KARACHI: Pakistan’s founder M A Jinnah’s statue destroyed in blast in Balochistan

KARACHI: A statue of Pakistan’s founder
Mohammad Ali Jinnah has been destroyed by the Baloch militants in a bomb attack
in the coastal city of Gwadar in the troubled Balochistan province.

The statue, which was installed in June at Marine Drive – considered a safe
zone – was blown up by explosives placed beneath the statue on Sunday morning,
Dawn reported on Monday.

The statue was completely destroyed in the blast, it added.

Babgar Baloch, a spokesman for
the banned militant organisation Baloch Republican Army, claimed responsibility
for the blast on Twitter, BBC Urdu reported.

The matter was being investigated
at the highest level, Gwadar Deputy Commissioner Major (retd) Abdul Kabir Khan
was quoted as saying by the BBC Urdu.

He said that the militants who destroyed Jinnah’s statue by planting explosives
entered the area as tourists.

According to him, no arrest has been made so far but the investigation will be
completed in a day or two. “We are looking into the matter from all angles
and the culprits will be caught soon,” he said.

“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 residency in
Ziarat,” Balochistan’s former Home Minister and current Senator Sarfraz Bugti
tweeted.