M A Jinnah’s statue in Balochistan has been destroyed by explosives planted by the banned militant organisation Baloch Republican Army on Sunday. The perpetrators are yet to be caught.
The statue of Pakistan’s founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah, which was installed in June at Marine Drive, considered to be a safe space, was completely blown up by explosives that were placed beneath it on Sunday.
The responsibility was claimed by Babgar Baloch, a spokesman for the banned militant organisation Baloch Republican Army, in the coastal city of Gwadar, in the troubled Balochistan province.
“The demolition of Quaid-e-Azam’s statue in Gwadar is an attack on Ideology of Pakistan. I request authorities to punish the perpetrators in the same way as we did with those behind the attack on Quaid-e-Azam’s residency in Ziarat,” tweeted Balochistan’s former Home Minister and Current Senator Sarfraz Bugti.
Baloch militants blasted a 121-year-old building in 2013, which was used by Jinnah at Ziarat, and was later declared as a national monument. They raked it with gunfire, triggering a fire that burned for four hours, destroying furniture and memorabilia.
The matter was being investigated at the highest level by Gwadar Deputy Commissioner Major (retd) Abdul Kabir Khan who said the militiants who destroyed the statue by planting explosives entered the area as tourists.
“We are looking into the matter from all angles and the culprits will be caught soon,” he stated, mentioning that no arrest has been made so far but the investigation is still going on.
Balochistan has been seeing a series of violence for several years, due to the activities of the Baloch Republican Army.