The Jinnah statue, installed in June at Marine Drive, considered a safe zone, was blown up by explosives placed beneath the statue on September 26th morning, Dawn reported on September 27th.
The Baloch militants have destroyed a statue of Pakistan’s founder, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, in a bomb attack in the coastal city of Gwadar in the troubled Balochistan province.
Jinnah’s statue got installed in a high-security zone near the residence of a General Officer Commanding (GOC) and the office of the Deputy Inspector General in June 2021.
Gwadar Deputy Commissioner Major (retd) Abdul Kabir Khan said that the militants had entered the area, considered a safe zone, masquerading as tourists, reported BBC Urdu.
While no arrest has been so far, Khan told the Urdu language station that police are looking into the matter from all angles, assuring to catch the culprit soon.
Balochistan’s former Home Minister and current Senator Sarfraz Bugti tweeted, “The demolition of Quaid-e-Azam’s statue in #Gwadar is an attack on Ideology of Pakistan.
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.”
The Alleged Perpetrators: Baloch Republican Army
Babgar Baloch, a spokesman for the banned militant organisation Baloch Republican Army, claimed responsibility for the blast on Twitter, BBC Urdu reported.
The Baloch Republican Army informed in an official statement that some of its activists destroyed Jinnah’s statue at Marine Drive in Gwadar with explosives. Claiming responsibility for the attack, the Baloch activists also hit Pakistan to portray Muhammad Ali Jinnah as a ‘hero’.
Meanwhile, an official statement by the Balochistan Republican Army criticised Muhammad Ali Jinnah for occupying and encroaching the Baloch land.
In addition, they alleged that Jinnah was an agent of British imperialism involved in ‘cunning politics’. The statement also adds that Pakistan’s Army invaded Balochistan.
In the official statement, the Baloch Republican Army spokesperson also remarked that Pakistan was trying to present Muhammad Ali Jinnah as a hero in front of Baloch generations.
Rejecting Pakistan’s ‘propaganda’, the Baloch spokesperson added that children are well aware of Pakistan’s “insidious curriculum and the reality of Jinnah.”
The Baloch spokesperson further stated that Khan Baloch appointed Jinnah as his lawyer to fight the case against British imperialism for the geographical status of the independent Baloch state.
He criticised and asserted that Jinnah forcefully incorporated Balochistan into the ‘newborn Pakistan’.
He also came down heavily on Pakistan over the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project of Gwadar Port. The Baloch Republican Army has vowed to resist Pakistan till the independence of Balochistan.
Balochistan has constantly witnessed disruptions
Balochistan has been witnessing a spate of low-level violence for years, primarily due to the activities of the Baloch National Army.
Baloch Republican Army is a Baloch nationalist armed militant group formed in 2006 that seeks an independent homeland for the Baloch people, based in Balochistan. BRA is involved in terrorist activities against the Pakistan Army.
Baloch Republican Army conducts conventional and unconventional battles against Pakistan Army and mainly operates through guerrilla tactics such as ambush, sabotage and hit and run activities.
In 2013, Baloch militants blasted a 121-year-old building used by Jinnah at Ziarat and raked it with gunfire, triggering a fire that blazed for four hours, destroying furniture and memorabilia.
Jinnah spent the last days of his life there as he suffered from tuberculosis. It was later declared a national monument.
Recently, the BLA had targeted a motorcade of Chinese engineers at the Gwadar East Bay Expressway project in which two local children got killed and a Chinese national was injured.
On September 25th Baloch Liberation Army had claimed responsibility for the bomb attack, which killed four Pakistan security personnel in Balochistan.
Four security personnel got killed and two others injured in a bomb attack on a vehicle of the Frontier Corps in the Khosat area of Harnai district. Official sources said that the FC vehicle targeted the Safar Bash area.
The FC soldiers were performing their patrolling duty, and when their vehicle reached the Safar Bash area, the improvised explosive device went off.
