Khan says he is ‘guilty’ but protest was ‘uncalled for’

• PTI chief says he respects sentiments of parents of victims of APS, Peshawar attack and shares grief of bereaved families
• Claims opponents staged protest to sabotage his Peshawar school visit

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has said that he evenly shares the grief of the parents of children who were martyred in a terrorist attack on Army Public School (APS), Peshawar on December 16 and failed to understand the reason behind the parents’ protest against him when he arrived with his wife Reham Khan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak at the school Wednesday “to boost the students’ morale”.

Addressing a press conference after visiting APS, Peshawar, Khan referred to the protest of some parents who shouted “Go Imran Go” outside the school, saying that his opponents tried to sabotage his visit to the school. He said that an impression was given that people, especially parents of terror-hit Peshawar schoolchildren, protested against him.

The protesters were not parents or relatives of students but political workers of opponent parties and their purpose was to give a bad impression of his visit, he alleged. He said the protest was “uncalled for and unnecessary”.

However, Khan said that he respected the protest of the aggrieved families.

The PTI chief said that he wanted to visit the school on the first day when it resumed its academic activities on January 12, 26 days after a deadly attack last month, but he was unable to visit due to “some engagements” and also he was told to postpone his visit for two or three days as Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif was visiting the school on that day.

Khan said he feels guilty over his failure to visit the school earlier. He added that a mother has invited him to visit her place and he will.

Moreover, Khan said that he was happy to see the students’ courage who survived the attack, adding that his party’s government in KP would not allow disruption of educational activities in the province.

“I salute the children. Their morale is high and the nation is brave. I want to give a message that our children are not scared of terrorism. I salute those children,” he added.

Khan said that it was not possible to provide foolproof security to over 65,000 schools in the province, however the provincial government was “doing what it can” to improve security.

NA -122 WOES:

While commenting on the vote recount in NA-122 Lahore constituency, the PTI chief said that the seals of 128 vote bags were broken whereas 34,000 votes were declared fake in the enquiry report by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

“Ayaz Sadiq won an election which does not have any validity. The fraud is being exposed in the constituencies that are being audited by the commission,” he said.

Furthermore, Khan claimed that the local body elections in KP have been delayed due to Punjab and Sindh provinces.

The PTI chairman announced that his party will announce a new strategy in the Dharna Convention on January 18.