Nawaz puts off trip to Washington

New schedule to be announced today

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has postponed his departure for Washington in view of the Lahore suicide bomb blast on Sunday evening.

Well-placed sources told The News that the Prime Minister, who returned from Lahore Sunday late afternoon, had to leave today (Monday) morning for the United States to represent the country in Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) convened by US President Barrack Hussain Obama.

He was busy in a preparatory meeting for the summit with senior officials concerned at the PM House when he was informed about the gory incident of Lahore. The sources said that the prime minister became extremely perturbed to know about the blast and called off the meeting forthwith.

He gathered details of the incident from Punjab administration and issued instructions to provide best possible medical aid to the injured. He issued message expressing his heartfelt condolences on the killing of innocent in the attack.

The prime minister impressed upon the authorities concerned to apprehend the elements behind the highly deplorable incident. He was of the view that the terrorists are being chased and their capacity to hit tangible targets has been eliminated.

For this reason, they are after soft targets aiming innocent people. Nawaz would visit Lahore today (Monday) to offer his condolences and show solidarity with the bereaved families and injured.

Yet another development regarding mob’s attack on D-Chowk of the federal capital late Sunday evening and sit-in that has endangered the Red-Zone security was discussed in the PM House.

Interior Minister Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan briefed the prime minister about the situation prevailing in the federal capital. The meeting at the PM House that lasted more than four hours was also attended by Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar, and Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) for Political Affairs Dr Syed Asif Saeed Kirmani, Secretary to Prime Minister (SPM) Fawad Hasan Fawad and other senior officials.

The new schedule for departure of the prime minister for Washington would be announced later in the day on Monday, the sources said.