QUETTA, June 15: Militants carried out a symbolic and audacious attack on Pakistan, its history and the federal structure in the small hours of Saturday when they blew up the Ziarat residency, the building in which the Quaid-i-Azam spent the last days of his life in 1948.

The Balochistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the strike.

“We blew up the Ziarat residency,” Meerak Baluch, a BLA spokesman, said in a phone call to a Western news agency from an undisclosed location. And he did not fail to highlight the enormity of the assault: “We don’t recognise any Pakistani monument.”

A policeman was killed and a guard injured when they offered resistance to the attackers.

“Over a century-old wooden…building [has been reduced] to ashes in which the Father of the Nation Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah spent last days of his life along with his sister Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah,” official sources said.

Sources said gunmen riding a pick-up and a motorcycle entered the residency premises around 1am and planted bombs at different points and detonated them by remote control.

“I heard four powerful blasts within minutes of each other after which the wooden building caught fire,” Deputy Commissioner Nadeem Tahir told Dawn, adding that it took a long time to douse the blaze since there was no fire brigade in the Ziarat hill station.

He said at first it appeared as if rockets had been fired from mountains. “However, after investigation it was confirmed that improvised explosive devices were used by the attackers,” he said.

The sources said when the lone watchman in the building confronted the gunmen, he was attacked and immobilised. The attackers then shot dead a police constable outside the residency when he rushed to the site after hearing the blasts.

Soon after the incident, police and personnel of Frontier Corps cordoned off the entire area. “Four more bombs were recovered from the residency premises planted by the fleeing attackers. Bombs were defused by the bomb disposal squad who were rushed to Ziarat from Quetta,” officials said.

An official gave a heart-rending account of the loss. “Everything in the residency, from the chairs and beds used by the Quaid to souvenirs and mementos, have been lost. Memorable pictures encapsulating the Quaid’s struggle for a Muslim homeland went up in smoke.”

Police said the number of attackers ranged between six and eight.

The sources said that gunmen first removed the national flag and then hoisted the BLA’s flag atop the residency’s building, a fact confirmed by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan in his speech in the National Assembly.

The bombing sent a wave of shock and horror among the populace in Ziarat, a quaint and quiet place which hitherto knew nothing of bomb explosions. The dazed inhabitants, however, took courage in their hands and took to the streets to vent their grief and outrage.

CONDEMNATION: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and several political leaders condemned the attack.

In Islamabad, the Senate passed a unanimous resolution condemning the attack.

Balochistan Governor Mohammad Khan Achakzai and Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch condemned the bombing and termed it a national loss.

In separate statements, they directed the authorities concerned to take all steps to bring the perpetrators of the attack to justice.

“I strongly condemn bombing of Quaid-i-Azam Residency that was a national monument,” Dr Malik said.

He said the elements involved in the attack would not be spared and would be brought to justice. “The residency will be rebuilt and restored to its original shape.”

Balochistan IGP Mushtaq Sukhira said all efforts would be made to arrest the attackers. “We are investigating the incident,” he told reporters in Ziarat.

Chief Secretary Babar Yaqoob Fateh Mohammad and the IGP visited the destroyed monument.

“Ziarat Residency will be restored to its old glory. Work will begin very soon,” the chief secretary resolved.

Ziarat, located at more than 2,500 metres above sea level and surrounded by Juniper trees, is a popular tourist site.

The two-storey residency was built in 1892 and formerly used by representatives of the British government in India.