Pakistan: Jinnah's statue in Gwadar blown up

Pakistan Police has registered a case after a statue of the founder of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, was blown up in Gwadar, Balochistan. Officials of the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) said that a case of destroying the Quaid's statue with the help of explosives has been registered at the CTD Gwadar police station. According to the CTD officials, the case has been registered under section 7 of the ATA and Explosives Act. Other provisions have also been added to the lawsuit.

The statue, which was installed in June at Marine Drive, which was considered a safe zone, was blown up by explosives placed beneath the statue on Sunday morning, Dawn, newspaper of record in Pakistan, 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.

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.