ISLAMABAD/PESHAWAR: Following the barbaric terrorist attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has shelved its plans for a countrywide demonstration against the government on Dec 18. The party also called off a round of negotiations with the government, which was scheduled to be held on Tuesday.

PTI Chairman Imran Khan, whose party heads thegovernment in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, announced three days of mourning in the province.

He also said that the federal government had his complete support on dealing with terrorism. `We have already supported the government [in the past] and will continue to support it in the future,` he said.

In a statement issued from PTI headquarters, Mr Khan urged all political parties to shun their differences and said it was time for the whole nation to stand united. `Thetime has come to move on from only condemning such incidents and announcing monetary assistance to the bereaved families,` he said.

Condemning the `barbaric` incident in the strongest possible terms, Mr Khan asked all his followers to pray for the souls of the departed and the swift recovery of all those injured.

He also called upon party members to donate blood for those in hospital.

Mr Khan said that the federal and provincial governments would have to stand with the armed forces to eliminate terrorism and extremism from the country.

Speaking to reporters in Peshawar, he called on his opponents to avoid using this tragedy for political pointscoring and criticising the provincial government, asthe incident was a failure on the part of all stakeholders.

`Everyone; political parties, security forces and the federal and provincial governments, should decide together how we`re going to win this war against terrorism,` he told journalists during an emergency visit to Peshawar.

While a security operation to clear the school ofmilitants was still in progress, the PTI chief arrived in Peshawar alongside party leaders including Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Jahangir Tareen, Shireen Mazari, Asad Umar and Dr Arif Alvi.

He told reporters that funeral prayers for the deceased will be offered in absentia at D-Chowk the site of PTPs sit-n in Islamabad on Wednesday.

He said that he had assured Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of his complete support in the fight to end terrorism when the latter visited him in hospital following his fall from a stage ahead of last year`s elections.

He also said that the nephew of his provincial general secretary, Khalid Masood, had also been injured in the brazen attack and that one of their party workers was missing.