the health of victims injured in the attack at R.A. Bazaar.
After being barred entry, the PTI chief then went to the site where the suicide attack had occurred.
In addition, the PTI leaders also visited the house of Mubashir Mushtaq in Tench Bhatta but his family had already left for Chakwal.
Mubashir Mushtaq is the 19-year-old student who died in the suicide attack.
Similarly, the PTI leaders also visited the mosque of the Dawoodi Bohra community. They offered prayers for the departed spiritual leader of the community, Dr Syedna Mohammad Burhanuddin, who had passed away on Friday.
“We went to the CMH but officials there denied us entry stating that no civilian was allowed to visit the injured victims before the army chief Gen Raheel Sharif.
“However, the officials at CMH did suggest that we obtained permission from General Headquarters (GHQ) or Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) to enter,” said Sadaqat Abbasi, PTI Incharge North Region, while talking to Dawn.
However, he said the PTI leaders did not want to create any tension on the occasion and had decided to visit the crime scene instead.
Later, while talking to newsmen at the site of the suicide attack, PTI Chief Imran Khan said it was a tragic incident and innocent people had died.
“For the last eight months, the PML-N government has failed to establish its writ in the country and has failed to deliver,” he said.
He also lashed out at the government for failing to hold talks with the Taliban to curb terrorism as agreed during the All Parties Conference (APC).
Mr Khan also said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had no time for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s chief minister even though the latter had, on several occasions, requested for a meeting to discuss important challenges faced by the province.
“If he (the prime minister) has no time for the chief minister of a province which is suffering from terrorism, you can imagine the priorities of the present regime,” he said.
The PTI chief said terrorism was the main hurdle in the progress of the country and there was a dire need to stop it so that peace and prosperity could be ensured.