The Promise
The house of Pakistan’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah, located in the mountain resort of Ziarat in the southwestern Balochistan province, was gutted in an attack by Baloch separatists in June 2013. Condemning the attack, Balochistan Chief Minister Dr. Malik Baloch told an English newspaper, “I would even call foreign experts to restore the Ziarat residency in its original form.”
Background
On June 15, 2013, the historic residency of the founder of Pakistan, Qaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, was attacked at midnight. Explosions and fire left the building totally gutted. Lost to the fire were memorabilia dating back to the days of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who spent the last days of his life in the house.
Pakistan interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said in his address to the National Assembly that the house was attacked after midnight when explosions and firing were heard. Firefighters responded to the fire, but not before the building was completely burnt down.
Responsibility for the attack was claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist group active in the insurgency-hit Balochistan province.
Tracking
“The government has allocated funds to rebuild the Jinnah residency in Ziarat and its reconstruction in progress,” Abdul Rahim Ziaratwal, information minister for the Balochistan government told Truth Tracker.
He said he didn’t know anything about involvement of a ”foreign construction team” in rebuilding the residency.
“How could the new government in Balochistan keep their pledge of rebuilding the Quaid’s residency when it couldn’t form a cabinet for six months,” said Qasim Suri, provincial president of Imran Khan’s Tehreek-i-Insaaf party in Balochistan.
“I do not think they are sincere, or they would have erected the building as soon as possible because Jinnah was the founder of Pakistan and a national icon,” Suri said.
He said months have passed since the promise was made, but that nothing had happened yet.
Independent View
“A committee is formed under the supervision of chief secretary of the province and a senior consultant from Lahore, Nayar Dada, has been given the task of producing a module of the house,” Faqir Muhammad of the XEN Building and Roads department at Ziarat told Truth Tracker.
“Yet no construction company has been nominated for the Quaid-i-Azam Residency Ziarat,”said Afrooz Kakar, a school teacher at Ziarat. “The work is in progress but the construction company is local.”
“It seems that the work will soon be completed as the residency is our national heritage and the government is taking an interest in rebuilding it as early as possible,” she added.
Urooj rajput, a social activist based in Quetta, capital city of Balochistan, said the work on the house was slow. “It seems as if it is yet not started,” she said. “We should have erected the building as early as possible. The work is going on under the supervision of B&R (Building and Roads) department not a “foreign construction company.”
She added, “The government is serious in constructing the heritage site though.”
Our Ruling
No foreign construction company is involved in the construction process even though months have passed. The chief minister’s promise, therefore, stands broken.
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Broken, broken and broken.. lairs are these politicians. They have not arrested a singly person responsible for such crime. It was said by govt that they will bring terrorists to justice. What justice?